Andy's Diner on 4th Ave South, Seattle. The ends of three coaches are visible. A fourth coach is on the other side of the center building. I have no information on history of the coaches... but I'd be interested to hear from anyone that can tell me about them.

There are also several cabooses that have been incorporated into hamburger stands etc. scattered around the state.



Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives

brianf425@yahoo.com

> but I'd be interested to
> hear from anyone that can tell me about
> them.

I sure don't know, but I could think of a better home for the interurban car, especially if it had trucks under it!


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> Yes, trolley cars count.

> Anything else out there? Remember, we want
> "stand-alone", not station
> restaurants with seating in the RR
> cars/cabooses or former Victoria Stations or
> Spaghetti Warehouses with the cars still in
> place.

This diner started out more "stand alone" but has since had the building (kitchen, mostly) added on.

Another little piece of what little remains of Utah's Interurban Heritage. :-(

doc

Heber Valley Railroad

utweyesguy@aol.com

There are two ex-Milwaukee skytop lounge cars aboard an ex-GT carferry named "Lansdowne" in Erie PA. The cars are the club/lounge portion of the onboard restataunt, so I'm not sure if you can actually eat in them or not.


ddg14@attbi.com

McDonald's has a CTA car that you can eat in.


ablemanscurve@hotmail.com

The depot restaurant in Lincoln, IL has two ex-IC foodservice cars attached to the structure. One is a diner and the other is a lounge. When the previous restaurant operator went bankrupt, some discussions were held about moving the two cars down the road apiece to the Monticello Railway Musuem, which is trying to assemble a complete IC streamlined train. However the new restaurant operators (who appear to be succeeding at the moment) wanted to retain the cars.

pnichol6@prodigy.net

An 80' UP Diner car, "Oriental Express," on main street in Ketchum, Idaho. Moved there in 1973 on the UP Sun Valley Branch. Has three axle trucks, disc brakes, & all equip. 55 miles from live rail now. Interior partially gutted, but ceiling, car ends, bathrooms, most windows intact. Hope to save this car when owner is through with it.

mjanssen@sunvalley.net

Barstow Station in Barstow, CA also has a McDonalds featuring train cars you eat in. I am not sure if they are free standing.

It's hardly news, but Disney's California adventure has California Zephyr cars modified into an ice cream parlor.

wyld@sbcglobal.net

The two wooden interurban cars were last in service on the Skagit River Railway in Washington State:

#18 Builder: American Car Co. Built: 1913 Length: 56' 4" Body Construction: Wood

Oregon Electric Railway #132, 62 seat coach trailer, motors added late 1913
Sold to Harmer Steel Co., Portland, OR, Dealer
Sold to S.R.Ry. #18 in July 1934 for $550.00
Sold to Dulien Steel for scrap March 29, 1954
Sold to Andys Diner (Restaurant) Seattle, WA

#21 Builder: ? Built: ? Length: ?
ex-Oregon Electric Railway ?
Sold to S.R.Ry. #21
Sold to Dulien Steel for scrap (Probably 1954)
Sold to Andys Diner (Restaurant) Seattle, WA

The Skagit River Railway was operated by Seattle City Light from 1920 to 1954 and was used to construct 3 hydro electric dams on the Skagit River in Washington State. Motive power was gas railcars, steam, diesel, electric, and even a car barge on Diablo Lake. The line also had a number of former interurban cars. For more info see my website:

http://home.att.net/~wrpn/skagithome.html

> I sure don't know, but I could think of a
> better home for the interurban car,
> especially if it had trucks under it!


History of the Skagit River Railway

Thank you, nice web site and an interesting RR.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

Anyone who has seen even just a picture of the CZ display at the California Adventure knows that the 2 so-called "CZ cars" are not real CZ cars by any stretch of the imagination. And they don't come anywhere near to being accurate replicas of the real thing, either. Lucky for passenger car enthusiasts everywhere they didn't use real cars for this display, though for whatever reason they did use the nose of a real F unit.

Danville, IL: There is a fluted streamline car serving a bar/restaurant along Illinois Highway 1.
Chicago:
An Evanston Street Railways car is/was a diner on the north side.
A Rock Island coach body is a dining room along Congress Street downtown.
A pair of IC MUs were inside and part of a restaurant in a northwest suburb, I think along US 20 in Shaumburg.
Milwaukee:
There is a collection of equipment on the south side which you can, on occasion, have a drink and some meals inside. Its almost like a club.
Sacramento/Citrus Heights,CA:
A Victoria's Station is serving a second life as a Mexican restaurant, along I-80.

This is indeed one of the Bullets- car 128 to be specific. Unfortunately it suffered the indignity of having standee windows cut into it on one side and the front had the streamlined windshields replaced with something of a "Huntington Standard" five-window front! The owner let me salvage a set of headlight resistors from under the car some years ago when the restaraunt was under construction.

> This diner started out more "stand
> alone" but has since had the building
> (kitchen, mostly) added on.

> Another little piece of what little remains
> of Utah's Interurban Heritage. :-(

> doc


Orange Empire Railway Museum
jsmatlak@earthlink.net

Thanks for the detailed info. The two interurban car bodies (don't think they're on any trucks) are certainly worth preserving if Andy's Diner ever goes out of business. I had dinner there several times earlier this year and was amazed at their condition. Seats are long gone of course, but the original ceiling, windows and numerous fixtures remain.

Another item of note on Andy's Diner, entombed within the middle of the complex is a steel MU car.Looks like something from the Pennsy, and indeed one of the port holes has a "PRR" casting mark. Perhaps the car came to the Pacific Northwest in US Maritime Commission service in World War II.

Are any other NYW&B cars preserved?
> The two wooden interurban cars were last in
> service on the Skagit River Railway in
> Washington State:

> #18 Builder: American Car Co. Built: 1913
> Length: 56' 4" Body Construction: Wood

> Oregon Electric Railway #132, 62 seat coach
> trailer, motors added late 1913
> Sold to Harmer Steel Co., Portland, OR,
> Dealer
> Sold to S.R.Ry. #18 in July 1934 for $550.00
> Sold to Dulien Steel for scrap March 29,
> 1954
> Sold to Andys Diner (Restaurant) Seattle, WA

> #21 Builder: ? Built: ? Length: ?
> ex-Oregon Electric Railway ?
> Sold to S.R.Ry. #21
> Sold to Dulien Steel for scrap (Probably
> 1954)
> Sold to Andys Diner (Restaurant) Seattle, WA

> The Skagit River Railway was operated by
> Seattle City Light from 1920 to 1954 and was
> used to construct 3 hydro electric dams on
> the Skagit River in Washington State. Motive
> power was gas railcars, steam, diesel,
> electric, and even a car barge on Diablo
> Lake. The line also had a number of former
> interurban cars. For more info see my
> website:

> http://home.att.net/~wrpn/skagithome.html


Orange Empire Railway Museum
jsmatlak@earthlink.net

About 15 years ago, a place called C & R Chicken & Ribs was built east of downtown Salt Lake City using a gutted and modified Union Pacific streamlined coach. (No trucks, openings cut in the side) The restaurant closed a few years later and car was moved to become a different restaurant a few miles south, which also closed after a few years. The car now sits (off the rails) near Union Pacific tracks northwest of downtown Ogden waiting for its next restaurant assignment.

davew833@yahoo.com