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Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4571		 Page 5 of 6
Author:  NS 3322 [ Fri Aug 24, 2018 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
Alan Walker wrote:
I forget exactly where it is, probably the cross roads where you get off I-10 if you're heading to Silver City. Only reason I remember that was I ate there on a trip to Silver City.


Lordsburg or Deming?
Author:  Topfuel [ Fri Aug 24, 2018 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
I recommend the ex-NP North Coast Limited diner "Monterosso's" at 1026 Lee Blvd in Richland, Washington. It's an Italian restaurant where the original owners failed to follow the usual proper protocol of gutting the interior, cutting one, if not several holes in the side of the car, and overall making it look like anything but an old train car. The car is remarkably un-modified from it's use on the Mainstreeter as a buffet diner prior to Amtrak. This is car #451 built by Pullman Standard in 1947. The food is good and it's reasonably priced.

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Author:  NS 3322 [ Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
I recommend the Club Car Grille in Kalamazoo, Michigan. However, the restaurant is temporarily closed as they suffered a fire a few months back and are currently remodeling (the coach was not damaged in the fire).
The car is from the now defunct KLSC tourist operation that was in Paw Paw, Michigan.

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There used to be two more passenger car restaurants in Michigan, Clara's Lansing Station (old Pullman coach) and Fennville Station (ex-Cuyahoga Valley Scenic coach), but they have both since closed. Equipment remains at both sites.
Author:  Dennis Storzek [ Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
I'm surprised no one has mentioned La Estacion In Waukesha, WI. Admittedly, I haven't been in there since it turned into a Mexican restaurant, but the four or five ex-GM&O heavyweights are still there, outside the ex-C&NW station that houses the kitchen, bar, and restrooms. What is missing is the ex- Soo Line 4-6-0, which went to North Freedom when the CNW/SOO crossing was revised with a connector track to accommodate the Wisconsin & Southern. Back when it first opened as an upscale American restaurant in the eighties, I was on the BOD of the Soo Line Historical & Technical Society, and we occasionally had board meetings there, in one of the cars, with lunch afterwards.
Author:  John T [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
China Express Seattle, WA
Franks Diner (2 locations) Spokane, WA
Knight's Diner Spokane, WA
Author:  Alan Walker [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 2:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
NS 3322 wrote:
Alan Walker wrote:
I forget exactly where it is, probably the cross roads where you get off I-10 if you're heading to Silver City. Only reason I remember that was I ate there on a trip to Silver City.


Lordsburg or Deming?


Probably Deming.
Author:  NS 3322 [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
Alan Walker wrote:
NS 3322 wrote:
Alan Walker wrote:
I forget exactly where it is, probably the cross roads where you get off I-10 if you're heading to Silver City. Only reason I remember that was I ate there on a trip to Silver City.


Lordsburg or Deming?


Probably Deming.


I just reached out to the visitors center in Deming and they told me that the restaurant with the passenger car is in El Paso. Does that sound right? I am just personally curious where this car is as I frequently visit the area, and I like finding a restaurant with a railcar attached :) .
Author:  hullmat991 [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
1880 Town in South Dakota has what they call a "50's Diner Train" made up of Santa Fe cars.
Author:  Topfuel [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
"1880 Town in South Dakota has what they call a "50's Diner Train" made up of Santa Fe cars."

That would be the cars in Murdo, SD. Certainly an odd place for Santa Fe lightweight cars to have wandered off to. It is really more of a hot dog stand than a restaurant per se. Both the baggage car and the lunch counter diner are very original. Sadly, the otherwise mint condition full diner has had it's kitchen ripped out and turned into additional seating. A true hatchet job in the grand tradition of RR passenger car "restorations".

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Author:  car57 [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
North of Williamsburg NM and North of a rest area on I-25 is a lonely gas station and restaurant with a passenger car built in, out the bank down the hill is a former SP car as well, I haven't seen any I Deming or Lordsburg but there could be.
Also in Nederland CO is a C&S car and CC baggage car and caboose serving as a restaurant
Mike Pannell
Author:  Mount Royal [ Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
Valhalla Crossing in Valhalla, NY is a restaurant with a former passenger car and a caboose. I haven’t had an opportunity to stop and eat there, so I don’t know any specifics on the cars.

valhallacrossing.com
Author:  WPfan [ Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
For those on the left coast, the Rock and Roll Diner in Oceano, CA has a PS dining car and a Budd round-end obs you can eat in. I believe they are ex-Great Northern and Seaboard respectively, but I won't swear that is correct. The cars are somewhat intact and the food is is pretty good as I recall.

http://www.rockandrolldiner.com/
Author:  Mark Locke [ Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
Bob's Train in Sarasota, Florida is made up of four passenger cars, a mixture of heavyweight and lightweight cars. Interior decor is circus memorabilia and photographs, as Sarasota was the winter home of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Author:  John T [ Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
Here is some more info on Washington diners.

Spokane Knight’s Diner Northern Pacific wood coach #988
http://www.knightsdiner.com/Knights_Diner/Home.html
http://properties.historicspokane.org/_ ... y-1853.pdf

Spokane Frank's Diner Northern Pacific wood observation #1787 and Great Northern #4216 "Laketon"
http://franksdiners.com/

#1787 became Knight's Diner in Seattle in 1938 and was moved to Spokane to become Frank's Diner in 1992.
Author:  Dennis Storzek [ Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Where else can I eat in a parked RR car?
It wasn't clear to me if a "stationary railroad car" includes diners or not. Railroad cars make lousy restaurants; they are too long and narrow and there is no place for a decent kitchen. Most car bodies that have been converted to diners have had part of one side removed to allow at least a separate kitchen, also possibly additional dining room. The flip side is most the neat old cars have long since been converted to diners. Two of my favorites:

Silver Coach restaurant in Stevens Point Wisconsin, on US 10 within a mile west of I-39. This is a 1903 Barney and Smith sleeping car named Glen Flora. The original car body contains the bar, with the original stateroom used as a private dining booth.. Additional dining space is in a wing off the back of the car. This is a fine restaurant and the food is excellent.

Bull Moose Tavern on US 34 in Sandwich, Illinois. This is a 1906 AC&F coach that is remarkably intact inside. For a long time it suffered the indignity of having a fake sheet metal shovel nose applied to the outside of the end that faces the main intersection in town (the CB&Q Denver line passes one block north). Recently the new owner has restored the car to its former glory, although the end that replaces the shovel nose is rather fanciful. The history is almost as bad; once billed as a dining car that ran to the 1893 Colombian Exposition, it is now billed as Teddy Roosevelt's private car. This is a tavern, so the fare is bar food, but the food is good with a good selection of beers. The car is used as a dining room, with the kitchen, bar, and additional dining in a connected building.
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