I am not very knowledgeable about the Great Northern; so I hope I have this data from the roster right.

After at time at the Asti Winery in the Napa Valley winery this lightweight Empire Builder car has been picked up by the Pacific Locomotive Association d/b/a the Niles Canyon Railway in 2019. The car had been on the Eureka Southern, the old NWP where it got a Daylight paint scheme; however they plan to put back the Empire Builder green.

The A,C & F built the diner-coffee shop Hidden Lake for the Empire Builder in 1951 with 14 stools at the bar and 34 seats at the tables. Two murals by western artist Hick Eggenhoffer are behind the coffee bar. The museum is lucky they did not get painted over!

For photos and illustrations of the interior, go to the PLA roster of passenger cars. The first restoration project was the repair of the kitchen window. A section of exterior siding had been damaged below the window and the exterior window frame was replaced. The interior window frame was stainless steel and was still able to hold the glass.

The PLA recently got a grant to continue the work on the car. Someday it will once again be an exciting example of 1950s western style decoration. Needed work includes new imitation cow hide upholistry and new carpeting. When the work is complete the car will run on the PLA's famous Train of Lights at the Christmas season.

Ted 66

Wayner shows GN 1242 Hidden Lake was indeed built by ACF in 1951 as a "Ranch" lunch-counter lounge car for the 1951 edition of the Empire Buiulder. I believe it was intended as an economy food and lounge car for the coach passengers.

As built it had 14 lunch counter seats, a dinette section with two 4-seat tables and two 2-seat tables, and a lounge section with 18 chairs, all facing inward. Over the years the dinette section was expanded to 30 table seats, replacing some of the lounge chairs.

Phil Mulligan

Great Northern 1244, another ranch-style dining car, also exists, and quite a bit of money was raised through a gofundme to move it from Ohio to Minnestota, but it was caught in the upheaval at MTM: viewtopic.php?p=323996#p323996

I remember turning those cars at Detroit, overnight, in the mid 70's when they were used as the food car on the Detroit to NYC trains #63 and #64. The ranch dining car would run between the rear coach, which was used for "international" passengers to and from Canada stations (St. Thomas and Windsor, I believe), and a coach and combine in front which were used by the through passengers from and to the US (east of Niagara Falls and Buffalo). The US Customs & Immigration folks would beet the train each night at the Michigan Central Station, when it arrived from Windsor. I don't remember any Customs & Immigration presence before the morning departure. The Canadian passengers would use the tables, and the American passengers would use the lunch counter seating. Essentially, the international dividing line was a chain between the two areas. On rare occasions we would see a former Lewis and Clark food car in Detroit, mostly around the holidays.