It is currently Fri Dec 06, 2024 6:23 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 16 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:42 pm 

Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 pm
Posts: 87
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Yesterday, the newly appointed Board of Directors of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad voted to approve the sale of the railroad's three business cars.

Several months ago, the General Manager of the railroad was terminated and the board was asked to resign, amid charges that the GM's spending was excessive and the board did nothing to keep it in check. The three railroad cars are, unfortunately, tangible proof of that extravagence, and it was felt they had to go.

The GM's father worked for the Wabash long ago and so it is no coincidence that there are three Wabash Pullman cars on the property.

Here is the railroad's bid specification:
http://media.nola.com/politics/other/Pr ... 0(03-07-11)[1].pdf

Notice that there is no information about the car's interior configurations. Car City of Peru(it was to be renamed) is 80 percent complete, but work was stopped when it started getting very expensive and the economy tanked(CofPeru hadn't been touched since it left the Wabash...still had friction bearings). Cars were rebuilt by Pete Messina here in New Orleans.They are going to advertise these in typical government type fashion in some publication and will probably not receive much response.

There is hope in New Orleans that somehow the cars can stay here. The railroad donated the use of the cars hundreds of times to charities to auction off as a fundraiser, etc, bringing in over $800,000 to date. They were a great way to give shippers a tour of the port. The railroad took travelers from one end of the French Quarter to the other, along the riverfront, and then up to the top of the Huey P Long bridge.

It was their use as non railroad related private party cars for the exclusive few that lead to news reports and their demise.

For those not up on their Wabash parlor car history:

There were six "identical cousins" built by Pullman. I believe all six still exist. Three are in New Orleans-

QUEEN ANNE(May 1925) plan 3957, became Wabash CITY OF PERU
QUEEN MARY(May 1925) plan 3957, to PRR
CLARA MORRIS(Jan 1927) plan 3957A, became Wabash CITY OF DECATUR
HELENA MODJESKA(Jan 1927) plan 3957A, became Wabash CITY OF LAFAYETTE
DIPLOMAT(Apr 1927) plan 3957B, became Wabash CITY OF DANVILLE
EMBASSY(Apr 1927) plan 3957B, became Wabash CITY OF WABASH

The Public Belt car LOUISIANA is formerly Keokuk Jct Ry CHIEF KEOKUK, Fr Steve Sandknop's SAN ESTEBAN, and Wabash CITY OF WABASH.

Car CITY OF NEW ORLEANS was formerly at the Fernandina Beach, FL CofC named FERNANDINA, was the New Georgia RR BLUE RIDGE, was the Clinchfield WHITE OAK, N&W business car LAFAYETTE, and Wabash CITY OF LAFAYETTE. Served on the DL&W in its early days(before 1945) under Pullman.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:36 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 10:56 am
Posts: 1330
Location: Roanoke Va.
Greg,

Could you check the pdf link? I couldn't open it

_________________
Gary


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:51 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:28 am
Posts: 2727
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Railroad shareholders revolt. New board cuts back on "extravagant" business cars. It is a story as timeless as railroading.

Paging Mr. Levin, know anyone that wants 1 of 3 private cars?

_________________
David M. Wilkins

"They love him, gentlemen, and they respect him, not only for himself, for his character, for his integrity and judgment and iron will, but they love him most of all for the enemies he has made."


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:58 am 

Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 pm
Posts: 87
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Try this:

http://tinyurl.com/2944dp6


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:20 am 

Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:04 am
Posts: 665
Location: Northeast Ohio
Corruption in New Orleans? I cannot believe it!!!


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:32 pm 

Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 pm
Posts: 87
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Wondering how deep in your pocket you must dig?

The Public Belt has spent at least $3 million on these three cars....almost a million dollars on CITY OF PERU alone(and its only 80 percent finished). They stopped working on it as the cost escalated and the economy tanked.

In October the cars were appraised for $1.3 million for all three, so Public Belt will lose lots of invested money on the cars if sold. Also in October the folks from the new Greenbrier Express came down to inspect them. Maybe they will make a bid and keep the cars together.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 6:53 pm 

Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:29 pm
Posts: 397
To be such beautiful cars they sure didn't get photographed very much. If somebody has some nice photos of the cars (or even one of them) maybe we could convince them to post a few? Please?

T7


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:25 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 10:56 am
Posts: 1330
Location: Roanoke Va.
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=1612958

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=2013347

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=1612956

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=1152603

_________________
Gary


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:29 pm 

Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:09 am
Posts: 130
Gary Gray wrote:


So has anyone gotten any pictures of the "City of Peru" today inside and out?


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:08 pm 

Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Posts: 19
Location: Kansas City, MO
Does anyone know where these three cars ended up after New Orleans? They sold about a year ago (2023) and I am curious where they landed.

(Sorry for the revival of an old post)

_________________
Matthew Friel

The Smoky Hill Railway and Historical Society, Inc.
The Belton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad Co.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 16, 2024 3:46 am 

Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm
Posts: 2475
According to this Rainier Rails post viewtopic.php?p=334128#p334128 2 of the 3 were listed on Ozark Mountain. The City of Peru listing still works and shows it as sold: https://ozarkmountainrailcar.com/railEq ... 0Equipment RRPA is a good place to find recent sightings, but it has been up and down tonight, and I haven't found anything about who bought them and where they are now.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 16, 2024 9:27 am 

Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:00 pm
Posts: 129
Higherspeedrailnow wrote:
Gary Gray wrote:


So has anyone gotten any pictures of the "City of Peru" today inside and out?


I know that one of the cars (NOPB "Louisiana") ended up on the Iowa Northern as their "Shell Rock River," unsure about the other cars


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 16, 2024 2:29 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:28 pm
Posts: 466
"City of Peru" is now at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. Excerpt from recent museum newsletter:

"Earlier this year, the “City of Peru” from the New Orleans Public Belt was acquired for future use as a high-end first class/Parlor car on special event trains. The car, now numbered No. 494, will be undergoing restoration soon. The Rail Operations team has started clearing out the car so that work can begin on the interior, as well as purchasing materials. ".


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 16, 2024 3:19 pm 

Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm
Posts: 1653
John D wrote:
"City of Peru" is now at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. Excerpt from recent museum newsletter:

"Earlier this year, the “City of Peru” from the New Orleans Public Belt was acquired for future use as a high-end first class/Parlor car on special event trains. The car, now numbered No. 494, will be undergoing restoration soon. The Rail Operations team has started clearing out the car so that work can begin on the interior, as well as purchasing materials. ".


How does that car fit the collection at Spencer?


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wabash varnish anyone?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 16, 2024 4:19 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm
Posts: 2475
Crescent-Zephyr wrote:
How does that car fit the collection at Spencer?

It once was a generic Pullman, before it was rebuilt with an open platform, so it probably fits anywhere, no matter how tenuously. I can think of a few better fits (e.g., places it would have visited when it was used by the Wabash, possibly as an office car?) but not for the kind of money mentioned in this thread.
On Tuesday, May 7th, 2019, 4th Post on Page #40, Rainier Rails wrote:
99. Queen Anne (Lot #4862, Plan #3957/C/G/H, 5/25, 26 seat-1DR, Black Diamond) to WAB (12/31/45), platform enclosed and renamed City of Peru (with 27? seats) in 12/56 (Plan #3957L), to N&W?, sold at unknown date to Nugent Bros. Roofing Co., resold at unknown date to Danville Industries, resold at unknown date to Smoky Hill RHS, later to storage at Comet Industries (exact ownership at this time unknown), resold circa 2008 to NOPB, plans were to have P. Messina rebuild it to a sleeper, plans cancelled with the shakeup in NOPB management and questions over millions spent on the other 2.


Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 16 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 56 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: