I can give you any additional info you need on the KCS 42.

The pictures I have of the RPO dorm are color prints, and I don't have a scanner so I don't have any way to post them.

Can you confirm the current owner and location of the 42?

Is the RPO still in Pittsburg? (I understand about the photos.)

Any further info on the sleeper is appreciated. The sleepers have proven to be very elusive.

Also, Erickson owned a baggage car. Any ideas on that one? His name shows up several times in the old list, yet I can’t find much info on him.
Thanks very much for your help!

List updated for Bag/RPO/Dorm #34.

Is this diner in Heavener, OK former KCS?
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... ahoma.html

I've seen this car before, but only as a restaurant. It is shown in a paperback book "Images of Rail, Kansas City Southern"- by Thad Hillis Carter. I have a copy at home and will check to see what the caption says. I think he just labels it as "a former KCS coach" with no further details. I don't believe it was a KCS car. I could be wrong, but KCS didn't save much in the line of heavyweight cars. It's a bit old to be a KCS survivor. Aside from the business cars, there were only four heavyweights to survive. None of those cars were coaches, or as KCS called them, chair cars. As far as I can tell, all of the chair cars were either scrapped or sold to other companies. I could be wrong though.

Randy: Check your PM's.

Checked and response sent. Thanks.

List updated for KCS #42 and KCS #43.

KCS #43 (former BUDD obs. NYC #48) was last reported carrying the mark ARTX 105. It was stored on a siding in Ann Arbor, MI as late as 2012, but is no longer there.

The KCS 43 was sold a few years ago to a guy whose name escapes me, but I believe he moved the car to the operation out of Elkins, WV as I believe he has some affiliation with that operation. I don't think the car is in service there though.

This car had been gutted many years ago when it was down at the Anbel facility in Brownsville, TX circa 1992 so the Art Train people were having the car converted to some sort of business car configuration. Not much original NYC or KCS fabric remaining on that car.

So, I looked at the info I could find on the “Southern Belle” restaurant in Heavener. The background on the car is unclear. The only info the owners had on the car is, “It hauled troops in WWII.” Now, KCS, like many other railroads, moved a lot of troops during WWII. KCS served at least three major military installations. Fort Chaffee, Fort Polk, and Barksdale Field. The cars used in those days included many heavyweight coaches. Upon further digging through an older list, I did find one heavyweight coach that may have survived. That is chair car #176, built in 1905 by the St. Louis Car Co. I don’t have any photos of this car to compare to the car in Heavener. At one time, the Heavener car had the number 180 painted on its side and it’s not the restaurant’s address. I couldn’t find much more than that regarding this car. I suppose it may be #176, but I can’t prove it.

Thanks. I may have located the car. Now, I have to locate the owner and verify it’s status.

Please let me know when you find the info on Erickson’s sleeper. Thanks

Does anyone have contact info for Tom McOwen, owner of 14-4 sleeper “Stuart Knott”?

I'm pretty sure the Stuart Knott also went to mexico circa 1990 when they were still buying up a lot of former US passenger cars. I've got to dig up my mexico passenger car roster.....

The sleepers have proven to the the most difficult to find. Two went to private owners, one to RailTours Intl. and two went to Amtrak. I can’t find any of them so far.

C&NW acquired several relatively modern (at the time) passenger coaches from another railroad post Amtrak which it gutted and converted into sleepers for its business train. I'm not sure about this, but I seem to recall that the cars were ex-KCS cars. If so, they may now be in the UP business car fleet.