This made the Philly news:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_des ... again.html

Anytime I see a six-axle heavyweight back on the rails I am happy.

Mr. Corman can do whatever he wants with his car, as he has a specific purpose in mind.

But I must admit that the interior (e.g. the rail carpet) seems to me a bit cheesy.


When, if ever, I get that kind of money, I'd probably go a different direction.

Until then, congrats to another six-axle on the rails!

cringe, RECHROMING the back hand rails? Also I liked it as a D&M artifact but, to each is his own. I would like to see some detail shots though.

What you don't know is that this car was an ex C&O business car that was 100% original when he bought it and he ripped out the entire interior. This car was so complete that it still had the porters shoe shine kit and you could swear you could smell the cigar smoke in the lounge from the last offical who used the car.

Just for the record, I was in Conrail's executive train not long before the CSX/NS acquisition/split.

The dirty little secret about the Conrail train--and no doubt this applies to every other executive train--is that although a great deal of the train was complete and original, a LOT of "adaptive rebuild" went on over the years, especially in cars that had already been adaptively redone over the years (the full-length dome, a coach rebuilt to a buffet diner, etc.). A lot of the rebuild involved techniques and hardware that owed a LOT more to Home Depot and RV construction than it did to Pullman or Budd.

I mean, the old builders never had to reckon with television screens to show the video from the nose of the loco to Operation Lifesaver riders..... or the ventilation necessary for a microwave oven.......

Fine.

"Corman. . . bought the 1911 Pullman car from the Detroit & Mackinac Railway, where it had been parked for 20 years in the Steam Institute Museum near Flint, Mich."

Where was the offer to acquire this for a C&O museum? Or the B&O Museum? Did the Henry Ford Museum express any interest? Why not? Did anyone else offer Corman a car more appropriate for gutting--like, say, the ex-PRR, ex-Ohio Ry. Museum Z62 "Williamsport" at Dennison, Ohio discussed earlier? And do we have any proof that the C&O interior was hurled into dumpsters and not carefully set aside for eventual re-installation?

As it turns out, we have quite a few "authentic" and preserved railroad business cars out there--one could almost argue too many, relative to their actual importance and role in railroad history. I would MUCH rather we worry about some of the last C&O coaches, or Pullman day coaches, or PRR P70's...........

Assembling an operating train of 7-10 P-70's (of any configuration) is a great feat than getting #1361 back together to haul them. Just sayin'... The PRR, bless them, saved the horses but not the carriages. And *most* of the P-70's left are in deplorable condition. The best survivors I knew of are now scrap or already scrapped. The ones that have been carcasses for ever seem to still be around. Ironic.

Is anyone actually hauling tourists in a P-70 these days?

There are a bunch in south Jersey, but I don't think any are being used. True?

Rob

The ones in southern NJ, if I recall right, were acquired in part from the fleet that the Texas-Mexican Ry. used for intercity passenger service for a spell in the mid-1980s. That would have been the last "fleet" usage.

One P70, later used on the Adirondack RR (Lake Placid service 1980) and then the West Shore RR in Pa., with later plush long-distance seats, is part of the "business train" of the North Shore/Lycoming Valley that was just "mothballed" in Berwick, Pa. for storage for its owner, now no longer a NSHR/LVRR employee. Another one, apparently an ex-PC and Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum junk line refugee, is still sitting on a back track in Northumberland, Pa. along with two derelict Lackawanna MU cars that have had nothing done to them since their acquisition by a restaurateur in the late 1980s.

The Austin Steam Train Association has five P-70's in service, and one more that was damaged in transit that is now used for storage. Texas State Railroad also has one in service,albeit modified somewhat.

Interesting! I had though they were all out of Texas. Thank you for the update!

ADM, I wondered what happened to that Adirondack car. I knew at least one of their fleet was still around, but did not know where.

Thanks!

Rob

If this is the car I think it is, keep in mind that the heir to the D&M, who a few years ago also sold off the Central Michigan Railroad, isn't the kind of person who would even give away his empty pop cans for free, and could not care less about SRI or anyone else in the preservation movement. That's not a criticism, it's his decision on who he wants to support or not. So, any inquiries from a museum or similar organization would likely have fallen on deaf ears.

Chris.

The interior of the car looks a lot like the 3 Budd-build cars RJ Corman uses on his "My Old Kentucky Dinner Train" operation, based out of Bardstown, Kentucky. The 4 car train (including one full lenght kitchen car) was rebult and the interior looks much like this car.

RJ Corman runs a first-class operation, no matter what secor of the railroad business you find him in. His locomotives are washed regularly, employees are generally friendly, and grounds are kept spotless. I know someone who once worked for a railcar rebuilder in Louisville, KY. His employer did a contract job for Corman for an order to rebuild canvas-sided box cars to be used to serve a large aluminum mill on his Memphis Line. The employee recounted how a Corman employee inspected every single car in the order, and found "defects" (usually cosmetic) with almost every car. The employee recounted that other customers would normally only inspect the first car or two of an order. Needless to say, Corman as a company, appears to really try to put a positive foot forward.