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Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32937		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  PLATFORMCAR [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
Thought some members of the forum might find these photographs interesting, and perhaps could offer some information on the cars located at this abandoned roadside "cafe". I am not that familiar with traction cars, however I did find it interesting that in 2012, you could still drive and find things such as these two classics, in an abandoned roadside restaurant.... The broken neon side reads "Cafe dining cars "

The location is Buellton California along 101 and the photographs are current...

Thought those interested in traction, ( and roadside railroad/traction related restaurants ) would find this of interest.... If this has previously been discussed, my apology in advance.


Dean Levin

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Author:  PLATFORMCAR [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Bulleton California
a few more photographs

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Author:  Charlie [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Bulleton California
Thanks for posting the pictures. Glad to see these cars are still around and in reasonably good condition. Seems like the cafe would make a nice project for the local history museum or group to restore.
Author:  Jim Vaitkunas [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
For those of you trying to find "Bulleton, Calif." on the map, the town's name is actually spelled Buellton.

These are two "Huntington Standard" streetcars, I suspect ex-Los Angeles Railways? I'm sure one of our colleagues from Orange Empire Railway Museum know about these two cadavers and perhaps could elaborate on them?

Here in semi-snowy Minnesota, both the Twin Ports Electric Lines (Duluth-Superior) and Twin City Rapid Transit (TCRT) Company systems established subsidiary companies to sell old streetcar bodies to the locals for use as cabins or storage buildings. Over 200 old TCRT carbodies were thus sold for other uses, most of them for the princely sum of $395 delivered free within a 50-mile radius of the Twin Cities. Our Museum's collection includes the following cars that spent their retirement as lake-side cabins: Winona (Minn.) No. 10; Mesaba Ry No. 10; Duluth No. 265; and, TCRT "gate-car" No. 1239. Nos. 265 and 1239 have been restored and are in service now and we're currently restoring Winona No. 10. More info on our cars can be found at our website shown below.

Thanks!
Author:  Randall Hicks [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Bulleton California
Glad to see some updated pictures. Those are good. I have an entry for them here:

http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2008/ ... tml#Mullen

with a link to a long post on their history.
Author:  J3a-614 [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Bulleton California
Mr. Hicks, I took a look at that "diner" page, and can only say, "Whooee!" Who would know that so much is still around? Now, if only we could raise more money, and get a supply of new trucks, motors, controllers, seats,. . . :-)

In a semi-related way, people are interested in diners in general, although it seems to be a small contingent.

http://www.roadsideonline.com/

It's interesting, if at times distressing, to read similar comments about owners who may not be as cognizant of their property's history as they could be, and who go an mess things up, at least in the view of the would-be preservationists.
Author:  PLATFORMCAR [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
Thanks for the replies.... Very interesting history of something I never knew about....

After being abandoned for so long....amazing it still stands....quite a piece of local history.

I would suspect when 101 was altered to resemble a super highway, the traffic did not roll by the cafes front door....which perhaps caused the business to fail...

Fascinating no less.


Dean Levin
Author:  Randy Hees [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
These are Los Angeles Railway type B, Huntington Standards. LARy had something like 685 of these cars... Today Orange Empire has two or three, two of which are operable, complete cars, there is one at Travel Town on static display, Seashore has one, and I believe that there is one in Oregon at Brooks.

Old Pueblo Trolley has a body, which they intend to restore as a standard gauge Arizona car.

These are pretty common bodies in California.

Randy
Author:  Les Beckman [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Bulleton California
Randall Hicks wrote:
Glad to see some updated pictures. Those are good. I have an entry for them here:

http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2008/ ... tml#Mullen

with a link to a long post on their history.


Randall -

Always enjoyed looking at your list of railroad/or railroad reproduction diners. Two more possibilities:

In Alamo, Michigan (north of Kalamazoo) there is a former steel coach originally built by the Pullman Company in 1910 for the Western Pacific Railroad. Later owned by a number of other companies (including the Rio Grande) and ended up on the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago tourist line running out of Paw Paw, Michigan. The purchaser cut two entrances on one side and added the car to his restaurant after installing tables in place of the seats. I was last in the place a number of years ago and would be interested in knowing if the place (and the car) still are in business.

In Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, a restaurant is located in the old Milwaukee Road depot there but outside of the depot is a dining car which also serves diners. This old heavyweight car has not been altered at all. I can't find my photos of the car right now, but seem to recall it as being ex-Northern Pacific but I may be wrong on that. The local historical society restored the old roofed brick platform across from the depot on the second track, a rather uncommon piece of railroad restoration.

Les
Author:  wilkinsd [ Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
I believe Seashore also has one of these cars as well, complete. The design doesn't allow for an easy conversion to standard gauge though.

It's interesting that these bodies have survived as is. I think preservation and display as a diner would make an interesting exhibit.
Author:  Bob Davis [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cafe "dining car" Buellton California
Orange Empire has two Huntington Standards in the active collection (plus at least two "chicken coops" in the non-public storage area). Usually, cars that have been converted to diners are poor candidates for restoration, although we do have a PE trailers that was a diner and was not to terribly hacked. The Buellton cars have drawn attention for years, and, although I'm not authorized to speak for the museum, I'm reasonably sure that they are A) too far away, and B) too "modified" to be converted back into streetcars.
Anyone interested in a "live" trolley car diner should try the Red Wagon Cafe, south of Shafter CA (northwest of Bakersfield). It's open for breakfast and lunch, and is a popular local place to "put on the feed bag". It started out over a hundred years ago as a Pacific Electric 500-class car. It's not far from the BNSF line between Bakersfield and Hanford.
Another streetcar diner that may or may not be operating right now is east of Castroville CA (Artichoke Capital of the World) near Salinas. It's a former Key System 960-class car; for many years it was still in the Key System Transit Lines paint job (a.k.a. National City Lines "fruit salad". Last time I saw it, the car body was red and white. One side has been cut away to make room for a barbecue setup.

Bon apetit!
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