I'm kinda piggybacking off the VLIX thread with this. I just recently found out about Southwind Rail Travel Ltd. out of Wilkes-Barre, PA. Being as I consider myself an amateur rail historian, I've been trying to find information about this company, especially since it's still in business, but I've found next to nothing online other than that they own the D&H RS36 currently on the Upper Hudson River Railroad. So now I turn to the knowledgeable members of RYPN for any info you all may have.

I think they also own a former L&N lightweight coach off the "SouthWind", a former B&M coach "Chickadee" and a former B&O "Bird" 16-4 sleeper, as well as the aforementioned RS-36.

I knew about the Southwind (obviously where the name came from), but I didn't know about the other ones. Thanks

L&N 60 seat coach #3262 (AC&F, 1955, Lot #04-4403, South Wind)

Of the thirteen cars built in this Lot as #3253-#3265, eleven (#3254-#3264) were acquired by Amtrak in 1971 as #6050-#6060. #3265 had been wrecked in 1958 and #3253 was sold to Steiner Lift Company in 1968.

From the Randall volume: of the eleven cars sold to Amtrak, seven are listed as being retired and sold in 1976. Of those seven, four (#3255, #3257, #3259, #3263) were sold to Ampol, #3256 was sold to Air Hydraulics (I had noted this car as being sold to Purdy in 1977, so maybe it changed hands a year later), #3258 was sold to a C.W. McKinley, and #3264 was sold to the Maine Central for MofW service. In 1977, Amtrak sold two more cars: #3260 went to a "Hunts Station" which is listed as being located in "Full, Texas" (a town that I searched for, but apparently doesn't exist!) and #3261 went to Rail Service Industries (Mira Loma, CA). Also that year, #3254 was pulled from revenue service and converted to an Amfleet buffer car as #10602.

This leaves the car now owned by SRTX, #3262, which is listed by Warner/Simon as being sold in 1/1983. One can assume that it was retired around the same time as the other cars (1976 or 1977, I'd lean towards '76) and was put in storage (maybe Beech Grove, could've been anywhere). Nice to know that it's still around.



There were eleven 16DXR-4DB sleepers built in 1954 by Budd in Lot #9658-137 to Plan #9536 and numbered as B&O #7100-#7110.

Of these eleven, eight (#7100-#7102, #7105, #7107-#7110) were sold to SCL in 1969 as #6700-#6707 (were these cars actually owned by Hamburg?), which went to Amtrak in 1971 as #2010-#2017 for Slumbercoach use, and the cars were renumbered in 1976 to #2530-#2537 for regular sleeper use.

#7103 Kingfisher and #7104 Mocking Bird were sold to Ringling Bros., also in 1969. Both are stilll on the active RBBX roster as #41402 and #41401 respectively.

#7106 Quail had been wrecked at Thurmond, WV, in 3/1967.

Of the eight cars that went to SCL/Amtrak:

#7101 Cardinal has been listed for sale on the Gateway website recently, apparently having suffered minor wreck damage at some point.

#7102 Gull is now at the Museum of the American RR in Frisco, TX, having been acquired from ITAX.

#7105 Oriole was sold to the B&O Museum in 1993.

#7108 Swan was sold to Anbel in 10/1980.

#7110 Wren was sold to Ringling Bros. in 1988 and is now RBBX #41409. The three cars owned by Ringling are very easy to spot in the consist of the Red or Blue trains, as one can see where the upper roomette windows have been removed.

That means that the SRTX car is one of the following:

#7100 Bobolink
#7107 Robin--listed as being sold in 1991
#7109 Thrush



B&M 56 seat coach 10 seat smoking lounge #4806 Chickadee (P-S, 1947, Lot #W6778, Plan #W46352)

One of sixteen cars, with half owned by MEC as #240-#247, and half owned by B&M as #4800-#4807. MEC sold their cars in 1960 to MP as #770-#777, changed to #481-#488 in 1963. B&M sold their cars in 1957 to Wabash as #1417-#1424. The cars went to N&W in the merger as #1824-#1831, but only four of the cars (#1827, #1829-#1831) were renumbered as such. The other four cars were sold to NJDOT in 1968, which also acquired MEC #244 (the other seven went to NdeM via Edwards). NJDOT sold their five cars to Naparano in 1974. Of the four cars actually renumbered to the N&W #18xx-series:

#1827 (#4803 Black Bird/#1420) was sold in 1971 to the Roanoke Chapter and and saw use with the old SOU-NS steam program. This car is now at Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois.

#1831 (#4807 Snowbird/#1424) was converted to air brake instruction car #405 in 1969. NS sold the car to the Nashville & Eastern in 1988. Current status unknown.

#1829 (#4805 Oriole/#1422) and #1830 (#4806 Chickadee/#1423) were sold in 1971 to Jones Properties, which in turn sold the cars to Railroad Passenger Cars Incorporated. The #1829 (RRP #6600) was used on the Chessie System Safety Express as car #15. I don't know if the #1830 saw use on either the Steam Specials or Safety Express. I also don't know the current whereabouts of the #1829.

Sources:

1. "Streamliner Cars Volume One: Pullman Standard" by W. David Randall (RPC Publications, 1981)

2. "Streamliner Cars Volume Two: The Budd Company" by W. David Randall (RPC Publications, 1981)

3. "Streamliner Cars Volume Three: ACF - Other Builders" by W. David Randall (RPC Publications, 1982)

4. "Amtrak by the Numbers" by David C. Warner and Elbert Simon (White River Productions, 2011)

These cars were unique amongst lightweight cars as they had belt rails and exposed rivets. I did not know of this car.

Anyone know the condition of it?

"I've been trying to find information about this company, especially since it's still in business, but I've found next to nothing online other than that they own the D&H RS36 currently on the Upper Hudson River Railroad."


If this is the RS-36 I believe it to be, the individuals involved value their privacy, with one going so far as to abjure any connection to the cybersphere.

But it's a leasing business. How is one to get a hold of them if they value their privacy? And before you pull the "phone number" line, I haven't even been able to find that.

A brief Google search shows the company as being located at 228 Hanover Street, Wilkes Barre, PA 18702-3532, (603) 943-4433. The only officer listed is Michael G. Kelly.

Jim Tatum