Taken in the spring of 1938 and a bit rough, these rare short clips show a couple of passenger trains:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cph7KwNMon8&feature=related

I was a bit surprised by the length of the trains (9 cars on each if I counted correctly). This is a bit more than I thought these fleet Atlantics could handle. So much for preconceived opinions! Both trains appeared to have what I think were called Beaver Tail observation cars on the rear end. I know some of the Sky Top observation cars were saved (and even still operate!) but I don't know if any of these older Beaver Tail obs cars were preserved. Anyone know for sure?

Les

Great find Les. Thanks for posting. The Atlantic is my favorite type. Did they have a spot where they had a sign that said "Reduce to 100". I seem to remember seeing a photo of a Hiawatha passing a curved marked as such.

Tom,

I think the "Reduce to 100" was for the approach to the EJ&E crossing at Rondout.

Kevin

The four earliest Beaver Tail observation cars were, alas, converted to storage mail cars in the early 1950s. This video is of the second (1937) version of the Hiawatha cars. You can tell by the stiffeners (ribs) on the car sides above and below the windows. The nine-car trains weighed only slightly more than the seven-car trains of 1935, due to engineering improvements, so a Class A would have no problem handling them.

Thanks, Les, for the link!

None of the prewar Beavertails, finned or earlier got saved as such.

The Earling in the 261 train was one of these cars. It got converted from a finned beavertail into a baggage-mail car in 1959. So, technically, at least, one got 'saved'. On a really sunny day, if you sight down the side of the Earling, you can see where some of the windows were, and if you look real hard at the vestibule end up against the train, you can see where they chopped off the fancy round end.

Also, there was a 'reduce to 90' sign in Deerfield, at least at the north end of the curve.