It looks like we have a good history detective game going here.

So far, ACL NAPLES and GN 1148 have been added to the list. These were both one car add-on orders which makes them difficult to spot in the records that I have. In particular, GN 1148 appears to be different from the original 1947 Empire Builder cars in that it has tables rather than lounge chairs at the end opposite the dormitory. The clue: GN listed the 1148 in the Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment as a Cafe-Lunch-Dormitory while 1140-1144 were listed as Lounge-Lunch-Dormitory.

I found 6 more cars with this unusual table arrangement: GN 1240-1245, the Ranch cars from the 1951 Empire Builder. These had 4 tables in the center of the car and were the only ACF built cars that I know of to use this seating plan.

Frank; did your search turn up anything on the 2 FEC cars which went to SCL and later, Amtrak.

Don C; you did not show a disposition for the Train of Tomorrow car, I think it was later UP 8010. It was out of the Register by 1962, so I am assuming it was scrapped rather early by UP.

Both D&RGW/D&H cars survive in Glenmont NY on disconnected track. They will probably be scrapped within two years since the land is going to be redeveloped. The land owners have no idea who currently owns them....they would probably donate them to whoever had a good plan to remove them.

Galt House got some buffer damage while out for painting. It seems that someone forgot to put an idler on the car before they tried to switch it and todays close mount locos were too close. The rumor is that the loco lost its ditch lights in the incident, so they deifintiely knwe it happened. We plan to get the work done in spring and then get it back in its display position for guests to visit.

Another dining car restoration not mentioned is the restoration of GN coach-diner (do they qualify?) 1146 by Eric Hopp. The car was originally built for service on the GN's International, and is now resident on the campus of the Minnesota Transportation Museum at the Jackson Street Roundhouse in Minneapolis. Mr. Hopp maintains a website detailing the ongoing preservation and restoration of the car at this site:

http://www.erixrailcar.com/

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

I am not sure of the California State Railroad Museum's display diner; it may be Sante Fe.

But is is filled with a mind bending array of railroad china and silver. Not just western railroads like the SP and Santa Fe, but Baltimore and Ohio Centennial place settings, Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads and so on. And of course Pullman settings.

That car must have more railroad china on display than any other museum in the country.

Ted Miles

The diner inside the building at Sacramento is Santa Fe #1474 -"Cochiti" from the very first streamlined Super Chief.

See this feature page from the Museum's website: Cochiti

Three cars from the first streamlined Super Chief of 1937 still survive:
Diner #1474 - "Cochiti" at California State Railroad Museum
Sleeper-Obs - "Navajo" at Colorado Railroad Museum
Lounge #1370 - "Acoma" on the Santa Fe Southern

"Three cars from the first streamlined Super Chief of 1937 still survive:"

Diner #1474 - "Cochiti" at California State Railroad Museum
Sleeper-Obs - "Navajo" at Colorado Railroad Museum
Lounge #1370 - "Acoma" on the Santa Fe Southern

A 4th car from the original lightweight Super Chief still exists, though it does not seem to be widely known among passenger car fans. The baggage car is privately owned (and for sale) in South Carolina. It had been in stationary use with 3 other cars since the 1970's. How it ended up so far from Santa Fe country is anybody's guess. This car is very easy to identify because it still has the short 3/4 hight baggage doors that I'm sure were a real headache to work.

We're still working on it. But like a number of other projects, it has taken a back seat lately to the M.177, restoring the crane, our new REA truck and keeping the diesels running. It sometimes seems like we're just trying to keeps all the plates spinning.

Greg

http://www.wfsb.com/news/17982560/detail.html

Question is: "Is the trolley worth saving or has the diner so corrupted it?"

Sloan

Answer: as noted in the article's comments section, it isn't a former trolley, but among a number of prefabricated diners built by the Patterson Vehicle Co. (You will find that diner historians/geeks are as bad as, if at times not worse than, railroad geeks.)

As a purpose built diner (non railroad) in itself is is worth preserving...

How may are aware of IRM's dinner preservation efforts... they built it into their food service building, and were nearing the end of the exterior restoration last year when I visited...

As you enter their campus, your find a core area with nice lawns and trees, low walls built from granite blocks with the names of railroads, salvaged from buildings, sign gardens and, oh, yes, trains and trolleys... I suspect your average non rail fan guest understands that they are visiting a museum (I don't think we are all so successful in this regard.)

Thanks for the compliments. The ceramic/metal panels for the Salem Diner have arrived, and Dave Diamond has been installing them subject to the weather and lots of higher-priority tasks. Once it's done I'll update the photos in my Roadside Diners page. And Mr. Mitchell is right, there are lots of diner fanatics out there, most of whom concentrate on the manufactured diners rather than converted railroad cars. Chacun a son gout!

Update:

Now THIS is a trolley car diner!

http://myfoxphilly.cityvoter.com/trolle ... /biz/12233

(By sheer coincidence it turned up on a beer-search-engine site, I swear.....)

Not to get you ACL/SAL fans all in a lather, but there is a ACL heavyweight diner still in existence, albeit in modifed form... ;^)

From our website:

"Erie Lackawanna Diner 741 was constructed by the Pullman Car Company at Pullman, Ill., in 1925 to Lot #4916, floor plan 3952. Lot 4916 consisted of an order for 14 83-foot, heavyweight diners. Five of the cars were assigned to the Illinois Central, and the remaining nine cars were assigned by Pullman to the Atlantic Coast Line. On the ACL, future EL 741 carried the number 7, which was painted on the lower stretch of the car over the truck centers. "Atlantic Coast Line" was painted on the letterboard, with "Dining Car" painted in the lower stretch in the center.

In August of 1927, the Erie acquired the first four of the ACL assigned diners from Pullman. They were assigned Erie numbers, 944, 945, 946 and 947. Two of the new cars were assigned to trains 1 and 2 between Jersey City and Buffalo, and two in trains 3 and 4 between Jersey City and Chicago. The other five cars, including 741 (Erie 941), were acquired by 1930, and placed in general service by the Erie. Seating capacity was 36 persons."

Of course the Erie's 1949 remodeling of the car radically altered her appearance, but yes, we've got another ACL car for the list!

Best Regards,
John Isaksen
ELDCPS

ITM has Louisville & Nashville diner Cross Keys Tavern, #2728. I think they periodically run this on trips and have had food service on board at various times. I think this car a sister to Galt House at IRM, not sure how similar they are at this point.

David Farlow