I am told that Orange Empire -- back in the Trolley Museum era -- had an opportunity to acquire a wooden Pullman from one of the movie studios. While some wanted to get it the "powers that be" at the time still saw the organization as a Trolley Museum and did not want to pursue it. Some interior and exterior hardware were salvaged and did make it to Perris.

The car was the SHAHALA built in September 1909 to Plan 2078J for the Northern Pacific Association. Withdrawn from the NP Assoc. in 1917 and then sold by Pullman 12/31 to Warner Bros. The car was in the studio back lot, without trucks, and with some sections gutted for camera equipment.

Can I extend this question a little further? I'm wondering if there may be any cars in places like South America, where I believe some Pullman sleepers were exported.
I don't know much about the existence of museums in other countries, so if anyone who does, their help would be appreciated.
It's getting a bit scary to contemplate the possibility that I'm restoring the only turn-of-the-century Pullman sleeper left in the world!!!
Cheers, Bob

When I was citing the Omemee at the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel in Cranbrook, BC, I should also have mentioned the sleeper-parlor-observation car Curzon, also a Soo Line car, built by Barney & Smith in 1907 for the joint CP - Soo Soo - Spokane - Pacific service. While not the classic open section sleeper, it did have five staterooms:

http://www.crowsnest.bc.ca/soospokane/curzonstory01.html

This may be one of the most complete wood sleepers in existence.

Note to Jim Vaitkunas, I would not expect the Valhalla to have a steel underframe. The Soo only had eight cars so retrofitted; 1909 built wood sleeper-parlor-obs cars Winnipeg, by AC&F in 1921; sister car Twin Cities, by Pullman in 1926; and then six wood diners sent to Pullman for heavy rebuilding in 1928. The balance of the wood car fleet remained unmodified and was retired in the early thirties.

The Winnipeg survived late in work service, was purchase by the CMRT, and the Curzon was slid onto the AC&F underframe and trucks.

I don't wish to hijack the thread, but I just have to ask if anyone knows the current whereabouts of Walter Loftin Jr, and his ex-EJ&E car. Loftin allowed the Everett Railroad to use the car during their first foray into the excursion business as an extra-fare car.

I'd love to track down the car sometime. I've seen very few, if any, good photographs of it in service on the EV. Once the Everett quit hauling passengers, it's like the car up and disappeared.

Keith Burkey

Keith, is it worth joining this Yahoo Group to find out?

http://finance.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/eje/

I couldn't find anything here, though maybe I'm not looking in the right places:
http://www.ejearchive.com/index.html

I am not sure if the "Illinois" is the car, but this EJ&E varnish is for sale, currently located in the woods near the Wisconsin Dells...
http://trains-trams-trolleys.com/home/wisconsin.htm

Ye Gods!!!! We hear over here in Australia about depressed property prices in the US, but that's just insane! If that place were put on the market here, it'd go for that price in about 2.5 seconds! You could add another nought on to that price and it'd still seem reasonable if it's all that it's cracked up to be.
Where's my credit card?????
Cheers, Bob

Hang on, maybe I've just made a goose of myself. Perhaps it's the car only that's $150,000.
Still, a nice bit of kit for that price, especially if it's fundamentally trafficable.
Be nice if some museum could snap it up.
Cheers, Bob

Olin and Gary -

This is really a beautiful car. And boy, it sure would fit in with our museum as we are in the J's backyard, so to speak. But I am pretty sure the museum does not have the $150K to purchase it. Let alone the bucks to move it. Too bad.

I am a little curious as to the description of the car as being a wood bodied car that had been steel sheathed. BUT, it appears in the photos that that is wood siding! Now I know that some car builders built their first steel cars with steel that looked like wood because passengers were afraid of being struck by lightning in a steel car. But I have never heard of a wood car that was later sheathed in steel, where this sheathing had this "fake" wood look. Did such rebuilds actually exist?

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Les, This is definitely not the same car I was talking about, although I do remember Walter telling me about this one. Same approxomate age, but Walter's car was a sleeper-observation, with no galley or dining space. I notice that this car was numbered 40. Walter's car was EJ&E 50.