The "Chief Cut-in-half" was a 12-1 sleeper with half mahogany and half walnut interior. It had a special tropic top and safari windows for running in hot environments...as well as steel stair treads instead of hard rubber. It had roller towels in place of the folded Pullman linen towels and nickle-plated cuspidors. The car is stored in an old coal mine along with the 4502 and a perfectly preserved Stag Beer reefer.

I didn't know a Stag Beer Reefer survived (S.T.R.X. reporting marks?) I thought they had all been destroyed in a midnight raid by employees of the Manufacturers Railway Co. and St. Louis Refrigerator Car Co. (S.L.R.X.). (Both M.R.S. and S.L.R.X. were Anheuser-Busch Properties)

T7 and Mincy.... ( and Mr Wilkins ) and the forum ..

In the spirit of interesting discussion....( for T7 ) .... I think you might have missed the opportunity to share the ( real ) story of a specific ( real ) car in your geographic area, that went from an operational running car to a rusted out heap, brought on by under capitalized dreamers with big plans and little knowledge... Which all apparently started by removing the roof of a certain business car ... and then just walked away.... Now if that story has to remain in the vault of failed projects by under capitalized big dreamers never to be discussed, so be it, no matter how unfortunate it might be..... ( as that vault is likely nearly full ) I would happily share a case of Stag ( cans ) to hear that story.....

and....

for Mincy....I take exception to you questioning the credibility of my source on the Richmond ... First off, despite your belief that this gentleman lacks the basis of truth in his information, I might remind you, that this gentleman at one time was a visionary in passenger car restoration.... For it was he 30 plus years ago, who was not-afraid to spray multiple coats of Dupont Centari... while others rolled on Dutch Boy....It was he who had the vision to run on the mainline, while others spent their time on the weed covered siding.... and although he no longer polishes brass nor does he hang the markers, ( he now spends his time at sea ) there is much to be learned from his first hand knowledge..... In his time, his creativity was shared by only a handful of farsighted operators whose imaginative spirit gave way to making car operation on the mainline, a possibility....

and....

For Mr. Wilkins... I think T7 might have unfortunately lead you to believe that a Stag reefer exists.... Although it is a warm and appealing thought.... Unfortunately, I do not believe a billboard Stag reefer exists.....( which is indeed unfortunate ) ..

and....

perhaps Ken can tell the story of the Richmond ( and if he personally saw evidence of it being cut in half ) in a bit more detail.... it would be appreciated...and certainly be interesting....

Best Wishes to all this holiday


Dean Levin

Hey, hey we're the scappers
scapped every choo choo in town
we cut up all the passenger cars
and it made everybody frown.

Tryin to act cool...
he just wanted to run
but he pulled off the ro-ooof
to let in the sun.

(apologies to the Monkees)

T7

Sadly, I doubt there are many, if any real, genuine billboard reefers in existence. The A-B Billboard car at MOT looks awfully like a repainted version of the ART wood side reefer it's coupled to....

Did Stag actually have billboard cars? Sounds like a fun modeling project.

Ahhh.....Mr. Levin are you forgetting that both you and I had dinner together with your "credible" source this past summer and it took many many drinks before I could even start to believe the stories from your so called "visionary". Perhaps you should start to idolize Magalia Gorilla instead of Mr. Magoo!!!!!