Since we got in such a bellyachin' mood over the scrapping of the other car, I'm copying and pasting this from Trains Newswire:

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – The Great Plains Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is selling a former Rock Island commuter coach to raise money for a railroad observation platform it plans to build in Grand Island. The coach, purchased by the chapter in 1992, was trucked to Grand Island from Kansas.

Rock Island No. 2538 was used in commuter service out of Chicago. The car is from the series of cars numbered 2500-2549 and was built by Standard Steel Car Company in 1923. These cars were known as the “Al Capone” coaches because of their vintage and operation out of Chicago. The car has four-wheel trucks and is 81-feet 8-inches long.

For more information contact Great Plains Chapter Treasurer Roger Clark at 308-381-0185, or email rogerclark@qwestoffice.net.

hey IRM... >>>>>

We have 5 of these coaches on the property, 1 more in Iowa awaiting shipment, as well as 2 additional 'flood victims" in Galveston awaiting repair and shipment or "other disposition"

WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE WANT ANOTHER ONE?

Jeff

To assemble an authentic NINE-car Rock Island train set?

[ducks and runs]

I thought these were called "Jessie James" cars? I recall that name from a Trains article about Rock commuter service.

Wesley

Srsly.

File under "ok. ok, we'll preserve one <car type that ran in twos or fives>." "whaddaya mean one?" "well that's representative." /facepalm

Wow! Eight hundred seats, and no moving parts. Ought to be able to make some money leasing those to fan trip operators, instead of the miss-matched stuff most trips run with these days.

Roller bearings, centerplates, journal boxes, equalizers, brake gear, draft gear, cut levers, couplers, brake valves, angle cocks, doors, widows, vestibule gates, walkover seats......NAH.......NO moving parts there...........

Jeff

Those may be slightly older, as the rain gets in through the arrow holes, instead of through the bullet holes in the Al Capone cars.

This actually brings up an interesting side issue, which probably warrants its own thread.

An awful lot of fan trips out there, or at least what we're seeing pictures of, seem split between two types of conveyances:
*The overcrowded "cattle car" commuter (or ex-commuter) coach; or
*First-class parlor/dome/observation/compartment cars, at a rather steep price.

It used to be a matter of routine that first-class accommodations, no matter how inflated the price, was the first group to sell out at any NRHS Convention, any special series of trips, etc. It's rather obvious why: If you can afford it, you want the best. (This also plays into the stereotypes of the NRHS and/or R&LHS as well-to-do retirees.) Meanwhile, the "proletariat"--the students, the folks with families, etc.--are increasingly funneled into commuter cars or Amfleet, yet still expected to pay fares well above a comparable Amtrak fare for an experience little different from a daily trip on the commuter agency or Amtrak, with maybe the only difference being sunlight. Not even a diner, open "Dutch door" or screened baggage door is available to interest passengers.

I have to say that even if our local commuter agencies--MARC, VRE, SEPTA--were still receptive to the thought of weekend excursions (which they aren't), I'd have to think long and hard about whether a commuter train set, with a separate section of the train for the "elite," is really an appropriate way to market railroading, rail history, and an NRHS Chapter to the general public in my area. We saw what happened with the Conrail Historical Society trip up the Susquehanna River with SEPTA "cattle car" commuter cars a while back, and I have no interest in repeating such a scenario.

NRHS chapters and membership hit their peaks when SR and NS provided a nice, comfortable set of open-window and air-conditioned coaches back in the 1970s and 1980s. It has seemingly been downhill since.
The next NRHS convention is in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2013--home of the Alaska Railroad and its "land cruise" trains.............. [insert snide commentary here]

The Alaska RR provides a very comfortable and enjoyable trip tailored for their audience. I'd recommend it to anybody. Railfans are allowed on board like anybody else, but it isn't an all day rare mileage survival trip. Keep their goal and market in mind when passing judgement.

dave

I rode these cars in regular service for a number of years. I was also a member of, or attended, various Chicago-area rail enthusiast clubs during that time. I don't ever recall the cars being described as "Al Capone" or "Jesse James" cars then. To us, they were just 2500's (even though their numbers spilled over into the low 2600's). Me thinks that those terms came later, even perhaps, after the cars were actually withdrawn from regular service.

Les

I think it was simply a Midwest version of calling old beater teens & twenties-era commuter cars a cute name, like the DL&W Boonton cars being dubbed "Wyatt Earp" cars, because of their open platforms and early northeastern tourist railroad use. Was it W.S. Young's magazine that originated that phrase?

Howard P.

I recall the reference to Jessie James cars was in a TRAINS article in the 1980s(?) about Rock Island commuter service. The same article also included the anecdote from a platform crew member: after a lady runs after a departing train, the crew member thanks her for "chasing the train out of the station since he'd been trying to get it to leave all afternoon". Maybe Bro. Mitchell can provide the exact cover date for the story.

It's a joke, son, a JOKE... Back in the days when the debate was whether IRM should even get any Boonton cars, the argument was, compared to the three CB&Q intercity coaches, with a/c and air pressure water systems (not that we were using them) the Boonton cars had "no moving parts." The Rock Island cars are much the same.