Ok, let’s try this again...Some how page timed out while trying to post this the first time...

Here we go again. First off I'm looking for information on the PRR Pullman Lightweight Sleeper City of Wheeling and when it left service and how it ended up resting for the last 40+ years in a scrap yard in Greenville SC. (Yes I did have permission from the scrap yard to look at, explore and photograph this car)

Presently and for a little while longer according to its present owner, Dixie Iron & Metal Co of Greenville SC, who will be cleaning up the mostly closed scrap yard, and the Pullman car in question is to be scraped some hard to find parts here if you need them this is the time.

On a recent work related trip to Greenville I noticed what looked like a railroad car roof at the edge of the rail yard and sure enough it was. After further inspection in turned out to be the following:

Pennsylvania
Lightweight Pullman Sleeper, City of Wheeling
Built for General Service in December 1938

Here is the following was able to collect out of my Pullman books:

18 Roomettes
Plan 4068H, Lot 6563
Pullman-Standard
Built in 1938
Car Number: 8065
Car Name: City of Wheeling

This information from the Pullman Company list of cars as of 1961"

Car Code: 1240
Car owner: PRR
Car Name: City of Wheeling
Plan No: 4068H 18 RMT
Diagram No: 275
Trucks: 43-R

The car is reported by local co-workers to have been in the scrap yard since at least the mid 1970's. The Sleeper is presently lying on its side and has been since the 1970's from what I've been told. The car does not show any signs of having been wreck damaged or serious signs of fire from what I was able to tell. Though it has been subject to "metal collectors" and the elements for at least four decades! The Pullman-PRR paint on the side now top of the car is in remarkably good shape given its exposure to the direct sun and weather. The side of the car is still painted in PRR colors and lettered for Pennsylvania on the letter board with Pullman in each upper corner, and the car name is still there, City of Wheeling. The cars trucks are long gone as is the siding that once serviced the scrap yard but evidence shows it was there. The car is now sitting on its side making up a portion of the property line between the scrap yard and the Greenville Norfolk Southern Yard. Looks to be a very early example of a lightweight car with many heavyweight style appliances still mounted to the bottom of the car. The car looked to be very complete when it left service and appears to have arrived at the scrap yard shortly after leaving service, with no paint or lettering changes noticed.

Please note I have talked to the Scrap yard owner about saving the tight lock couplers and related draft gear and related hardware from the car but after further inspection they are of a style I do not have a use for and while in great shape they do have a very unique mounting style to the draft gear, not something I’m familiar with and hope that if someone out there who does have a need for this type of draft gear can make use of this opportunity. The owner of the scrap yard said that when clean up starts that he would set the ends of the car aside so that the couplers and draft gear could be harvested. As well if someone was interested from what I can tell one could get at least 2 to 3 five gallon buckets full of Lightweight lights, hooks, parts, room vents, signs, and other cast interior components for use on other restorations. I don’t have the time nor use for lightweight parts and hope that maybe someone else does. Keep in mind this ar has been here for 40+ years and many of the easily removable parts are gone but many smaller parts and pieces of hardware are still her, not a full cars worth of parts but if you needed some hard to find parts or hardware this could be it, while not worth driving a distance for smalls but if in the area maybe or if you were in the market for couplers and larger parts could be a bargain.

Please look over the attached images showing the car as viewed recently.

End view City Of Wheeling:


Side-Top view City of Wheeling:


Bottom view City of Wheeling:


Detail view of coupler on City of Wheeling:


Detail of Shank on coupler of City of Wheeling:


Detail of Connection between Coupler Shank and Draft gear:

Opportunity knocks. Does look like a great resource of parts for others. I also appreciate the fact you went about getting access in the proper and legal manner. That probably gained you the ear of the current owner, and made salvage possible for other interested parties.

Any of these in there? I am trying to help some folks come up with 10 of these fixtures

Quick answer is no, not from what I could tell from what was there All the lights where round-cylinder in shape with milk glass tube type shades, very deco. I'll provide an example image of the types of lights in the car as soon as I can.

Steve

Sad yet fascinating at the same time. I'm sure the car being on its side made interior exploration problematic... I'm reminded of "The Poseidon Adventure" where they have to move through the ship upside- down!

If I were Mr. Pullman, I'd grab everything out of the car I could; he might not have use for it, but it's likely somewhere somebody else will, and this is a last opportunity.

I'm more than a little blue about this--I'm from Wheeling, W.Va., originally, and didn't even know about this car. Fascinating to see that it has been there so long (take a look at those trees!), but I hate to think of what the side facing the ground must look like.

I agree with J3a-614, if the car can't be saved, save every last light fixture, ceiling vent, etc. possible. Hey, maybe the end doors could be saved as well. I'd also look in various cracks and crevices for old tickets and other small items that often appear in these old cars.

It's likely that some museum somewhere will have a use for the parts, and, well, "they don't make them like they used to".

I'm certain most of you have seen the great Youtube video, "The Man with a Train in his Basement"?
I'm not certain the the underside has to be ruined. Likely, there is damage from water, but depending on the paint when turned over, it might be in fair shape.
I suppose it's too far gone to talk about whether this car is worth trying to turn upright and review as a possible keeper? Are there sufficient representatives of this type?
By all means, salvage, salvage, salvage!

The guy with the train in his basement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMnWdIWjWs

Absolutely amazing! I remember reading about another guy who built a cab from an EMD F7 in his basement with a control stand that controlled his nearby model railroad. Maybe we need a separate thread to show all of these. Are there others?

Les

And people tell me I'm crazy. . .

Actually, I'm glad he admits the two prerequisites for something like this are

(a) be totally insane, and

(b) have an amazing wife.

Sooner or later he won't be in that house for one reason or another (let's hope it is a long way off, of course), but I wonder what the next purchaser of the house is going to think of it.

Some brain cell tickling going on after watching that bit. . .

Some years back I got to go on an "open house" tour of several model railroads in the vicinity between Hagerstown, Md. and Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. One fellow in Maryland not only had a model railroad in the basement, but a caboose on a short piece of track in a side yard. It helped that he was in the construction business and had the equipment to move this thing himself.

I got to go through the car with him, and of course in addition to its classic caboose equipment, he had added things like a radio, television, electric lights, and so on. One thing that was missing was a telephone, though. I asked him about that, and his reply was, "One of the reasons I got this was to have a place to get away from my wife!" Whooee!

I have a friend in a nearby town in West Virginia who's a professional writer, among other things having been an editor for Sea Power magazine. He has a huge collection of books, possibly 30,000 volumes, covering all sorts of subjects from ancient Egypt to Winston Churchill and oil depletion and, of course, lots of stuff on railroads (heavy emphasis on the B&O). To hold all this and have a good place to write he built a library building on his property that's fully as big as his house, and actually has one more level that the house does. I told him about the gentleman in Maryland, and his comment--picture it as coming from Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason" intellectual character--was, "Of course, D----, why do you think I built this library? Every married man needs such a place."

I'm going to have to get me such a place. . .

I would assume that various car interior items will be taken when the guy moves. So the next purchaser has a very nice storage room at the least.

Les

How about a real caboose built into the interior of a house?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU62AubEsOY

Parts Anyone…

If anyone would like parts off the City of Wheeling, please contact me as I received a call today from the owner and he offered to donate any parts one would want off the City of Wheeling to a good home and all they ask is that there fathers name is recognized as the donor of on the project they go too. The Car still has lighting, trim parts , vents and small details to offer as well as Type "T" tight lock couplers with related draft Gear. Car does still have at least one good end door and many light weight window frames. As well the four marker light brackets are still there. I know these items are smalls for the most part with exception of the couplers and draft gear but they are free to a good home. I live 4-1/2 hours away and will not be making a special trip down there for any of these parts. I've been there twice already once while in town with work the other when stopping by while on another parts collection trip nearby. I hope someone could use the type "T" tight lock set as they would work well for a car in captive service...and they show very little use and are complete. Anyway the owner said the car should be around till June this year (2013) and if anyone would like to plan a parts trip to Greenville SC let me know and I can put you in touch with the owner.

Thank you Steve