Southern Railway Pullman "Lake Pearl"

JohnnyWinkler · **Joined:** Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:32 pm **Posts:** 85

Just happened to have the Roanoke Rail cam on and saw Roanoks chapter NRHS's N&W Alco switcher out on the mainline with their newly acquired ex-N&W coach and the Southern Railway Pullman "Lake Pearl". Wonder what is up with the Lake Pearl?

bory2502 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 4:37 pm

It appears they picked up one of the former N&W Budd 10-6 sleepers that went onto to Commuter service and gutted into a coach.

Here is the information from the Roanoke NRHS Mechanical Dept. Facebook page:

Built by the Budd company for the Norfolk & Western as a S-1 class sleeper. After being retired by the N&W, it was sold to the PRR and converted to a commuter coach and numbered 1489. It ran in PRR / Penn Central / MARC commuter service.

Stephen S. Syfrett · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 5:19 pm

O/T, but the N&W car was one of the retired MARC cars purchased by the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority for the SAM Shortline back in 2002. To my knowledge it was never operated on the SAM Shortline, but had been leased to the central Florida succession of operators out of Mt. Dora. They leased 4 cars, total. I think I've heard the other 3 lease cars went to TVRM, but not positive.

j32885 · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2013 12:45 am

Maybe VMT gave NRHS Roanoke SOU 2422 "Lake Pearl" to be fix up for potential use for charter trips I.E. NS 21st Century Steam or other NRHS trips. It can also be used as a crew car or passenger car. All it needs is some exterior and interior work. VMT has been outsourcing restoration work to NRHS Roanoke recently.

Some info on Southern 2422 "Lake Pearl" Sleeper Car:

Passenger Car Southern Railway Sleeping Car "Lake Pearl" #2422
http://vmt.org/Loops-Collections/Rail-P ... -2422.html

The Luxury Abroad the Pearl (Southern #2422)
http://thevmtrailyard.blogspot.com/2007 ... -2422.html

Enjoy! ^_^

Bob Hall · **Joined:** Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:37 am **Posts:** 152

So if it's a Budd car, why is it being called a Pullman?
Cheers, Bob

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2013 7:23 am

There are TWO cars: a SR Pullman and a N&W Budd.

Start from the thread's beginning.

Gary Gray · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2013 9:39 am

A link to our Facebook page about "Lake Pearl"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... tif_t=like

VMT has recieved a substantial grant from a private individual who wants to sponsor the restoration ofthe "Lake Pearl". She was moved to 9th St last night, where the work will be performed. The museum is contracting with several members of the team that restored CW 662 to do the actual work on the car. We hope to have the exterior done by late fall, and return the car to VMT then. If the donor is happy with the exterior restoration, he may fund interior work next year. I am serving as the project manager for the restoration.

R Paul Carey · **Joined:** Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:48 am **Posts:** 80

The Budd-built ex N&W sleeper was originally built as a 10 Roomette/ 6 Bedroom sleeping car. As I understand, the PRR, anticipating a surge of passenger traffic in connection with the 1964 NY World's Fair, acquired the N&W 10/6's, arranging for their conversion to coaches. In addition, a number of Budd-built 22 Roomette cars (all ex-PRR) were also converted to coaches in the same program. I believe Budd handled these conversions.

As coaches, these cars survived into the mid-1970s in Amtrak service on the NEC.

The best thing about them was they had high-density seating (all reclined).

Otherwise (and except as the crush of two fuel embargoes caused Amtrak to occasionally utilize P-70s), these cars (with many seats positioned between windows) were regarded as the "slave ships" of the NEC.