ex LV Parlor car next to be scrapped in South Jersey

jmlaboda · Updated 8/9/17 with 8,402 new links

When I first posted my replies I didn't know that this thread was as old as it is... has the car been scrapped?

steamtown observer · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:11 pm **Posts:** 371

jmlaboda wrote:

When I first posted my replies I didn't know that this thread was as old as it is... has the car been scrapped?

Somebody asked on the ARHS Facebook page if this car was safe from scrapping and the response was no.

scottychaos · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 9:00 am

I have been getting some reports that the car has now been scrapped..
LV 1553 - "Harriet"
the one with the door in the side, this one:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=857788

But I can find no confirmation anywhere..
Can anyone confirm or deny?
thanks,
Scot

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 10:10 am

If someone is going to "save" a LV business car, my understanding is that #353, Black Diamond, is derelict in upstate NY, and has been since the owner (or previous owner, whose name escapes me) fell into ill health several years ago. I remember that car well from my LSA days in the NEC. It was one of the most active PV's on Amtrak for several years, impeccably maintained. The owner and crew were really nice people, especially with Amtrak OBS crews. On a couple of occasions I fixed them up with extra ice, and in exchange got to spend a few minutes late at night on the obs platform going up the Connecticut River valley on the back of the old Montrealer. If you want to save something from the LV, save that, it's far less gone than the car in NJ.

Mark Z. Yerkes · **Joined:** Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:47 pm **Posts:** 486

PaulWWoodring wrote:

If someone is going to "save" a LV business car, my understanding is that #353, Black Diamond, is derelict in upstate NY, and has been since the owner (or previous owner, whose name escapes me) fell into ill health several years ago. I remember that car well from my LSA days in the NEC. It was one of the most active PV's on Amtrak for several years, impeccably maintained. The owner and crew were really nice people, especially with Amtrak OBS crews. On a couple of occasions I fixed them up with extra ice, and in exchange got to spend a few minutes late at night on the obs platform going up the Connecticut River valley on the back of the old Montrealer. If you want to save something from the LV, save that, it's far less gone than the car in NJ.

#353 is alive and kicking at Steamtown. Privately owned, but on a long term lease to the museum.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 4:25 pm

Glad to hear it.

scottychaos · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 9:51 pm

PaulWWoodring wrote:

If someone is going to "save" a LV business car, my understanding is that #353, Black Diamond, is derelict in upstate NY, and has been since the owner (or previous owner, whose name escapes me) fell into ill health several years ago. I remember that car well from my LSA days in the NEC. It was one of the most active PV's on Amtrak for several years, impeccably maintained. The owner and crew were really nice people, especially with Amtrak OBS crews. On a couple of occasions I fixed them up with extra ice, and in exchange got to spend a few minutes late at night on the obs platform going up the Connecticut River valley on the back of the old Montrealer. If you want to save something from the LV, save that, it's far less gone than the car in NJ.

You are getting two different LV cars confused..353 and the "Black Diamond" are not the same car..

353 is the observation car at Steamtown..by far the best condition of any surviving LV passenger car..It was never "derelict in upstate NY"..
LV 353: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3289210
yes, it does have a drumhead on the back that says "The Black Diamond"..but that is referring to the name of the famous LV train, it's not actually the name of the car.
(I dont believe this car ever had a name..even on the LV, I think it was always simply "LV 353"..)

The car that is "derelict in upstate NY" is the "Black Diamond"..but it is not 353.
This is LV 1551, originally called the "Black Diamond" and used on the train named "The Black Diamond Express"..the LV modified it, and it no longer has its original Solarium observation end.

This car, LV 1551, was (perhaps still is?) owned by the Susquehanna Railroad, and was used as an office for many years by them in Cooperstown, NY..
I know it was for sale a few years back, with all the other NYSW passenger cars, but I never heard if it was sold or not..as far as I know, its still in Cooperstown..

Im not sure if it quite "derelict"..especially if it was recently used as an office..
but I have not seen a recent photo, so I actually dont know what kind of condition it is in these days..(Actually..oddly..I don't think a photo of this car while it has been in Cooperstown has been seen online, ever! I don't know why..)

Scot

jmlaboda · Updated 8/9/17 with 8,402 new links

Scott, with all due respect intended I believe you are the one confusing the two... while the thread up to a point dealt with the Black Diamond Paul introduced the LV 353 into the discussion. Not the same car, as I think all know know...

scottychaos · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 10:50 pm

jmlaboda wrote:

Scott, with all due respect intended I believe you are the one confusing the two... while the thread up to a point dealt with the Black Diamond Paul introduced the LV 353 into the discussion. Not the same car, as I think all know know...

umm..no..I definitely have it right.. but you agree with me and say I have it right..so im confused by that! ;) you say 353 and the "Black Diamond" are not the same car..which is what I said..and which is correct..but I was replying to Paul, who *did* say they are the same car..he said:

PaulWWoodring wrote:

If someone is going to "save" a LV business car, my understanding is that #353, Black Diamond, is derelict in upstate NY, and has been since the owner (or previous owner, whose name escapes me) fell into ill health several years ago.

Paul was saying the 353 is also the "Black Diamond" and was derelict in upstate NY..but that is not correct, and was never correct..the 353 was never derelict in upstate NY, and was never the "Black Diamond"..the car in upstate NY is the "Black Diamond" but it is not 353..the 353 has been in excellent condition for many decades now..actually, I think the 353 is one of very few LV cars that has *never* really been "derelict"..It has always been in reasonable (or often excellent) operating condition, since before, and after, it left LV service..

So..Im still right! ;)
Scot

jmlaboda · Updated 8/9/17 with 8,402 new links

My apologizes... I see what you are talking about.

scottychaos · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 10:58 pm

Thanks Jerry! no problem..
misunderstandings now cleared up..

So anyone know about the LV 1553 - "Harriet" - in Winslow Junction?
That is the one I am trying to confirm if it is now scrapped or not..
I believe it likely is, but I want to confirm it 100% before I update the
LV survivors list..

thanks,
Scot

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 7:55 am

I never was an expert on LV, I was going on what I remembered about the car from a long time ago. The car I'm referring to was an impeccably maintained, Amtrak qualified PV, that was owned by one man (whose name escapes me) about 20 years ago, ran a lot on Amtrak, and appeared in an On The Road story on CBS by Charles Kuralt around 1983. So, which one is that car?

jmlaboda · Updated 8/9/17 with 8,402 new links

"So, which one is that car?"

LV 353

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 8:29 am

scottychaos wrote:

This car, LV 1551, was (perhaps still is?) owned by the Susquehanna Railroad . . .
Im not sure if it quite "derelict"..especially if it was recently used as an office..
but I have not seen a recent photo, so I actually dont know what kind of condition it is in these days..(Actually..oddly..I don't think a photo of this car while it has been in Cooperstown has been seen online, ever! I don't know why..)

Only photos I can find online are apparently from when it was at a winery in Hammondsport, NY:

http://rr-fallenflags.org/lv/lv-co1551adc.jpg

http://rr-fallenflags.org/lv/lv-co1551bdc.jpg

And a bad report from another forum:

Quote:

This was the office(s) for the RVRR [Raritan Valley Railroad] until the end. We moved the car to the NYS&W around 1985-1986. From Little Ferry, Walter had it sent to Cooperstown, for his own private use. The Kenilworth shop had all of the original seats for this car, piled up in the far northwest corner of the shop, and they were there when the building was demolished. I was always going to snag a couple, but their size, weight and the fact there wasn't room in my apartment for them, made it impractical. They still had the original coverings on them, and even though the pedestals were getting rusty, overall, they were in decent shape. They were of the fold-over style, if my memory serves me correctly. Glossy brown pedestals and a very dark green fabric covering, almost like thick textured denim. A pair sure woulda been nice.......

Joshua K. Blay · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 10:25 am

In the wake of Walter Rich's passing the LV car has been removed from Cooperstown. Where it went I do not know.

The business car LV 353 was stabled for a time in Syracuse at the old East Syracuse/Dewitt Amtrak station with CNY NRHS equipment. It has been at Steamtown for more than ten years.

Joshua