Is this by chance the same location as Lark Club is located? (I wish EEE had bought that!)

Steve

I believe this is his fourth IC round end obs. It is really neat to see him being so proactive with the IC equipment. Imagine someone with his means and dreams who was a PRR or NYC fan... wow...

Rob

The thing to remember is not that this is "someone with means" who happens to be an IC (or PRR or NYC or Santa Fe or....) fan. This is someone with a business plan (it's safe to assume), with known business partners or "co-conspirators." As such, this bears a certain degree of long-term planning, accountability, and--to some extent--potential public access (for a price)., unlike some folks who exercise their right to just lock stuff away from the public. We've seen success stories like this (Grand Canyon RR, Strasburg) and some not-as-successful stories (The American Orient Express and various other private trains).

More interesting to think about--they're hardly done "shopping" yet.

See: Levin, Bennett and Juniata Terminal.

GME

Totally different types of operation/preservation. Both wonderful, but not apples to apples, counselor.

With this purchase, Mr. Ellis' company Iowa Pacific now owns four round end observations and one blunt end observation (all are streamlined heavyweights).

Round end cars:
IC #3305 "Mardi Gras" (formerly owned by the New Orleans Chapter and later the Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS; built as #2188).
IC #3306 "Audubon Park" (built as #2175).
IC #3310 "Pontchartrain Club" (formerly the PV "Eaton," had been the "Mark Beaubien" under IC ownership; built as #2189).
IC #3320 "Paducah" (built as #2173).

All four round end cars had been built as 88 seat coaches by Pullman in 1916-17 (lot #4406) and rebuilt to observations circa 1947. As the linked article briefly mentions, the #3305 & #3306 were indeed assigned to the "City of New Orleans" (trains #1 & #2), while the #3310 was assigned to trains #19 & #20, and the #3320 was part of the general "streamline service" pool.

Blunt end car:
IC #3378 "Calumet Club" (formerly the #3308; built as #2211).
The #3378 (ex-#3308) had been built as an 88 seat coach by Pullman in 1918 (lot #4519) and rebuilt to an observation circa 1951.

For those interested in or researching the histories/specifications of IC passenger cars, these 2 websites are highly useful:

The cars are listed under their original coach numbers here: http://icrr.net/passenger.htm. The cars are included on page 5.

A full PDF file of the 1952 IC passenger car roster folio diagram is available on Tom Parker's website at: http://www.illinois-central.net/. The link to the PDF is located in the "Consist" column on the right side, under "Car & Locomotive Diagrams" (fourth one listed).

For links to pictures of the cars under IC and Iowa Pacific ownership, try Jerry LaBoda's photo links database at: http://passcarphotos.info/
Illinois Central photos: http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/IC.htm
Iowa Pacific photos: http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/S1b.htm#SLRG



Which Lark Club is that?

Lark Club, the ex-SP triple unit diner/lounge which has been sitting outside Tyler, TX and which was sold to the Grapevine RR earlier this year.

Steve

Thanks for the info, Steve. I forgot about those. SP #10277-79, formerly of the Whistle Stop Ranch. Part of the 1941 Lark order from P-S (lot #6638).

So, aside from the 4 cars in Ed Ellis ownership, and the body of Gulfport at the museum in Monticello, IL, do any other IC streamlined obs cars survive?
http://www.railroadheritage.org/SPT--FullImage.php?ResourceId=1331&FieldName=Screenshot

Let us not forget that Iowa Pacific also owns the ex-Milwaukee skytop observation Coffee Creek as well.

Well, if we're just counting round end observations, here's a list:
#3300 "Bamboo Grove": according to http://icrr.net/passenger.htm, the #3300 is currently in Ormond Beach, FL, and was previously owned by the New Orleans Chapter of the NRHS (which also formerly owned the #3305).
As mentioned by O. Anderson, the Monticello Railway Museum owns the #3312 "Gulfport."
As previously mentioned, #3305, #3306, #3310 & #3320 are owned by Iowa Pacific.
This is a total of 6 surviving IC round end observations.

If we're also counting blunt end observations, this would also include:
#3307 "Mid-America Club": also according to http://icrr.net/passenger.htm, the #3307 is on the Fox River Railroad in Green Bay.
As previously mentioned, #3378 (ex-#3308) is owned by Iowa Pacific.
This is a total of 2 surviving IC blunt end observations.

Altogether, this is a grand total of 8 surviving IC observations.



That's interesting. Glad to hear it's in good hands. It'll be nice to see the Coffee Creek out on the high iron in a few years. 261 excursions, perhaps?

Perhaps... though some unflattering news has surfaced. Hopefully this is just a blip.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_23790454/rails-debt-parent-company-local-train-operator-struggles?IADID=Search-www.santacruzsentinel.com-www.santacruzsentinel.com

Ugh, did you read the comments following that article? Apparently the trail hounds are after that railroad, too, and they sound exactly like their counterparts in New York. They can't stand a working railroad anywhere, and they have the ears of the politicians.

If you've ever had doubts, you shouldn't anymore that we "don't get no respect, no respect at all!"

Own your own railroad, pay your bills, run your business or non-profit organization correctly and you'll never have to worry about such things.

If you lease or rent your railroad, and fail to live up to the terms of the agreement, if you fail to run your business in a manner that doesn't leave creditors spread out, if you fail to be a "good neighbor" and leave rusty Junk all over the place, then you basically just handed your enemies, trail advocates and others the sword they will use to slay you. Respect is a two-way street. If you do not respect the community in which you operate, they will not respect you.

Wilkins, discussing the financial status of the company, misses point of J3a-614 (about bike trail advocates), which itself oddly classified the operator of the Santa Cruz Railroad operation equivalent with a volunteer railfan tourist railroad in NY state... not quite the same. However the community of people who are hounding these railroads might be similar, yet the crowd in Santa Cruz is beyond both poster's imagination as far as the type of left-leaning perspectives and the constant misunderstanding of railroad operating authority. Frankly, the Santa Cruz progressives are a powerful local influence, and it has resulted in very interesting changes in that region, as well as odd and contentious politics.

I would recommend for the Santa Cruz operation to find as many paths, perhaps literally some bike paths, for appeasing the Monterey Bay residents. The railroad trestles in the area could be important links to the community, and doing so would obviously require additional funds such as those provided through the state highway department for bike trails and such. Or perhaps operate a battery or hybrid trolley car to shuttle beach goers during the summer. Parking is at a premium, so a park-n-ride operation could be feasibly studied. Operating with green-fuel freight engines would also be a popular step, if possible. I probably would not bother bringing a steam engine there, except on rare occasion, or otherwise one could expect a great upheaval about the air pollution.