The Flimsies piece below mentions two dining cars used as restaurants in the Chicago area. One is Silver Palm, a former Zephyr car, the other currently name Cucina Plata, apparently an older car. Does anyone have photos of these?

http://www.suntimes.com/output/food/foo-news-silver11.html
ryarger@rypn.org

> The Flimsies piece below mentions two dining
> cars used as restaurants in the Chicago
> area. One is Silver Palm, a former Zephyr
> car, the other currently name Cucina Plata,
> apparently an older car. Does anyone have
> photos of these?

Bob,
Silver Palm is not a Zephyr car. The "Q", D&RGW and WP never had a diner with that name. The article states that it is a former ACL car. The other car, if it is in Sandwich, IL, has a phony early Zephyr style "shovelnose" on one end and is obviously a heavyweight of some sort. I have lived in the area within 20-25 miles of Sandwich most of my life but I have never been in this car. It is/was truly an old time roadside diner and has been there for as long as I can remember (and I'll be 52 years old next June). I've always wondered about it's history.
Don C.

I've been in the diner recently. It is a wooden heavyweight, and most of the interior is more or less intact; there are doors cut in each side. The sheet metal sides to make it look like a shovelnose are pretty funny. Unfortunately I don't have any photos.

The newspaper article states that the car was built for the Columbian Exposition, but I'm not sure how they know that. The diner has changed hands several times since the 30s and its identity seems have been lost along the way. From the remaining interior, I would have guessed it was a standard coach. "Cuchina Plata" is just the name of the restaurant, not the car.

It's an interesting sight, but I wouldn't go too far out of my way just to eat there....

> The Flimsies piece below mentions two dining
> cars used as restaurants in the Chicago
> area. One is Silver Palm, a former Zephyr
> car, the other currently name Cucina Plata,
> apparently an older car. Does anyone have
> photos of these?

The Silver Palm just openned for business and they really did a number on it to fit in into a narrow lot. Among other things, they put cut up the roof to ventilation equipment that towers at least six feet over the crest. The owner's former bistro, the Gare St. Lazare has been closed for many years, but it had great food, so I'm looking to go there soon.

There are several other railcars used as restaurants in Chicago. A de-trucked Rock Island suburban car is a party room at a downtown, Congress Expressway location. There are reports that two Evanston Street Rwy cars are built into a Irving Park Road eatery, although there are no external signs of the cars. There is also a beanery on the third floor of the Lyric Opera that is furnished with authentic Pullman heavyweight-era sleeper hardware--with building security being what it is these days, its hard to get to and food quality is so lacking that its not really worth the effort.

fred_ash@bankone.com

> There are reports that two Evanston Street
> Rwy cars are built into a Irving Park Road
> eatery, although there are no external signs
> of the cars.

Do you know which place it might be? I live just off of Irving Park and would like to scope it out if possible. I've tried to picture what places it might be and I can't come up with anything.

Thanks,
Chris


ablemanscurve@hotmail.com

> Do you know which place it might be? I live
> just off of Irving Park and would like to
> scope it out if possible. I've tried to
> picture what places it might be and I can't
> come up with anything.

> Thanks,
> Chris

Chris, the diner is on Irving and Marshfield, one block east of Ashland on the southwest corner.

You really can't tell if it was a streetcar or not. Supposedly two Evanston cars were used, but I couldn't see it.

Good luck,

Jack

East Troy Electric Railroad
jftrolley@aol.com

> Chris, the diner is on Irving and
> Marshfield, one block east of Ashland on the
> southwest corner.

> You really can't tell if it was a streetcar
> or not. Supposedly two Evanston cars were
> used, but I couldn't see it.

> Good luck,

> Jack

Whoops! Marshfield is one block WEST of Ashland. Sorry.


East Troy Electric Railroad
jftrolley@aol.com

SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL POST:

http://thesilverpalmrestaurant.com/AboutUs.html

Now the bad news, from a shared Facebook post:



https://www.facebook.com/silverpalmchic ... __tn__=C-R

No word on the fate of the car, which apparently STILL bears reporting marks PPCX 8023.......

Ugh, I was just in Chicago two weeks ago....
Why did I have to eat at Lou Mitchell's!!! (Although, it is quite an awesome place).

The Hicks Car Works website maintained by Randy HIcks of the Illinois Railway Museum has a large section of roadside diners. They are listed by state and accompanied by pictures.

https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2008 ... iners.html

I'm not sure I understand if you did or did not have a good meal there? I will admit it's been a long time since I ate there, but I continue to recommend it, so please tell me if I should quit doing that.

Lou Mitchell's was great! Just really busy (but that can be considered a good thing).
Please continue recommending it!
I forgot that I read the Silver Palm did not start serving food until 5 pm, and I was only in town for lunch.

On a side note, I have reached out to the management of the Silver Palm and they told me the car will be sold with the property. They will have more information for me on Monday.

Any idea what is to become of the Silver Palm railcar?