Amtrak snack cafe "discovered abandoned" in Warwick, RI

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:56 am

Which, of course, raises the question:

How did a property developer acquire 15.5 acres for a $35 million development without knowing a railroad passenger car was there?!?

Any ideas on heritage, history, or potential saviours? The developers appear to be willing to let it be saved, but it's definitely "in the way" at the moment. The video hints at it being a NYC coach reconfigured to cafe in the 1960s and retired by Amtrak ca.1977, possibly Amtrak 3965:

http://turnto10.com/news/local/amtrak-s ... on-project

Video at 1:16 shows the inside to be gutted, but not quite irretrievably so......

UPDATE:
If it is indeed 3965 and they didn't just pluck a photo off the internet:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPict ... ?id=661939

Quote:

Snack bar coach 3965 was built by Pullman-Standard in 1964 as New York Central 64-seat coach 3204, one of 153 such cars (3000-3152) in Lot No. 6721. In 1968 it was remodeled with 50 seats and a snack bar, and became PC 3204 before going to Amtrak.

NS 3322 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:10 pm

An organization better pick this one up as the developer plans to scrap it.
Or at least take some parts.

MEC_557 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:40 pm

They must mean it's original number was 3104, looks like a typo

Howard P. · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:47 pm

The original build date is a typo-- these cars were built in 1946-47, and were the mainstay of NYC's lightweight postwar coach fleet.

The snack bar conversions of 1967-68 were for "Empire Service", the huge down-sizing of NYC-PC passenger trains at that time. Typical NY-Albany-Buffalo Empire trains consisted of one of these cars, one (possibly two) coaches of the unmodified type, pulled by a lone E8.

Stainless corrugations over carbon-steel bodies, with the usual results of horrible corrosion. Amtrak took very few of these cars, and retired them after just a few years.

I would guess there are less than a dozen of these cars left, if that many.

Howard P.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:06 pm

Now I know it seems like an unusual idea, but what about using apexerior (that boiler coating) on the carbon steel under the fluting?

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:10 am

That would have been great... if it was done when they were new. But at this point, there is likely little steel left to protect, at least down at the bottom of the wall cavities below the floor line. After removing the stainless sheathing and repairing the damage, a good epoxy paint would certainly be a good idea.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:07 am

Dennis Storzek wrote:

That would have been great... if it was done when they were new. But at this point, there is likely little steel left to protect, at least down at the bottom of the wall cavities below the floor line. After removing the stainless sheathing and repairing the damage, a good epoxy paint would certainly be a good idea.

It's not even that... Cars like these, the Osgood Bradley Lightweights and many of these other early cars that are rotting are never really tackled. If one wants to preserve cars like this a bit of ingenuity might be in order... Now apexerior is meant for boilers, but if memory serves Mr. Conrad had some good experience with the stuff on the Valley Railroad in No. 40s boiler. Granted we're talking about a completely different environment than a working pressure vessel, but if the stuff holds up in there maybe it could work under the fluting on a coach... Maybe give some of these early lightweight cars a chance to last after restoration.