Right, I had forgotten about that car. And it's a wonderful match for the B&LE combine (an NYC design car).

Howard

The Gettysburg equipment had fallen off the radar for me, and by the time Nathaniel Guest was kind enough to alert me to it, the cars were already owned by the scrap company and we had committed to taking the P&LE car from Pittsburgh. I would have liked to have saved the NYC coach but there are only so many dollars and man-hours to go around. Fortunately we were able to make arrangements to salvage parts and I understand another tourist railroad availed themselves of that opportunity as well.

- Alan Maples
Everett Railroad

When did they stop running tourist trains in Gettysburg?

In the late 1990's. early 2000s the M&H acquired the most rail worthy cars that were at that time still allowed to be moved over a mainline RR with friction bearings in a special train to Middletown. This included Ex-DL&W Hoboken commuter coach 330 and ex-DL&W combine 726. We used the 330 in our civil war re-enactment events to pre-stage re-enactors who were enamored with the blue-grey paint scheme and the word Gettysburg on the letterboard. The combine was never used. We also acquired an ex-Lehigh Valley caboose which was rail worthy but heavily vandalized. All cars are still currently on the property in Middletown. We keep them for parts as you just can't buy stuff new for antique equipment any more!

Thank you for the correction. My CNJ-radar must be out of whack.

Rob

They can be difficult to distinguish. The NYC standard "70 foot" coach was actually close to 80 feet and the CNJ's were about 72 feet.

- Alan Maples

As I recall, that Canadian combine had a genset with a Detroit 6-71 engine...the car was pretty bad....the roof was falling apart...it wasn't worth what they were asking for it, but i'd have given more than the scrapper...

Here is a webpage with photos of the Stillwell coach being moved from this site in 2014:

https://www.wolfehousebuildingmovers.com/project/passenger-train-car-move/

And, for the benefit of future readers, a link to the page as preserved on the Internet Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180517014346/https://www.wolfehousebuildingmovers.com/project/passenger-train-car-move/

At one time the Gettysburg had a coach # 150 that looked, to me, to be a former New Haven car.

A photo of this car from the late 1990s may be viewed here: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1802716

Does anyone here have current details on the disposition of this car?

Were these cars offered for sale anywhere recently? I remember seeing the NYC coach and Stillwell coach being listed by D.F. Barnhardt around 2000 or so - but nothing recently.

Coach 150 went to the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway years ago and was still there in 2016, although it was not in the train set and appeared to be held as a spare car.

- Alan Maples

Wow.... memories. I met Wayne at Gettysburg there and bought that car for BRSRR - anticipated use was getting through peak season after a quick patchup since fall was approaching and the car was the only interchangeable one with roller bearings, etc. Once past, it was to be stripped and the trucks hauled back to Gettysburg twice to get the better carbodies on plain bearings to Georgia and donate seats for a better carbody. The stripped carcass on plain bearings was then to fulfill a commitment to a model railroad club for a home / display space. Only the first part of that plan worked out........ obviously.

One former Gettysburg car went all the way to Canada where it is now on the Southern Prairie Railway. The ex-Mount Holly was advertised on the Ozark Mountain Railway website for $15,000 and a former Gettysburg employee described it as the best car on the roster.

The Southern Prairie Railway, "Saskatchewan's first and only shortline tourist railway" (according to the SPR at that time), is based in Ogema, southwest of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company started operations in July 2012. At that time the line had only No. 15, a GE 44-ton (ex-Maine Central 5, later Conway Scenic) and this car. You'll find a picture of it here

http://www.southernprairierailway.com/equipment

with this caption:

This coach was built in 1925 by Pullman for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in New England. It was purchased by SPR in 2010 from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

You'll find a history of the SPR here:

http://www.southernprairierailway.com/history

I noticed this page said the ex-Gettysburg car was built in 1922. Can anyone familiar with the car confirm its actual year of construction?

The car in the photo is a low-roof DL&W electric MU trailer, so that would mean it was built in 1925.

Presume this is the former Gettysburg car 245, Erie Lackawanna 3245, which was the only low-roof MU trailer that Sloan Cornell had.

- Alan Maples

Does anyone here have additional information on the history of former Gettysburg RR coach 150? The photo of this car on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway seems to show locations for MU cables, which would be consistent with the car being a former EMU trailer.

Here is a photo of a similar car in New Haven service:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dpirmann/36709747743/in/photolist-XVV44e-BR45D7-BR45ys-XVV3Wk-XVV4qr-BR45sf-XVV4Bi-XVV4hk-YUsjiJ-BR45gy-YUsjpA-YUsjbu-XVV4EK-YUsj4q-BR45bU-XVV4wt-BR45oN-YUsiWS-BR45kb-XVV3KP

If so, it would be the oldest surviving New Haven EMU, according to the Preserved North American Electric Cars Roster http://www.bera.org/pnaerc.html

I am no expert on New Haven passenger equipment, but from the information provided to me in 1997 when the cars were first for sale, coach 150 was ex-New Haven 4106, with 3-2 seating and capacity of 120. The interior was clean and well kept.

- Alan Maples