Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel Passenger Cars

NS 3322 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:29 pm

VinylRailfan wrote:

PPCA Vol. 1 lists the cars as (added info is italicized):

NYC
-2 "Volunteer": ex-PC 4556, nee-NYC 456, Budd 1948 (Currently named "The Silver Diner")
-3 "Lillie & McCall, Inc.": ex-PC 4546, nee-NYC 696, Budd 1947 (Currently only numbered 4546)
-2 "Paul K. Brock": ex-PC 2606, nee-NYC 2606, P-S 1941
-5 "B. Allen Casey": ex-PC 1601, ex-NYC, nee-NYC 2607, P-S 1941
-4 "Emma Patton Casey": ex-PC 2610, nee-NYC 2610, P-S 1941
-6 "H. Clay Evans Johnson": ex-PC 1603, ex-NYC, nee-NYC 2614, P-S 1941
-2 "Klaus Hartwig": ex-PC 2616, nee-NYC 2616, P-S 1941
-3 "Carter Frierson": ex-PC 1604, ex-NYC, nee-NYC 2619, P-S 1941 (It mentions this and 2667 may be transposed)
-6 "Joseph W. Graves": ex-PC 2635, nee-NYC 2635, P-S 1941
-2 "William Parker": ex-PC 2645, nee-NYC 2645, AC&F 1941
-8 "Richard W. Cardin": ex-PC 1612, ex-NYC 1612, nee-NYC 2646, AC&F 1941
-5 "Harlan A. Mills": ex-PC 2652, nee-NYC 2652, AC&F 1941
-5 "Phil Whitaker": ex-PC 2664, nee-NYC 2664, AC&F 1941
-3 "George Fillauer, Jr.": ex-PC 1600, ex-NYC, nee-2665, AC&F 1941 (Spelled "George A. Fillover, Jr."?)
-7 "Jack Jones": ex-PC 1615, ex-NYC, nee-NYC 2667, AC&F 1941 (It mentions this and 2619 may be transposed)

PRR
-3 "American": ex-PC/PRR North Jersey Coast Commuter Club, ex-PRR P70 Coach (This is, I assume, 1100)

SOU
-8 "W. E. Landis": ex-Southern 1013 (nee-1587, Pullman 1923)
-8 "Guy Beatty": ex-Southern 1014 (nee-1589, Pullman 1923)
-3 "H. M. Poss": ex-Southern 1015 (nee-1592, Pullman 1923)
-7 "Dan Williams, Jr.": ex-Southern 1019 (nee-1612, Pullman 1923)
-7 "Larry Roberts": ex-Southern 1025 (nee-1654, Pullman 1924)
-6 "Ted Casey": ex-Southern 1027 (nee-1652, Pullman 1924)
-5 "Frank Worthington": ex-Southern 1031 (nee-1572, Pullman 1917)
-3 "Paul Frierson": ex-Southern 1080 (nee-1625, Pullman 1923)
-2 "George McGee III": ex-Southern 1082 (nee-1631, Pullman 1924)
-8 "Carter Patton III": ex-Southern 1085 (nee-1637, Pullman 1924)
-3 "Olan Mills II": nee-Southern 1367

WAB
-2 "Hamilton": Cannonball Club Car, nee-Wabash 1510, Pullman 1927 (No longer named it appears)

Two cars are mentioned at are no longer on the property.
-1 "Linoma": ex-Amtrak 9384, ex-AutoLiner 200, ex-D&RGW 1250, nee-C&O 1877, Budd 1948 (This car is currently at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum)
-1 "Savannah": ex-Central of Georgia Business Car (Which car this is, is not mentioned)

Additionally, there were reportedly three other cars sold to the hotel, all three of which I am uncertain if they were ever on the property. These are:
-NYC 2628, P-S 1941
-NYC 2633, P-S 1941
-NYC 2666, AC&F 1941

The single digit numbers used are what I assume to be the track on which the cars are located in the station complex.

Thank you so much for providing this information!
Now all of the cars have been successfully recorded and entered into the Railroad Picture Archives database for future reference.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... ?id=140648

Is it true that TVRM stripped most of the good parts off these cars before they were parked?

RookieFireman · **Joined:** Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:39 am **Posts:** 91

The 2-6-0 holds (what I would estimate to be, anyways) great significance to East Tennessee and specifically Knoxville railroad history due to its long career with the Smoky Mtn Railway between Knoxville and Sevierville. It is featured prominently in Beebe & Clegg's "Mixed Train Daily" as well. 206 spent a short spell as a billboard of sorts for Rebel Railroad in Pigeon Forge before going to Chattanooga.

The old roster of the Smoky Mtn is rather notable for having so many survivors.. 206, Little River 110 (operating) in Michigan, Southern 107 (billboard) in Pigeon Forge, centercab 440 (now at WK&S), and Southern #154 (operating) in Knoxville. #154 was frequently leased to the Smoky Mtn towards the end of Southern steam, and is a sister to the #107 (although 154 was built by Schenectady and 107 by Baldwin).

Hopefully the #206 has a positive future.

p51 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2021 4:44 pm

RookieFireman wrote:

The 2-6-0 holds (what I would estimate to be, anyways) great significance to East Tennessee and specifically Knoxville railroad history due to its long career with the Smoky Mtn Railway between Knoxville and Sevierville. It is featured prominently in Beebe & Clegg's "Mixed Train Daily" as well. 206 spent a short spell as a billboard of sorts for Rebel Railroad in Pigeon Forge before going to Chattanooga.

I'd read about 206 before my visit but I didn't know it was in the Beebe/Clegg book.
I'd seen her when my family visited the place in the 70s and have a photo around here somewhere of my brother and me standing in front of her (I was probably less than ten at the time). If memory serves, the model train display was adjacent to the 206's front end, along the side of the structure that faces the tracks, between the main foyer and what is now a comedy club. At lest that where I recalled but that was a very long time ago.
When I saw 206 last time, I was impressed at she had decent paint and though she looks more like a circus wagon than a freight loco, I've seen much worse!

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1799

The model railroad display was on the second floor above the comedy catch and gift shops.

At that time the Comedy Catch was the “Station House Restaurant”

RookieFireman · **Joined:** Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:39 am **Posts:** 91

p51 wrote:

RookieFireman wrote:

The 2-6-0 holds (what I would estimate to be, anyways) great significance to East Tennessee and specifically Knoxville railroad history due to its long career with the Smoky Mtn Railway between Knoxville and Sevierville. It is featured prominently in Beebe & Clegg's "Mixed Train Daily" as well. 206 spent a short spell as a billboard of sorts for Rebel Railroad in Pigeon Forge before going to Chattanooga.

I'd read about 206 before my visit but I didn't know it was in the Beebe/Clegg book.
I'd seen her when my family visited the place in the 70s and have a photo around here somewhere of my brother and me standing in front of her (I was probably less than ten at the time). If memory serves, the model train display was adjacent to the 206's front end, along the side of the structure that faces the tracks, between the main foyer and what is now a comedy club. At lest that where I recalled but that was a very long time ago.
When I saw 206 last time, I was impressed at she had decent paint and though she looks more like a circus wagon than a freight loco, I've seen much worse!

Indeed. #206 is actually on the title page.

Thomas Cornillie · **Joined:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:19 pm **Posts:** 272

This article has a few photos of the interior of the Silver Diner Pizza, located in one of the former New York Central dining cars (NYC 456 - if the roster is correct): https://marieletseat.com/2017/10/14/last-call-for-boarding-on-the-pizza-diner/

The interior looks to have a high degree of integrity, considering that it is 50-years removed from revenue service. I would be interested in hearing from those who are more knowledgeable about cars from this series.

Here is a photo of Wabash 1510, in service with the Norfolk & Western:

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=168820

According to the roster of passenger cars in Wabash by Donald Heimburger (second edition, 1984) p. 217, this was built by Pullman in 1927 and rebuilt in 1934 as a cafe-lounge.

This car is unusual on the Wabash roster as their other rebuilt heavyweight diners, lounges, and observation retained their clerestory roofs with added air-conditioning ducts.

Does anyone have photos or memories of seeing the interior of this car. There are relatively few heavyweight cafe-lounge cars surviving with their interiors. If it has the same degree of integrity as the New York Central diner pictured above, it would be something special.

p51 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:25 pm

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

The model railroad display was on the second floor above the comedy catch and gift shops.

Thanks, that's not at all how I remember it, but that was about 40 years ago and I have no problem admitting my memory isn't that perfect.

Andrew Durden · **Posted:** Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:08 pm

VinylRailfan wrote:

PPCA Vol. 1 lists the cars as (added info is italicized):

-1 "Savannah": ex-Central of Georgia Business Car (Which car this is, is not mentioned)

[/i]

"Savannah" was the CofG name for the Pullman "Marco Polo". It was still owned by the Southern and was removed and restored in the 80's. It sat at Washington Union Station for many years, where it was used to entertain shippers and dignitaries. NS removed it a few years ago at Amtrak's request. It is now on permanent loan to the Southeastern Railway Museum. Those familiar with Presidential history will note that the "'Polo" preceded the "Ferdinand Magellan" as one of the cars that carried FDR around.

Emmo213 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:02 am

Our hotel room was in the block building behind the gardens and passenger cars. I'm not exactly sure what we expected but generally were pretty disappointed in the whole experience, although the staff was friendly. We will not be revisiting in the future.

p51 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:02 pm

Emmo213 wrote:

Our hotel room was in the block building behind the gardens and passenger cars. I'm not exactly sure what we expected but generally were pretty disappointed in the whole experience, although the staff was friendly. We will not be revisiting in the future.

That was my experience as well. For what I paid, it was a disappointing experience staying in a conventional (and average) room behind the passenger cars. I could have stayed at a cheaper hotel and had the same type of room and just drove down to walk around that evening.

SR6900 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 3:17 pm

For what it’s worth, it was announced yesterday that the building and complex has been sold. Hopefully in regards to the hotel it will prove to be a positive.

https://news.yahoo.com/chattanooga-choo ... 00029.html

Emmo213 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 3:27 pm

Hopefully good news. From the article they mentioned 500 hotel rooms. I have no idea where any of those would have been since we were stuck out in the back. Maybe there's a much nicer area we just weren't privy to.

SR6900 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:48 pm

Emmo213 wrote:

Hopefully good news. From the article they mentioned 500 hotel rooms. I have no idea where any of those would have been since we were stuck out in the back. Maybe there's a much nicer area we just weren't privy to.

Many of the former hotel rooms were converted to apartments. Also much of the former parking and outbuildings (Terminal Tower, for one) we’re demolished to become a new apartment as well.

p51 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:55 pm

SR6900 wrote:

Many of the former hotel rooms were converted to apartments. Also much of the former parking and outbuildings (Terminal Tower, for one) we’re demolished to become a new apartment as well.

I remember my one time there that night, I was walking around and talking with other guests (wow, remember back when you could do that?). Anyway, all I encountered also said they'd asked to stay in the passenger cars to be told either they couldn't or have the question totally ignored.
I didn't know those were apartments but based on the curtains I saw and the brief moment I saw the curtains parted on one window, it sure didn't look like a hotel room to me. I'd actually forgotten about that until I read this. That makes a lot of sense now.

Frisco1522 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:08 pm

Part of the engine crew and a couple others stayed there in 94 when we did the Peach Blossom Special with 1522. We were on a ground floor and had a monsoon overnight and the hallway of our section had water in it. Nasty and overpriced. Glad the NS was paying for it.
Trip from Chattanooga back to Birmingham was a nightmare on the NS. Still makes me mad.