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Original post:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1584576 ... 954252182/

Correction: Silver Shop was built for the D&RGW for the California Zephyr, and later used on the Rio Grande Zephyr.

This link should work even without a Facebook login:

https://www.facebook.com/APTHMCharlesCity/posts/1679000029156314

It looks like the depot was just west of the old Charles City Western shops. Is it being moved to the north across the CP tracks? Will the car go to the CCW shops for rehab? I was there years ago so am a little shaky on the geography. Ned

Silver Shop has had a hard life. Acquired by VIA rail in 1987, it was sent to their Montreal Maintenance Centre (along with dome lounge obs "Silver Sky") to be refurbished for VIA operation. The VIA service cuts of the early '90s rendered both cars redundant and, after languishing in Canada for 20 years, they were returned to the USA. Time, weather, and vandals have not been kind to Silver Shop. Pictures I saw of its exterior/interior I saw a few years ago showed little change from when I rode it on the Rio Grande Zephyr in the early '80s, except for heavy graffiti and other vandalism. I'm glad it's finally going to a good home.

I don't agree that the Silver Shop has had a hard life. Rather, it has been extremely lucky to survive virtually intact into 2021 to be preserved by Bob Moen and his passenger car museum in Charles City. Most other domes sold to VIA were gutted down to their shells to be converted into Skyline cars. The cars would have looked great had VIA finished the work, but the project was terminated after most of the cars were completely stripped, with only a small amount of rebuilding done on a few of the cars. The Shop must have been at the back of the line and thus VIA never got around to gutting that car. Thus it will survive as the only one of the 6 CZ dome buffet lounge dormitory cars that has not been either scrapped (Silver Roundup); very stripped and most of dormitory removed (Silver Hostel); very heavily modified into open platform private cars (Silver Chalet and Silver Lounge) and heavily modified with gutted dormitory (Silver Club). This car has only suffered from minor vandalism and benign neglect.

A preserved, fully intact CZ dome buffet lounge dorm will be something to savor for years to come.

@Topfuel well said. I was referring more to the vandalism and graffiti Silver Shop suffered after returning to the USA. (I assume that's when it happened.) It is very fortunate that VIA's MMC never got around to gutting it. I understand that Silver Sky was at least partially gutted in an aborted effort to make it into a "Park" car and was in far worse condition when it returned to the US.

As I recall, Silver Sky was completely stripped by VIA, and was little more than a screen door when they sold it. Everything inside was removed, including the floor of the dome area, and everything that wasn't car body was gone.

Believe it or not, the vandalism and graffiti almost all happened while the Shop was stored at the VIA Rail shops in Montreal, prior to sale and move back to the US. That place was fenced, but I guess there were ways to get in there. I saw the cars there back circa 2004 when they were for sale initially.

Sadly, as Chris says, there is really nothing left of the Silver Sky as it is a completely gutted shell and stored in Saginaw, MI. It would have been a nice match to a Park car had VIA done the conversion but again the car was stripped and the project was aborted. It could be made into a dome lounge but it would cost several million $$ to get it there.