I know for certain there's a restored Pullman obs cars at the Rainier Rail shops at Western Junction (between Tenino and Olympia).
I have seen photos of it, it's Pennsy-style red and looks in great condition.
It's been out on their old (former Milwaukee Road) mainline from Western Junction to Maytown at least once but I've yet to catch it in the open to get photos.
Does anyone know of its history and how they got it?

I had no clue, so I did some quick asking around, it's the former D&RGW business car #101, now known as the Abraham Lincoln, originally one of the WP/D&RG(W) coaches built by Pullman in 1910 that have come up in discussion here several times over the years:

D&RG #895, built 9/1910, to D&RGW #926 in 1/1924, to MofW 6/1929, to business car #101 (2nd) in 10/1929, retired 9/1964, subsequently sold to Golden West Rail Tours as the Golden West, later resold to Thomas Pearson and Craig A. Rasmussen as The Prospector, part of the Great Western Tours fleet, based out of Los Angeles, later resold to Curtis Andrews as the Abraham Lincoln (#800013), based at Othello, WA, for many years, but now moved to Western Junction.

This car was in Walla Walla, WA in the late Fall. There was even a story about it in the local paper. I did not see it myself or I would post a photo. I think a sister #102, is in Syracuse, NY.

Correct. Was traded to the Central NY Chapter NRHS by Iowa Pacific for their Pullman Plan #3975C/H sleeper buffet lounge solarium Palm Lane (as James E. Strates Shows #2 Syracuse).

D&RG #893, built 9/1910, to D&RGW #924 2/1924, to MofW 10/1929, to business car #102 (2nd) in 3/1930, retired 12/1964 and sold to Harris Allen (Tucson), later resold to Clifford Thomas (Minneapolis) as the Iron Mountain (was owned by Thomas as of/by June 1968), later acquired by Iowa Pacific (not sure on where/who from), traded in 2012 (perhaps as late as January 2013) to Central NY NRHS (this was supposedly a long-term lease in both ways for the #102 and Syracuse, but we all know how it ended up; Central NY still has the #102 and the Syracuse was included in the IPH bankruptcy auction[s]).

And a big error on my part on the history of the #101 posted earlier, mis-typed it as originally WP #895, not D&RG #895. (These 1910 coaches that were initially on the WP roster were in the #300-series; should've noticed my error immediately, but didn't until now, apologies.)

"And a big error on my part on the history of the #101 posted earlier, mis-typed it as originally WP #895, not D&RG #895."

"......later resold to Thomas Pearson and Craig A. Rasmussen as The Prospector, part of the Great Western Tours fleet, based out of Los Angeles, later resold to Curtis Andrews as the Abraham Lincoln (#800013), based at Othello, WA, for many years, but now moved to Western Junction."

Another error here is that the car was not part of the Great Western Tours PV fleet. Those cars were based out of the San Francisco Bay area. The car was more or less part of the Overland Rail Travel fleet, which was based in LA. However, I don't believe The Prospector ever operated in PV service while owned by Pearson/Rasmussen.

thanks for the additional correction

I've never compiled an itemized roster of which cars were ORT and which were GWT, perhaps it's time to do so

"I've never compiled an itemized roster of which cars were ORT and which were GWT, perhaps it's time to do so".


It's already been done. No need to repeat that which is already out there. The Private Passenger Car Annual (otherwise known as the "Yellow Book") covered that pretty well.

Tom Pearson and Craig Rasmussen were involved with OVERLAND RAIL TRAVEL CORPORATION which was a California Corporation from 1971 to 1979.

Overland leased private cars from several different car owners which included Pearson and Rasmussen among others and then conducted charter operations prior to the Amtrak power and MU requirements.

I have known the various individuals involved. The corporation started out as a general purpose corporation and later changed the stated purpose to be more specifically a sleeping car operator. This allowed it to qualify for a State liquor bar license the same as the Pullman Company had been eligible.

Now that I have the ID of this car I found a bit of information, none of which is updated to the current owner and location:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_(Pullman_car)#:~:text=The%20Abraham%20Lincoln%2C%20also%20known,National%20Register%20of%20Historic%20Places.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rspicture.aspx?id=212882

I have confirmed with a friend connected with Rainier Rail that this car is not at Western Junction or on Rainier Rail. It should still be in Eastern WA, which is another line operated by Frontier Rail.

-Aaron

Okay, so which one is it?

Was Dick Ritterband (sp?) once one of the owners of this car? He was a classmate and friend of my father's from Hollywood High School. I know that he owned a former D&RGW business car (possibly this one?) and kept it in the LA coach yard and used to entertain his friends with periodic train rides back "in the day". He told my Dad that one day the SP Superintendent called him and said they were scrapping some passenger cars and one had newer trucks on it than his car did. Would he like them swapped out? No charge of course.

It's been a long time. But I seem to recall that Dick's name was connected with the car.

IIRC, the car was on one of the last Ramona Play special excursion trains to Hemet operated by Orange Empire and on the return trip it had to set out at Perris due to an overheated journal (or something like that).

Back in 1967 when I was 18 years old I joined Orange Empire Trolley Museum (now Southern California Ry Museum) and shortly after that joined other railfan groups in the L.A. area such as Pacific Railroad Society and the ERHA-SC.

There doesn't appear to be any Pullman car on the Rainier Rail line. The Abraham Lincoln is on the sister operation in Eastern WA, which could be why you thought it was on Rainier. The orange and tan GP49 painted at Western Junction is over there now