Hello all,

In looking through Private Varnish (newsletter of the American Association of Private Car Owners) v. 10, n. 1 G. 18 - I came across this note on P.7 stating that Roy Thorpe owned three nee-PRR Cars:

PRR coach 4011, Budd 1939 and Kitchen / Lounge (PRR class - DL85d) 4625 and 64 Seat Diner (D85c) 4624. Thorpe purchased these cars from the Ted Luntz Corp. reclamation plant in Ashtabula, OH where Luntz saved several cars with the hope of taking his family on rail excursions. The note stated that Roy Thorpe stored his cars in Pompano Beach, Florida.

What is the current status of these cars?

Many thanks,
Tom Cornillie

If I remember correctly, I believe that this classic, never-to-Amtrak twin unit diner set ended up on the New Georgia, and then went to the Great Smoky Mountain Scenic, where it still operates.

The pre-war coach went thru a number of owners before ending up on Montana Rail Link. To the best of my knowledge, the car was never rebuilt by any of the owners and I seem to recall reading that it was recently scrapped.

The car came to Montana Rail Link at about the same time as two former ATSF baggage cars (received from Royal American Shows I believe). The car was received gutted and was eventually sold to Montana Rockies Rail Tours, who moved it to Kootenai (near Sandpoint ID). It lanquished there and was finally scrapped this year--a year after the end of MRRT operations.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT