How about an 1897 business car that was never in work train service, and at age 110, is only on its third owner?

B&O 907, built in the roundhouse that is now the B&O Museum-- it was Dan Willard's car in the teens, finished its B&O days as the VP-Engineering's car based at Pittsburgh, sold 1961 to a private owner and was on disconnected track near the New Haven in Falls Village, CT from 1961 until 1975. Placed back on live rail by that owner, 907 went to Vermont on the Otter Valley RR near Rutland, and was sold to her current owner in 1981 when she was at Steamtown. 907 moved to Valley RR in Connecticut in 1984, and came to RMNE's Naugatuck RR in 1996.

The car is a gorgeous gem, just about unchanged from its 1948 shopping and slight updating, and the interior is almost all 1897 except for electric lights. We're fortunate to have it live with us.

A number of steam locomotive tenders were saved for a variety of uses - steam crane tenders (Erie), diesel fuel transporter (PRR), some were converted into snowplows(CNW, I think), some were converted into steam heat generators for passenger service (NYC, Algoma Central), an EMD FT drawbar-to-coupler converter (DL&W); this list is probably missing several dozen other applications.

A major portion of Erie Lackawanna 3632 (BiCentennial SD-45) reportedly survives to this day, as a prime mover test bed at Altoona.

SP 2248 continued as a snow shed fire-fighting platform into the late steam era. Last I knew, it was at the Tarantula RR (?).

John Redden

I think the recent restoration of an ex-DC Transit PCC in Sarajevo deserves mention here, especially given the events in that country in the 1990s.

Wesley

Ah, that is true. CSL 1374 and 3142 (the latter used as a storage shed by CTA) have both been restored at IRM, and West Towns 141 (used as a shed on a farm) is nearing the end of its restoration. "City of Manchester" at Seashore is perhaps the first example of a "chicken coop" restoration and Seashore is also working on other carbody restoration projects, including Wheeling 639 and Cleveland 1227 (a stripped hulk when they got it). Branford has Atlanta 948, Rio Vista has Peninsular 52 and Petaluma & Santa Rosa 63, Nelson has car 21, East Troy has Sheboygan 26. There's also a large number of cosmetic restorations of carbodies, everything from Texas Electric 360 to Pacific Northwest Traction 55, to cars in various large museums and the cars mentioned by Dave elsewhere in the thread. And the list goes on...[/i]

Erie Lackawanna diner 741 survived because the EL decided to pull it off the Port Jervis dead line and use it in wreck train service out of Binghamton. It survived again because Alan Maples bought it off of Conrail's dead line for his Everett RR.

wasn't their a Baldwin Shark "B" unit used as a portable generator for many years? I THINK, it survived in a junk yard till not very long ago?

I seem to recall that it was converted into a Semi Truck trailer...But it still had its car body intact.

I also seem to recall some photos floating around of it somewhere on the 'net

Mentioning passenger cars. How about an 1881 coach that also was never in maintenance of way service?

Three-foot gauge Carson & Colorado coach #5 was built by Barney & Smith in 1881. Later the line became part of the Southern Pacific and the coach was sold to railfan and Disney animator Ward Kimball in 1938. He and his family later gave his back-yard railroad equipment to Orange Empire.

The seating in the car has been revised over the years; but it has always been a coach. The C&C made a deduct when paying for the car because it came with rattan and not plush upholstery. About 1900 the car received a bulkhead and became a coach-smoker. Also about that time the car received some Horton reclining seats which were later removed.

Since about 1940 it has spent each night and most days undercover.

Probably the most original car from its era still with us. Ward Kimball repainted outside, but the inside was probably last touched in the 1920s if not before. The plain headliner is continuous over the partition. Some of the side sheathing below the belt rail has been replaced; don't know if this was SP or Kimball. The SP replaced the trucks after its 1928 acquisition of the N-C-O; the trucks proudly proclaim St. Charles Car Co.

I nominate for most unlikely survivor, Jersey Shore & Antes Fort #3 at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. After the line was abandoned in 1925, it served as a summer cottage for almost 50 years, was swept away by a flood, found as it was about to be demolished, by an individual who kept it for about 20 more years before selling it to the museum.

It has not yet been restored, but is on display indoors.

The condition is not remarkable, since it was used as a shed for many years and looks that way, but Horse Car 3 at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in Branford, Conn., built by Stephenson in 1893 for the Metropolitan Street Ry. in New York City is unusual. Does any other surviving horse car appear in revenue service in a commercial movie made more than 100 years ago?
Try loc.gov; American Memory; Cities,Towns; New York City; List the Film Titles; 16 Lower Broadway. About 1:10 into the film, our car appears, crossing Broadway on Wall St. on May 15, 1902!