Dave,
The Minneapolis Club restoration is a project that my father and I are
working on. We are going to bring it up to current Amtrak standards for
personal use and probably limited charter / lease service. The frame and truck
work is already complete and we're moving on to electric / mechanical / HVAC /
plumbing work now. There are only a few interior changes that are planned,
like creating a second hall bathroom and a shower in the space by the vestibule
that was occupied by the porter's seat and a bedding locker.
From what I've been able to track down on the history of the car, after it
became surplus from CB&Q / BN it went to Solano Railcar. There may have been
an intermediate owner, but I haven't found any details on that. From there it
went to the Seattle & North Coast where it was used until they shut down in
1984. It was sold into private ownership and ran in excursion service behind
the 4449, including in the movie Tough Guys. At some point it was also given
an Amtrak private car number (800483). It never ran in general Amtrak service
(thankfully no carpet on the walls).
I loose track of it again after that until it was purchased by Royal Rails
(though I know it was still in the Pacific Northwest at that time). It was
moved to Florida and there was a significant amount of work done on it,
including putting it into their rather gaudy paint scheme. Royal Rails then
folded and the car (along with several others) were sold to Railroad Power
Leasing and the Morristown & Erie.
The owner of Railroad Power Leasing was restoring both this car and an
ex-Southern Crescent round end lounge for use on Maine Eastern tourist train
that the M&E runs, but decided that he didn't need both. From what I've heard,
all 6 of the ex-North Coast Limited Sleeper / Buffet / Obs cars survive, though
I only know locations for 4 of them.
I've created a web page to document the progress on the car, if you're
interested.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minneapolis-Club-Rail-Car/187225801312714?ref=ts
Lewis Foster
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Dave Lotz" <Dave_Lotz@...> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> Does anybody have details of the disposition of this car after the BN
> merger? Rudisell's book and Hol's 1972 BN Annual do not list this car on
> the BN roster and I can't find it in any Amtrak roster.
>
> I've found photos of it repainted in SP Daylight colors in 1986 and named
> "Vija K" (renumbered #453) for the filming of the movie Tough Guys. After
> this, it was owned by Solano Railcar (dates and car number unknown). It was
> then used by the Seattle & North Coast Railroad as their "Mount Olympus"
> (not given a car number) and painted in their green scheme in the 1990's,
> and then finally it was owned by Royal Rail as their "Belle Terre"
> (renumbered #800483 [?], purchase date unknown), whose ugly multicolor
> scheme it is still wearing. It was bought by the Morristown & Erie around
> 2005 and renumbered #2002, and somewhere around 2009 it was taken off its
> trucks and put up on stilts in the M&E shop for restoration, which is where
> it sits currently. It was recently sold to a new owner (don't know the
> name, I'm not privvy to that information) while still undergoing
> restoration, so the M&E was contracted to finish the job, and work has
> picked up on it.
>
> I'm corresponding with Rudy Garbely, an undergrad student who has been
> working on this car as a mechanic at the Morristown & Erie Railway's shop in
> Morristown, NJ.
>
> David Lotz
> Pooler, GA
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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