[CBQ] Historic passenger car for sale

["jonathanharris@earthlink.net [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>]

Hi folks -

Thought this might be of interest to the group:

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Historic Burlington Railroad Car for Sale

(Indianapolis, IN) One of the last cars added to the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad's historic "Zephyr" fleet is for sale by its current owner, Midwest Salvage and Metals (MSM).

The car is an authentic piece of history, according MSM president Nick Kowalchek, who admitted to being a railroad fan himself.

Ordered in 1966, the buffet/smoking car was in fact one of just two cars built or modified for the Burlington Route's flagship train, the Denver Zephyr, in its final years of operation — the only such cars commissioned during the tenure of then president Louis W. Menk, as part of a strategy to redefine the company's vision of passenger service.

Menk, renowned throughout the industry for his interest in passengers' accommodations and their relation to a railroad's bottom line, had the unique smoker, the Silver Cuspidor, converted from an earlier car of uncertain provenance.

"When we bought it last December," explained MSM's Kowalcheck, "they told us it had once been a heavyweight baggage car. But after some digging, and especially since the weather's gotten a little warmer, we have stronger and stronger indication it was actually a refrigerator car formerly used in hide and tallow service."

The unique car's planned companion, the Silver Spittoon, was destroyed in a shop fire before it could be placed in service. Internal company documents mention a projected third car, the Silver Skunk (for the California Zephyr), which apparently never made it past the discussion stage. 

Mr. Kowalcheck did not elaborate on why he wanted to sell the car, only obliquely referring to a recent decline in business.

Despite being on the roster just a short time in the period leading up to Amtrak, the Silver Cuspidor fulfilled its mission with distinction, having had an effect on the public's perception of rail passenger service arguably as powerful in its own way as the Burlington's innovative Silver Dome had two decades before. Indeed it was only necessary to spot the car on an adjacent depot track to send trains and travelers packing "Everywhere West."

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Posted by: jonathanharris@earthlink.net

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