Western Railroad Discussion > Trains in the Columbia River Gorge, September 2016, Part 6

Here's the next part in this series, consisting of photos taken on Friday 9/16, starting at Viento State Park and then moving to Portland, as SP #4449 was running that day for the American Freedom Train reunion.  Here's a link to the previous Part 5: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4198669.  And here's a link to the following Part 7: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4200230

1) 10:38 AM: this is the only photo from that day that's actually from somewhere in the Gorge, specifically of C45ACCTE (ES44AC) #8036 leading an eastbound Z-Train, the ZPDG2-16, along with SD70AH-T4CU (Tier 4 Credit Unit) #9024, and SD70ACe's #8733 and #8658 (DPU).

2) 3:39 PM: the last car in the consist for the reunion's train was former SP lounge parlor observation #2955, which was built by Pullman-Standard in July 1941 (ordered in August 1940) in Lot #6638 to Plan #7419A, with 19 lounge seats and 22 parlor seats.  #2954 was also built in that Lot, and 4 others cars of this type (#2950-#2953) had been built in 2 earlier Lots:

2 cars (#2950 and #2951) were built in February 1937 in Lot #6500 to Plan #7382 with 19 lounge seats and 23 parlor seats, having been ordered in June 1936.

2 cars (#2952 and #2953) were built in December 1939 in Lot #6590 to Plan #7419 with 19 lounge seats and 22 parlor seats, having been ordered in March 1939.

In 1954, #2950 was selected for the "three-quarter dome" conversion program, becoming dome buffet lounge #3600 with a total of 64 seats.  It was retired in 1970 and sold to the Purdy Company, a major scrap dealer which had locations in Chicago and in Ewing, CA.  It was then resold for use in a planned restaurant, the Rodeo Depot Steakhouse, but those plans fell through, and the car was repossessed by Purdy and scrapped in 1973.  In 1963, SP reconfigured 3 of the 5 remaining cars (#2952, #2953, and #2955) to high-capacity coaches with 72 seats as #2295-#2297 respectively, but the original observation ends of each of these 3 cars remained intact, unlike other roads, such as the GN, which rebuilt the ends of the cars as well.  In 1970-1971, all 5 of the non-dome-rebuilt cars were retired: #2951, #2954, and #2295-#2296 were also sold to Purdy upon retirement in 1970, and like #3600, these cars were resold for planned restaurants, this time for planned additional locations in the Railroader Restaurants chain.  In the meantime, these 4 cars were stored in Redlands, CA, but I don't have any info as to whether or not any of these cars ended up being used at new Railroader Restaurants locations, or if they never left storage in Redlands.  And, in either case, I also don't know what the final dispositions for these cars were, as only the #2955 is known to survive (to me, anyway).

As the #2297, it was sold upon retirement in 1971 to the Stockton Terminal & Eastern RR, along with baggage-chair (coach) combine #3302, and experimental high-capacity 122 seat commuter coach #2202 (nee-48 seat leg rest chair [coach] #2401).  The #3302 later went to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum, and both the #2955/#2297 and #2202 later went to Ed Immel's Northwest Rail Museum (not to be confused with the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, WA), and the cars frequently saw use on SP #4449 excursions.  The #2202 happened to be out on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad when the middle section of the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad over which OCSR operates was washed out in the Coast Range during a Winter storm.  This isolated the #2202 on the OCSR side of the washout.  The #2955/#2297, meanwhile, continues to be used in Portland, most often these days for the Santa Trains in December.  The name it carried for a time, James J. Gilmore, has in recent times been removed, and the car was also changed from Immel's NRM reporting mark to AARX reporting marks, I believe so that it could be moved down to Albany for use on the Albany & Eastern's excursion trains.  At least 2 other cars in the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation (ORHF) fleet, nee-GN 60 seat chair (coach) #1210 (now named Plum Creek) and nee-GN 68 seat coach #6800 Red River (nee-9 seat lunch counter-12 seat diner-20 seat parlor observation #1147 Red River), also received AARX reporting marks for such use.  Both of these cars were also used in the AFT reunion train, along with nee-UP baggage-concessions car #5659 Gordon N. Zimmerman (formerly named Better Idea).  The consist was #1210, #5659, #6800, and #2955.  Only the #1210 is not in Daylight paint.

3) 4:04 PM: the #4449 is underway south on the Oregon Pacific Railroad's former Portland Traction Company line towards Oaks Park, where it was on display all those years ago along with fellow roundhouse (or "squarehouse" if you prefer) occupants SP&S #700 and OR&N #197.

Continued...



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/17 02:36 by Rainier_Rails.

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Next Three:

4) 4:04 PM: another view of the #2955 bringing up the markers with its Mars light on.

5) 4:41 PM: moving south to Oaks Park, the #4449 is seen from above in the Sellwood/Westmoreland neighborhood.  The rides and attractions of this remaining streetcar amusement park can be seen in the distance.

6) 4:41 PM: another view of the #4449.

That's it for now.  More tomorrow.

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Rainier_Rails Wrote:
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> In 1970-1971, all 5 of the non-dome-rebuilt cars
> were retired: #2951, #2954, and #2295-#2296 were
> also sold to Purdy upon retirement in 1970, and
> like #3600, these cars were resold for planned
> restaurants, this time for planned additional
> locations in the Railroader Restaurants chain. 
> In the meantime, these 4 cars were stored in
> Redlands, CA, but I don't have any info as to
> whether or not any of these cars ended up being
> used at new Railroader Restaurants locations, or
> if they never left storage in Redlands. 

The history of these cars after moving to Redlands has not been well documented, but none of them were ever incorporated into any Railroader Restaurants, and appear to have been scrapped within a year or two after arrival in Redlands.  I do not know if the cars were scrapped in place in Redlands, moved to a local scrapper nearby, or moved to Purdy Co. in Mojave, CA to be scrapped.  It's a shame some of them were not saved, but there were a lot of old passsenger cars floating around at the time that needed good homes and there just weren't enough buyers, much like today. 

Topfuel Wrote:
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> The history of these cars after moving to Redlands has not been well documented,
> but none of them were ever incorporated into any Railroader Restaurants,
> and appear to have been scrapped within a year or two after arrival in Redlands.
> I do not know if the cars were scrapped in place in Redlands,
> moved to a local scrapper nearby, or moved to Purdy Co. in Mojave, CA to be scrapped.
> It's a shame some of them were not saved, but there were a lot of old passsenger cars
> floating around at the time that needed good homes and there just weren't enough buyers, much like today.

Thanks, Topfuel, for the info!