Nostalgia & History > Grapevine TX buys ex-SP Lark Club for operation

City buys three historic coaches for its Grapevine Vintage Railroad
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
by Marty Sabota
Monday, Apr. 22, 2013

> GRAPEVINE — The Grapevine Vintage Railroad is moving forward while
> stepping back in time with the city’s recent purchase of three
> vintage railroad coaches that summon up images of Dean Martin, Frank
> Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
>
> After hearing a presentation April 2 from a city official, the
> council voted 6-0 to approve the purchase of the rolling stock for
> $60,000 from the estate of an East Texas former train steward who
> kept them in museum quality.
>
> The appeal of these coaches is their link to the past, according to
> Michael Woody, Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau assistant
> executive director.
>
> He spoke of the “unique” history of the coaches, saying “it has a
> story.”
>
> “These coaches operated between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the
> ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s,” he said. “Legends such as Dean Martin, Frank
> Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., among others, rode and entertained on
> these coaches that were designed with performance areas and, of
> course, a dance floor.”
>
> “The purchase of this rolling stock will greatly enhance our ability
> to expand our special event and charter business,” Woody said.
>
> “This acquisition allows us the opportunity to increase revenue as it
> provides a collection of coaches that our customers and prospective
> customers are looking for,” he said. “In addition, this consist will
> provide us the opportunity to operate our regular schedule during
> special events like Thomas the Tank and North Pole Express.”
>
> The purchase from an estate liquidation was made in mid-April. Woody
> said there are no tracks from the site they are on, so arrangements
> will be made to transport the train cars. With minor work necessary
> to get them working again, he said the coaches should be able to make
> their debut during the Christmas season.
>
> ...These coaches struck the perfect balance. They were priced
> right and will require very little work to have them in full
> operation.”
>
> He said the $60,000 offered was “well under their appraised value” of
> $75,000.
>
> Most of the work will be air brake rehabilitation, which will be done
> using the Grapevine Vintage Railroad mechanics and crew under the
> existing roundhouse operations.

Full story:

City buys three historic coaches for Grapevine Vintage Railroad

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The cars that Grapevine purchased comprise a "Lark Club" triple-unit articulated diner. SP once had several triple-unit diners but only two
survive; this "Lark Club" and a "Cascade Club" in a museum in Northern California, though without the "dance floor" described in the article; that was built when the "Lark" cars were used as a party venue, parked on a ranch in East Texas.

-GP



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/13 23:48 by GenePoon.

Members of the Pacific Locomotive Association at Niles Canyon, California who have been working to stabilize and restore the former "Cascade Club" are delighted to hear that the near-sister "Lark Club" has a future beyond salvage. And indeed, it looks like the Grapevine operation will exploit the car's legendary past on the posh San Francisco-Los Angeles coastal overnight streamliner.

The "Lark Club" was built in 1941 to the "Daylight" pattern of construction: Cor-Ten steel truss framing and stainless fluted siding. The car was smooth-sided and the framing rebuilt by the Southern Pacific's Sacramento Shops to combat the effects of corrosion, and it still looks very much like it did when retired in the mid-1960s. The interior has undergone a makeover by the railroad, from its 1940s muted earth and steely blue tones to a more 'cheery' mid-1950s yellow and tan, with California motif decor. This is largely intact, from what can be gathered from photos.

The 'dance floor' will hopefully be confined to the area formerly occupied by the crew dormitory. This area of the third (forwardmost) car of the triple-unit was gutted and replaced by a coach-class lounge area in the SP's rebuilding, and the windows in that area were enlarged.

The car also retains its SP-unique triple bolster pedestal-type trucks at the outboard locations. The 1949 "Cascade Club" at Niles Canyon was built smooth-sided from the factory, with girder-style framing. The floor plans of the two cars are very similar, and these two cars are the sole remaining examples of SP triple-unit articulation from a fleet once numbering ten car sets and thirty individual car units of two basic floorplans (Diner-Kitchen-Coffee Shop and Lounge-Diner-Kitchen-Dormitory), two styles of construction (all steel and steel-aluminum), and three exterior styling configurations (fluted, smoothside with standard windows, smoothside with large "Shasta" style windows).

Very happy to hear that the car has survived the torch, happier still that folks may ride aboard once again. From one "Trip" to the other, we wish good fortune to the Grapevine RR.

Pics of the "Lark Club" at the Garrett Ranch are here:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2288786,2288786#msg-2288786

The lower photo is of the original "Cascade Club" looking past the lounge area, through the first articulated joint, and into the diner... and on to the steward's station in the third unit!

~ Bob Z.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/13 23:42 by Notch16.

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And, for some reason the City of Grapevine can't seem to get 4-6-0 2248 back up and running. Ever since the cylinder incident that put it down this time, there has been absolutely no word of any work on it.

Is it me, or are they wildly optimistic about getting these cars running again? Do they still have their trucks? They have been off rail for decades - I think it will take big bucks to get them roadworthy.

The original trucks are still with the cars, although they have not moved for many years.

It's the "wildly optimistic" who make things happen...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Overzealousness and pie-in-the-sky are certainly cause for many wild schemes to fail. Long-dormant machines hold surprises, as the triple-unit (a very complete car by most accounts) could very well present as an obstacle to Grapevine's most optimistic plans. Lots of operations get stuff, tear it down, run out of ideas, time, money, volunteers, or all of that -- and there the stuff sits, possibly worse off than when it sat for decades unmolested.

But when they said it couldn't be done, we also got SP 4449, a Krauss-Maffei back from the dead, and <please fill in blanks with near-endless list of improbable success stories here>. Operations like Grapevine may have issues with certain locomotives, but need to have seats to fill regardless of what's pulling them, or there's no dough to fix the ponies.

We wish them the very best. And we know they will certainly solicit and find cooperation and willingness to share information from those who've restored or are restoring similar pieces of equipment.

~ BZ

This is great news. Up until a few years ago I had assumed Lark Club was long gone. Being restored to operation is simply terrific.