Passenger Trains > PRR Passenger Cars @ Stanley Yard

Spotted these Pennsy passenger cars on flatcars at the south end of Stanley Yard in Toledo. Any idea of their history and where they may be going? They sort of look like cars used on the Pennsys Tublar train.

Phil



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/10 09:58 by Phil.

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Yeah, those are from the PRR "Keystone" experimental train--don't know anything about else about them, though. Neat sighting!

I have vague memories of riding them in the 1960's. They were HEP'd. They had their own HEP power car. I think of them as forerunners of Amfleet-1. Amtrak originally took title to them but never ran them. You had to walk thru a smoking lounge at either end of the car (yuk) and go down steps to reach the main pasenger compartment. Sometimes they stuck conventional equipment, even P70's, between them and the GGI.

Looks like the car loaded up on flat in greater Detroit area. CSXT handing off to CN at Toledo, looks like they are headed to Montreal.

They are STILL around??? Great catch - I'd love to hear the
history of them after the PRR up till this latest move.

They belong in a museum.

/Mitch

These cars were on a dinner train at Walled Lake,Mi.

Uncle Joe-Florida

Scrap Talgo for WI and use these! : )

/Mitch

If these are the same two that were for sale on Ozark Mountain Railcar's site they were listed as "PRR Keystone Table Car 9604 & 9605". From the ad pics (which are gone now) they were quite nice (if no longer original) inside.

They are going to a mine in Canada to be used to shuttle employes back and forth

These cars are part of the seven car fleet, plus the power/kitchen car that was purchased by Jack Haley about 1983. They were shipped on their own wheels to Waterloo, Iowa after surviving a derailment by being too far up front in a long freight train. While in Waterloo they were hit by vandals that badly damaged two of the cars by fire. They were then all sent to Charles City and were kept at the Charles City Western shops, also purchased by Haley. They were rebuilt there into a nice dinner train and two new gen sets were mounted in the power car.

These were never operated as a dinner train in Iowa, but the entire unit was sold to the Michigan firm mentioned by a prior poster.

The four remaining cars, including the two fire damaged cars, sat on the old Oliver interchange in seclusion for many years. A few parts, mostly doors, went into the Silver Solarium 1994-1995 during a complete rebuilding (second time) of the Silver Solarium, also in the Charles City Western shop.

Those four remaining cars were finally scrapped in place in 2003. Two of them were in a salvageable condition, but no buyer could be found. By that time they were owned by Fred Tanner, who picked up the pieces of the Haley empire, including a "few" debts.

How many cars were there that PRR operated? I've seen them in publicity and marketing materials, but rarely have I heard anything else about them. And they were indeed eyed up for the PRR Keystone service!

I recall riding in one in 1963. As I recall the ceiling was the same height throughout the car so sitting in the middle section was like sitting in a grand hall of some sort.

According to Amtrak's Laird, these were the only cars built. They ran in regular pool service and on no particular schedule. He thought the cars were great except for one thing - they should have simply had a pantograph on the roof instead of on-board gen sets. The 480 volt power was not compatible with any other cars on the system.

By mentioning Amtrak, they never had them, but Laird was around long before Amtrak. BTW, these cars had very small diameter wheels, diameter under 30" I think. One set was picked up by the Michigan operator from one of the BETTER cars (not the burned cars) and for simplicity they simply torched them out of the side frames. They did this to the free end wheel while all four cars were on a stub siding and thus rather permently prevented access to ANY of the cars. Ah yes, and the junk dealer who cut them out while the "buyer" waited never did get paid for cutting them out and also Fred Tanner never got paid for the wheelset. Such is the life of a car owner.

As I recall, Pennsy ran this cars together, at least in the mid 60's, as "The Keystone" I believe out of New York at 2:00PM to Washington.
Do not remember how the return run was scheduled.

Return run of the Evening Keystone left D.C. in late afternoon. I rode it once with my
mother and sister in the mid-60s to New Brunswick, NJ (which was the closest station stop
for that train to Metuchen, NJ). We spent about a week at Metuchen with an aunt and uncle and their children. Visited the New York World's Fair on one day. I recall spending another late
afternoon photographing many, MANY trains passing through the Metuchen station.

I have several PRR "NY World's Fair" public timetables. Believe they may have a photo or two. Will try to dig them out and see if these cars are in any pics.
Rick

Back in the mid 70s when living in Detroit, I recall seeing these cars stored and out of service at Selfridge AFB in SE Michigan

What was the purpose of the lowered center area?

PRR's Keystone in the day at Colonia, NJ.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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symph1 Wrote:
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> What was the purpose of the lowered center area?


I believe the argument was that with the passengers riding lower in the car, there would be a lower center of gravity and thus the cars could ride smoother around the curves in the NE Corridor. I do remember looking out the window at mostly the feet of persons standing on the high level platforms of many of the station stops.