Passenger Trains > GN Dome

Next inline to move from Fremont Ne. to Alamosa Co. Ex GN Dome coach. as was mentioned before this is the Dome that went on it's side in the Amtrak derailment in December 1976 at Ralston Ne.
Last car to move will be ex CB&Q Dome sleeper built for the NP North Coast Limited.
Most likely will move late next week.
Route should still be 109 to Wahoo,92 to 30 to 281 to Grand Island then I80 to Colorado. They will go over Laveta pass.
Steve

---

---

Where did the 12 dome coaches that Amtrak HEP'd wind up ?

On the move 1PM Saturday. Route takes Nebraska 92 west and will drop into Kansas on 281 south of Grand Island. From there to Alamosa I don't know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/14 11:59 by EmpireBuilder.

---

---

---

This shit is 5 minutes from screaming straight through the colon. Colon Nebraska that is. I kid you not.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/14 12:41 by EmpireBuilder.

---

i know you have done well with your cars, sad to see them go?

Pretty trick set up for moving long RR cars.

Any details? Welding, bolt-on??

Nice looking Great Dome not all torn up as one would have expected. Typically in a derailment the local fire departments take their saws out and pretty well magonger the structure.

For those who might be interested in dome cars, trainweb.org has the weblurker's dome main. It has not been updated in a while, but has a wealth of info on all of the dome cars ever built.

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i know you have done well with your cars, sad to
> see them go?


Yes, it was a tough moment watching this Dome fade away into the distance. I owned this one twice, first time in 1994 or '95, the second time from '97 or so until I.P. bought them. It became real when it left.

Any regrets ? IDK, it was time to change gears, 25+ years of passenger cars was quite enough. I got fair money, I.P. got a fair price and they took it all. That in itself is worth something.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty trick set up for moving long RR cars.
>
> Any details? Welding, bolt-on??


It's really a very simple design. It's a 3 axle dolly with a flat top I beam frame and a "Z" frame hitch of the same basic design up front. Chains and blocks.

NewRiverGeorge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice looking Great Dome not all torn up as one
> would have expected. Typically in a derailment
> the local fire departments take their saws out and
> pretty well magonger the structure.


She rolled on her side in soft dirt. There would have been almost no damage if it hadn't taken out a telegraph pole on the way over. The vast majority of the damage is above the belt rail at the bottom of the windows and so it is pretty much a cosmetic repair. Thats the beauty of a Budd Girder car, everything from that point up is an umbrella. Think of it as a gondola. Earlier truss cars are a different story, they look similar on the outside but thats where it ends. The center and side sills are arrow straight and the camber is perfect. A crossbearer under the Dome is damaged, but it isn't structural, it is part of the water tank housing. It's really a pretty nice core body. Saying that, I believe people tend to judge things by the surface and not any deeper. Last I knew these were still pretty scarce since none have been built since the '50s. Thats 55 years since a real Dome was built.

+Iowa Pacific has at least one other ex-NP dome sleeper. Hope they restore these cars to "as-built" 4-4-4s (roomettes, single bedrooms, double bedrooms)!

I found the Dome about 15:45 in Grand Island NE headed south. I followed it to a truck stop where it will spend the night. It will leave at first light and head south it to Kansas with a goal of Walsenburg Co. for Sunday night then over Laveta to Alamosa on Monday. Here are a couple shots from today. The trucking company owner unlocked the car so I could see inside the car. I had seen it before but it was 10 or more years ago. I watched him lock it back up before I left.
Photo 1 parked next to load that makes it look short.
Photo 2 shows the damage from taking out the telegraph pole when it went over in the derailment.
Photo 3 shows view from the Dome today.
Steve

---

---

---

Thanks for posting. Is the last picture the former Vista Dome NCL dome sleeper. If I am not mistaken, I believe the blue sidewalls in the dome interior was original paint from it's time on the North Coast Limited. While I don't have a source showing a picture of the original dome sidewalls, it was a color that was part of the 1953 color palette that Raymond Loewy used in various places on the North Coast Limited.

If on the other hand this was the GN Great Dome, well maybe they used a similar color in their short domes? I'm pretty sure that the long Great Domes did not have any aqua blue on the inside.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/14 20:05 by czephyr17.

Restored to dome-sleepers, I think these will be real winners for Iowa Pacific's overnight Pullman service. If you read their TripAdvisor page, many of the complaints came from passengers expecting to ride in a dome car. It takes a relatively large passenger load to justify operating a dedicated With a dome-coach/dome-lounge -- especially with Amtrak's new tariffs. A dome sleeper - along with a sleeper-observation-lounge gives high revenue density and a sense of space to roam.

The car moving today is GN 1324. Dome Sleeper CB&Q 304 will move next week. She is awful lonely with everything else gone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/14 05:40 by EmpireBuilder.

---

Dave, I agree completely, fair all around, and thanks for saving the five cars, plus the amazing parts store.

I told Matt Abbey his new dome car was on the way. Some assembly required, instructions not included.

Ed

EmpireBuilder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i know you have done well with your cars, sad
> to
> > see them go?
>
>
> Yes, it was a tough moment watching this Dome fade
> away into the distance. I owned this one twice,
> first time in 1994 or '95, the second time from
> '97 or so until I.P. bought them. It became real
> when it left.
>
> Any regrets ? IDK, it was time to change gears,
> 25+ years of passenger cars was quite enough. I
> got fair money, I.P. got a fair price and they
> took it all. That in itself is worth something.

Is that weed I see up in the dome? Supposed to bring that out of Colorado, not take it in!

NewRiverGeorge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is that weed I see up in the dome? Supposed to
> bring that out of Colorado, not take it in!

I think that was a unfortunate tree branch that was at the wrong place somewhere between Fremont and GI.
Steve

One more shot of the inside.
Steve

---

Dumb question dept.:

Were those sleeper domes used on and painted for the IC
at certain times of the year, then repainted and back to
the original road at other times?