Western Railroad Discussion > A "Silver Cloud"

Oh to be a multi-millionaire with a Private Business Car! Dennis Washington's "Silver Cloud" goes a long way to inspire such a fantasy, parked on a private spur right behind the MRL dispatching offices at Washington Corp HQ in Missoula, MT. May of 2001.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/19 02:00 by funnelfan.

---

---

---

The "less important" end of the car.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

---

---

long live the rock

https://john-s-island.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-silver-cloud-montana-rail-link-mrl.html   here is the link from the post below



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/19 08:55 by dan.

Dan, it's a former Rock Island business car?

rrpreservation Wrote:
<< Dan, it's a former Rock Island business car? >>

That is correct. (more info later)
Dave in Missoula

Niiiiiiice!

BB

That sure is a beauty...

Nice pics, Ted! I was snooping around one afternoon in Missoula. The car had been recently acquired & delivered to MRL. It was stored in one of the Washington Corps(?) buildings, but I was able to get inside and take a look. Alas, I had just tied up off a switch engine and I had no camera. The car itself was locked up, but I could peek inside the back end. It was exactly what you would expect for a 30-some year old, used business car. The next time I saw the car was when I got called off the engineer's extra board to haul the Silver Cloud on an excursion run down to Darby, MT & back w/ Mr Washington on board. The car had undergone an unbelievable transformation...  

rrpreservation Wrote: > ...  former Rock Island business car?

It is ex-CRI&P biz car 101. Here's a link to a brief history sketch: ( https://john-s-island.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-silver-cloud-montana-rail-link-mrl.html ). Dave can undoubtedly provide some better info...

Lance/199

added: I'm not sure why the link won't do what it's supposed to do. Gremlins...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/19 07:50 by santafe199.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... The next time I saw the car was when I got
> called off the engineer's extra board to haul the
> Silver Cloud on an excursion run down to Darby, MT
> & back w/ Mr Washington on board...
> Lance/199

Mobile man-cave!  I want one!

mapboy

True, its a beautiful car, but why does the chrome on the observation end look like rumply tin foil?  It was formerly Rock Island business car "Lake Michigan" and didn't look this fancy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/19 10:35 by cabman.

NICE looking ride Ted!!

Larry

If you went to that location today, you would also see 2 former NP dome coaches, a former SP articulated coach, and a former AT&SF baggage car converted to a power car.  The SP cars and the NP cars have all of course been extensively modifed inside so they bear no resemblance to their original configuration. 

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh to be a multi-millionaire with a Private
> Business Car! Dennis Washington's "Silver Cloud"
> goes a long way to inspire such a fantasy, parked
> on a private spur right behind the MRL dispatching
> offices at Washington Corp HQ in Missoula, MT. May
> of 2001.
Even more important to be a multi- millionaire with his own main line railroad to run his car on since Amtrak isn't too private car friendly these days1

 re: Mr.Washington, how about multi-Billionaire.