Nostalgia & History > More ex-Thompson Vineyard

Another member of the Thompson Monee, IL Vineyard rolling stock diaspora. This is IC Office Car 2 and was relocated less than 4 miles away about 14 or so years ago. The car was part of the original equipment on the site consisting of the T&NO 4-6-0, two ATSF head end cars (still on site) and this car which I think was wired and plumbed for entertaining. It's on blocks but the trucks are nearby (well, at least the one I could see without trespass).

---

---

---

I can't tell from the photo, but does that have a platform on the other end?

looks like

Does anyone know where the IC Office Car went or is it still at the site?

Well, so far as I know this is it. Definitely not on the original site.

But interestingly, icrr.net indicates there was once an IC office car (#3) that was sold and used as the office for Governor's Gateway Industrial Park which was not too far away from either the vineyard or the present location. But it goes on to say this car ended up on the CO&E in southern Illinois but a former VP bought it to live in. It also said it was up for sale in 2005.

I regret to announce that I've been informed that IC Business Car 2 is no more. It has been scrapped. This per someone who was involved in the sale of the land it sat on. The surprise is that the car and the land it sat on were still owned by the Thompson family, having moved it there from the former winery location in the mid-nineties or so. I was told they even tried giving the car away but got no takers when they found out the costs of moving it. The removal of the car was a condition of the sale of the land to a neighboring business which wanted to expand. This car had a wood body sheathed in steel. It was built in 1883 so I don't know if that means it originally had a wood underframe as well. But while one might have been able to use it to putter around on a tourist operation, in no way could it have ever been made suitable for Amtrak certified PV service. And what good does an office car do on a tourist operation? Static display was all it could have been used for. I was told except for a few odds and ends, everything was scrapped, including the trucks. Sad.

I cannot personally verify this information but the car is in fact gone and so have no reason to doubt it.

BTW, Mr. Thompson is still with us, in his nineties, and living elsewhere in the country.

---