Nostalgia & History > Inside D&RG observation Silver Sky -- Oct 78

A few shots inside the beautiful ex-CZ Silver Sky.
Built in 1948 for the California Zephyr and owned by the Rio Grande.
Originally it had 1 drawing room and 3 dbl bedrooms. The Rio Grande eliminated these in 1974.
After the demise of the Rio Grande Zephyr in 1983, the car was traded to VIA in 1987 but they never operated it. The last I read it was being renovated somewhere in Michigan ?

Gary

(1-3) On the rear of the westbound RGZ at Grand Junction.
A couple up under the dome.

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(4-6) A few in the observation end.

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(7-8) Down below in the lounge area.

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(9-10) Beautiful etched glass.

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I rode the RGZ once when a cigar smoker was occupying the dome in Silver Sky. He had the whole car to himself. :-(

Bill Gillfillan
Tulsa, OK

My wife and I rode in that car in Nov 1970. We kept the attendant busy mixing some drinks which interrupted his book reading several times. By the time we got to Glennwood Springs we were downright happy.

I did a total of 12 trips on the RGZ (often with a girlfriend in tow) when I lived in Denver.  Most if not all of those trips involved extended periods in the Silver Sky dome.  Lots of scenery, a fair amount of beer and wine, and good times for all.

Thanks for posting these.  They are way better than the interior shots I took!

Excellent interior shots! And that car was open to all passengers!

Thanks for the photos. These are a treasure trove foe us passenger car modelers
Cheers
Charlie
MP 58.2 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

Scroll down to the bottom set of photos here to see how VIA has rebuilt the bar area under the Dome and the Obs in a car very similar to the Silver Sky:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4342077



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/17 09:41 by ghCBNS.

Thank you for posting the interior shots of the Silver Sky. I also must say the quality of your pics are much better than the ones I took in 1981. I used Kodachrome 200 slide film but whatever you used it was spot on.

Posted from iPhone

Hum: no mention of the unsightly paper garbage bag by the dome stairs from the Amtrak critics!

Yes, regardless of the carrier it is sloppy, unsightly and lazy -- put the book down...

OK, maybe ridership was declining, and the train wasn't full. But it looks like there was no one at all in the dome or lounge area?

By the time I rode in '83, the curtains and the carpet had been replaced by multi-hued red-orange and there were framed posters hung in the vestibule end of the car lounge area where the bedrooms once were.

Yes, the Silver Sky is owned by Bill Harman in Michigan who also owns ex-VIA dome obs "Algonquin Park". He is restoring it for tourist railroad use.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/17 11:39 by davew833.

Gary,

Great views.

Just a note on the rebuild of Silver Sky, I bought and rode in Double Bedroom B (with the 6 foot sofa) from SLC to DEN and back DEN to SLC in March of 1975. So I can assure you, the 3 Double Bedrooms and the Drawing Room (occupied by the Conductor) were very much intact at that time.

Thank you!



-------------------------------------------------------
> A few shots inside the beautiful ex-CZ Silver
> Sky.
> Built in 1948 for the California Zephyr and owned
> by the Rio Grande.
> Originally it had 1 drawing room and 3 dbl
> bedrooms. The Rio Grande eliminated these in
> 1974.
> After the demise of the Rio Grande Zephyr in 1983,
> the car was traded to VIA in 1987 but they never
> operated it. The last I read it was being
> renovated somewhere in Michigan ?
>
> Gary
>
> (1-3) On the rear of the westbound RGZ at Grand
> Junction.
> A couple up under the dome.

nikon1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the photos. These are a treasure trove
> foe us passenger car modelers
> Cheers
> Charlie
> MP 58.2 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

Absolutely! I hope he will post more photos.

Many thanks to the RG&W as well as the
late, great, Leonard Bernstein for keeping
the dream alive as long as they did!