Nostalgia & History > ARR 1502 @ Yakima, Wa; November, 1986

ARR 1502 begins its transformation to a non-rail use as seen early in the morning in November, 1986 at Yakima, Washington. A quick look at Google Maps indicates that this location is now a parking lot, west of the BNSF mainline, and across the tracks from the former NP depot.

Also seen are Melco Labs Ft. Monmouth (1581) & Ft. Benning (692). 

The Revised Second Edition Amtrak Car Spotter (Wayner Publications, 1973) shows an AMTK 1591 as an ex-SCL; ex-SAL car. Would it be correct to presume that both these cars were former SCL (ex-ACL) cars that weren't assimilated into Amtrak?

What would the proper reporting marks be for these cars and does anyone have any idea of what became of them.

Thanks!

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/18 17:51 by JFArrFan.

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The 1518 is a former ACL baggage dormitory.  1518 was the Amtrak number.  The round end obs is the former CofG tavern lounge observation "Ft. Benning" from the 4 car Budd "Man-O-War" trainset.  These 2 cars were converted by Melco Labs for company display and entertainment use in the early 1980's and were seen frequently on the back of Amtrak trains on the west coast.  One day, while stored at the Seattle Union Station (not King Street) some jerks broke in and set the cars on fire.  The damage was not as severe as it could have been but from what I understand the company took the insurance money and wrote the cars off.  They ended up at the deal in Yakima for roughly 25 years before it went under and everything was sold off several years ago.  Don't recall where the bag-dorm ended up but the round end ended up with a private party who has the 2 Man-O-War coaches in Tennesee.  Not sure how bad the fire damage was inside the round end but evidently not bad enough to preclude a restoration effort back to a tavern obs.