Nostalgia & History > Sleeper Saturday: Follow-Up Post - Lance's WAG Extra #58

Monday of last week, Lance featured in "WAG running extra (#58): PRR varnish in OZ" (https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4704534) a Pennsy-owned Pullman heavyweight sleeper, the "Clover Prairie", and I thought I'd provide a little more information on this car.

santafe199 Wrote:
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> 1. PRR ‘Clover Prairie’ (car number unknown) at the rear end of a Rock Island(?) passenger train at the Union Pacific depot in north Topeka, KS on November 23, 1962.

The "Clover Prairie", with 8 sections and 5 double bedrooms (8S-5DB), did indeed have a car number, as did all Pullman heavyweight parlors and sleepers that the PRR acquired during the Pullman divestiture (12/31/1945 for parlors and 12/31/1948 for sleepers) for continued revenue service (both types were leased back to Pullman, and were staffed by Pullman employees, i.e., porters and conductors). But like several other roads, the Pennsy didn't put said car numbers on the actual car (particularly the sleepers), but were only used in internal documents, such as for accounting purposes. Specifically, the "Clover Prairie" was PRR #8642, and it remained in lease to Pullman for revenue service until November 1963. Source materials indicate it was then transferred to the maintenance-of-way department, and a MofW car number is given, specifically #864226.  But based on some previous conversation about 6 section-6 double bedroom (6S-6DB) "Poplar"-series cars acquired at the divestiture by PRR and their supposed later MofW numbers, that MofW number for the "Clover Prairie" may be incorrect, as PRR placed many heavyweight Pullman sleepers and parlors into MofW service, but with numbers in the #492000-series and #493000-series.

And as far as the car's pre-PRR-ownership is concerned, it started out as the 12 section-1 compartment-1 drawing room (12S-1C-1DR) sleeper "Chasm Falls", built by Pullman in March 1911 in Lot #3880 to Plan #2411 (changed to #2411B in January 1917), 1 of 30 such cars built in that Lot in February (1 car) and March (29 cars), and 1 of 12 from that Lot that were originally assigned to the Pennsy's rival New York Central. Except for one car (the "Glenrock", 1 of 8 cars built for assignment to PRR) that was scrapped fairly early on in November 1912 (it must've been wrecked or burned to be destroyed when so new), the remaining 29 were all rebuilt between June 1930 and March 1940 to either Plan #4042A 10 section-2 double bedroom-1 compartment (10S-2DB-1C) sleepers with "College"-series names (2 cars), Plan #3411 10 section-3 double bedroom (10S-3DB) sleepers with mostly "Villa"-series names (8 cars), or Plan #4036 (or #4036A, B, or G) 8 section-5 double bedroom (8S-5DB) sleepers with mostly "Clover"-series names (19 cars). Specifically, the "Chasm Falls" was rebuilt in January 1936 to Plan #4036B as the "Clover Prairie". It was 1 of 4 cars rebuilt in December 1935 (3) and January 1936 (1) for assignment to the "Florida Arrow", and all were repainted to PRR's Tuscan Red paint at that time. All 4 were later sold to the PRR at the Pullman divestiture (the sales of the various Pullman cars to the various roads at that time were in many cases based upon which cars were assigned to at a specific date leading up to said divestiture).

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Here’s a stranger from back east passing through the Midwestern capital of Topeka.
> It’s a long ways from the multiple-main track environs of Horseshoe or the Northeast Corridor...
> Despite my 'stranger in a strange land' prose, I'm thinking eastern RR passenger cars made appearances out this way from time to time.
> Throughout the Gibson collection I scanned PRR varnish in Topeka more than once.
> Off the top of my head I can recall scanning other PRR cars once each on the ATSF & UP, and maybe another time on the Rock Island.
> There were photo-worthy events, to be sure...

Oh yes, as more and more newer lightweight sleepers were built for the railroads, the older heavyweight sleepers wandered more and more in general service (whether for charters or special moves, as part of a predetermined assignment plan to meet the demands of seasonal traffic, or in a last-minute fill-in "pinch", so cars in any number of ownerships or paint schemes could be seen in "odd" places). As patterns changed and as passenger traffic in some areas dwindled, even the lightweight cars began to wander more and more. (For example, I have seen a number of slides of PRR lightweight sleepers turn up in Denver for various assignments, plus C&O, B&O, New Haven, NYC, IC, ACL, SP, CRI&P, C&NW, etc.)

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Throughout the Gibson collection I scanned PRR varnish in Topeka more than once.

Being a passenger car researcher, any shots of cars "where they shouldn't be" would be interesting to see (*hint* *hint*). (Or even cars *where* they should be.)

wag216 Wrote:
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> Main move on the Texas Rocket (or what was left of the Rocket), headed for Ft. Sill, (Okla).

(Plus I see another "foreign road" Pullman of some sort [10 sections plus some rooms] in front of the "Clover Prairie", and with this being a "Main" [military] movement as Art said, all of the extra/added Pullmans could be "not normal" cars.)

Thanks for all the follow-up details! Very interesting. I regret that I'm a puny novice when it comes to intimate passenger detail like this. This is one of the many things I miss about my late friend & fellow KS Gangster, John Arbuckle (dec. April 2017). Of the 6 of us back in our 1980s prime John was our Resident Guru, THE absolute authority on all things passenger! In fact, my very last communication with him was during my 25 day eastern odyssey in early '17. I was somewhere in the Battle Creek, MI area and I called him for help. I told him what RR line I was chasing and he quickly told me where to find an Amtrak depot and when to expect such & such train. John would have loved reading your material here and, no doubt, would have participated in the dialogue...

Lance/199