Nostalgia & History > A day on the Lone Star

July 78

It was time for another Houston-Cleburne roundtrip on the Lone Star.

(1) Waiting for departure in Houston

(2) The sleeper out of Houston this day was the Palm Stream.
A 10-6 built by ACF in 1951 for the Santa Fe.

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(3-6) The diner was an older one 8036.
Built for the Santa Fe by Budd in 1942.
In fact it looked like the whole train was ex-Santa Fe cars (a common occurance).

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(7-9) On the way we waited on the main for the Inter-American to get in to the siding.
Private car Ambrose P. Finn was on the rear.
Later named Cannon Ball it was built in 1922.
From what I can gather it was rebuilt to a business car from an N&W diner.

Gary

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Old Santa Fe RR Temple, TX based passenger conductors and head brakemen worked Temple-Cleburne-Hoston-Temle and  rear train worked Houston-Cleburne-Houston. Temple engine crews worked between Cleburne and Houston.
 

Certainly is a excellent photo series with concise narratives.
Especially like the interior diner photos.
Thanks for another interesting documentary.
ALLEN

Always love interior photos, especially of dining cars.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/20 10:09 by Waybiller.

Treasures.
Bob

gcm Wrote:
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> (3-6) The diner was an older one 8036.
> Built for the Santa Fe by Budd in 1942.
> In fact it looked like the whole train was
> ex-Santa Fe cars (a common occurance).

Even though the 8036 is indeed a 1942-built car, that is a real head scratcher, because judging by the interior shots, I say without question that this is one of the 1937 Budd diners.  The appointments in the dining room were completely different in the 1937 cars than in the somewhat spartan 1942-built diners.  A bit of a mystery to be sure. Is it possible that you took the interior pictures of the diner on the return trip and thus it was a different car?

Topfuel Wrote:
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> Even though the 8036 is indeed a 1942-built car,
> that is a real head scratcher, because judging by
> the interior shots, I say without question that
> this is one of the 1937 Budd diners.  The
> appointments in the dining room were completely
> different in the 1937 cars than in the somewhat
> spartan 1942-built diners.  A bit of a mystery to
> be sure. Is it possible that you took the
> interior pictures of the diner on the return trip
> and thus it was a different car?

You may be right.
I didn't find all the slides from the roundtrip and thought this was the northbound but must 
have been a '37 diner on #15. I have certainly seen those 30's diners on the Lone Star before.
I'll look around for the southbound portion.
Anyway I'm glad to get a few inside the older than wartime diners.
Gary

My first-ever Amtrak trip was aboard #15 from Emporia to OK City & back (4-2-78). After more than 40 years I still miss my favorite train as if it was yesterday. Many thanks for your continued peeks back into Lone Star history!

Lance

And once again Gary delivers!  Excellent series; it's always a pleasure to see what treasures you have.

Andy

Think how old all those kids in the diner are today.  In their 50s probably.

Great pictures - thanks for posting them.

That car is the ATK 8030.  The incandescent light fixtures over the tables are a dead give away.  What I have never seen before are handrails across the windows at the tables.  When did that Amtrak innovation come to fruition?


> Even though the 8036 is indeed a 1942-built car,
> that is a real head scratcher, because judging by
> the interior shots, I say without question that
> this is one of the 1937 Budd diners.  

Lunch counter diners had them on aisle on some cars on other roads, it is interesting!   Think a bunch of those  diners ended up with the roaring fork can't remember where they went.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/20 21:34 by dan.

Excellent sequence!

Nice shots, especially the meet!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Gary, what a great little slide you shared with us !  It brought back nice memories of my own roundtrip on the Lone Star from Brenham to Mc Gregor, TX and back in 1974 .  --Kelly 

That lucky young man on the obs platform of the Ambrose Finn!

Gary, love all of the Texas Chief/Lone Star pix. Any chance you have any interior room shots of the Pullmans?