Nostalgia & History > Amtrak Train 16 Wichita Union Station 1975 with NYC car?

As a young railfan, I was a member of the Wichita Chapter of the NRHS.  Our monthly Friday night meetings always took a slide show break about 900pm when Santa Fe-now Amtrak train 16 (was now the Lone Star) came in for a station stop.  We could watch the train activity through the windows of our adjacent meeting room on the second floor of the station or go down trackside for the up close and personal inspection.  On this May 1975 evening, 16 was early and waiting on time to depart and gave me enough time to get shots on the headend and rear end.  Amtrak 500 SDP40-F was leading where I took my first shots and then hustled to the rear end to be greeted by Ex-NYC Observation Wingate Brook all appropriately illuminated on the inside.  Presenting 2 shots on the 500 and Wichita Union Station and 3 shots of the Wingate Brook.

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3 views of the Wingate Brook

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Very nice!  According to my well-worn copy of the Amtrak Car and Locomotive Spotter's Guide, the Wingate Brook (AMTK 3260) was a 5 dbr/lounge built by Budd in 1949 for NYC's NY-StL Southwestern Limited.  It might have been a semi-regular on Amtrak Nos. 15 and 16 during that period, as I found her on the rear of the Lone Star at Joliet in August, 1974.

mike woodruff
spokane

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This car was sold in early 2022 to a group of private car owners who are big passenger car enthusiasts.  It has been dormant for several decades and has never run as an Amtrak Certified PV.  The car has been moved to Ohio and should see the light of day in the next few years.  It is one of the great passenger cars of the classic post-war era.  

The Wingate Brook was a regular on the Lone Star up to about the winter of 1975. I know because I performed light maintenance on her many times while she dwelled at Houston. We also had the ex-CZ vista dome sleeper observation cars too. It sure surprised me how long the Lone Star had this extra touch of class in the consist even though a few of the observation cars were really worn out.

Oh boy, do these shots take me back! Here's a link to my first night time dance with #16 at Wichita: ( Toto Tuesday: Lone Star Lamentations in Wichita (trainorders.com) ). These are early Picasa photo-edting efforts of HP scans. One of these days I'll re-scan & upgrade to Photoshop...

toodles

Hou74-76 Wrote:
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> The Wingate Brook was a regular on the Lone Star
> up to about the winter of 1975. I know because I
> performed light maintenance on her many times
> while she dwelled at Houston. We also had the
> ex-CZ vista dome sleeper observation cars too. It
> sure surprised me how long the Lone Star had this
> extra touch of class in the consist even though a
> few of the observation cars were really worn out.

After serving on the Lone Star, those aforementioned obs cars - including the Wingate Brook - were re-assigned to the Sunset Ltd until retirement.

Nice shots!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Great night shots !
Gary

Sometimes I'd get used extra firing on 15 & 16, always interesting coming into Wichita and seeing a few fans there watching. One time the engineer grabbed a water bottle with a foil cap, poked a hole in it with his pen, and sprayed or misted them as he came to a stop.

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I am not going to dispute the history of the Wingate Brook, and very much appreciate these shots of it.  But, I seem to remember it was a substitue car on th 20th Century Limited when the Creek cars needed maintenance.  Is that correct?

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Yes,back up to the Creek cars. Wingate Brook was used in that capacity on the last   20th CENTURY LTD    departing GCT on Dec 2,1967 due to yhe Creek car being shopped,luckly Wingate Brook was in NY rather than Chicago.   Thank you for the fine photos you shared with us.

The 1974 photo shows the nice plastic windows in the lounge for your observation pleasure.  It's a lot of work to change out the panes in an Adlake sash; I don't know why Amtrak even bothered using this trash.