Nostalgia & History > Chessie Steam Special Passenger Cars

When the Chessie System decided to celebrate the 150th Birthday of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1977, their management drew up the plans for a special steam powered excursion train.  It was decided to have a train painted in their modern paint scheme of Chessie Yellow and trimmed with a vermilion stripe and a C&O Enchantment Blue stripe at the top.  The roofs were painted gray.  In order to have a workable passenger train, the Chessie System Passenger Car Department needed to lease quality passenger cars for the planned excursions.  One of the companies to which they turned was Railroad Passenger Cars, Inc. (RRP) of Baltimore who at that time owned a small fleet primarily of ex-B&O heavy-weight cars along with some additional more modern light-weight cars which they were in the process of rebuilding and refurbishing.  In the attached photos, photo one shows RRP's #6600, a 56 seat coach with a small lounge with 10 lounge chairs.  During this period of time, in order to operate with Amtrak, all private cars were to be painted in Amtrak colors, thus RRP had their #6600 painted that way.  No sooner had they painted the car in Amtrak colors, the car was withdrawn from the Maryland DOT Commuter Trains and was turned over to the Chessie System who took the car to their Huntington, W.V. Shops and repainted the car in their colors for the upcoming Chessie Steam Special Birthday Train, as per picture two.  The Chessie System leased other coaches from RRP along with cars from other owners and all of them were re-painted into the Chessie Colors.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

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Two first-class roster photos.
Bob

So who were the principals behind RRP?  We have seen many pictures you have posted over the years of the equipment, but I don't recall anything about the partners involved.  I am sure that is interesting history as well.

Topfuel Wrote:
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> So who were the principals behind RRP?  We have
> seen many pictures you have posted over the years
> of the equipment, but I don't recall anything
> about the partners involved.  I am sure that is
> interesting history as well.
Okay, a very brief history.  Railroad Passenger Cars, Inc. (RRP) began in 1970.  When the nations class one railroads were signing on to get out of the passenger train business, the Federal Government set up the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, known as Amtrak, and railroads like the B&O joined.  This was told to the officers and directors of the Baltimore Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society by an officer of the B&O who made it clear that they would not have any spare passenger cars to operate excursion train trips in the future.  This same officer of the B&O advised the NRHS that to have trips in the future, they should purchase their own passenger equipment.  In order for Amtrak to begin, Amtrak had to purchase passenger equipment from each of the railroads who were signing on to get out of the passenger business.  Amtrak went to each railroad and purchased what they needed, and then railroads, like the B&O still had some cars left over that they were going to sell primarily for scrapping.  The Baltimore Chapter NRHS obtained an attorney and decided to purchase their own passenger cars.  An agreement was drawn up, and a separate corporation was formed with the name Railroad Passenger Cars, Inc. with the legal markings of RRP.  The officers and directors of RRP came primarily from the membership of the Baltimore Chapter NRHS.  They determined that they would sell memberships at a price of $100 each and each member could only own one membership to avoid a monopoly.  The B&O Railroad offered the left over coaches for the scrap value of about $3,000 per car.  With the membership money and with some additional loans, RRP purchased three coaches from the B&O, they made another agreement with the B&O to rent space to store and maintain the cars at the B&O's Camden Station in Baltimore, Maryland.  In time,and with loans from the members, RRP was able to purchase additional coaches from the B&O totaling 9 regular coaches plus one Food Bar Coach.  The Baltimore Chapter had already purchase a dining car and a club observation car from the B&O in 1969 as these cars had become surplus.  At this point, when Amtrak began running the intercity passenger trains in 1971, the Baltimore Chapter NRHS was able to operate excursion trips on both the B&O and on the Western Maryland Railway using their own fleet of passenger cars.  Other NRHS Chapters were also able to lease the RRP cars for their trips as well.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Very fascinating historical data, John! ...If only you could author a book about this for us.

Matthew

ClubCar Wrote:
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 This was told to the officers
> and directors of the Baltimore Chapter of the
> National Railway Historical Society by an officer
> of the B&O who made it clear that they would not
> have any spare passenger cars to operate excursion
> train trips in the future.  This same officer of
> the B&O advised the NRHS that to have trips in the
> future, they should purchase their own passenger
> equipment.

John,

Was Bill Howes the B&O officer of whom you speak?

Art?