Nostalgia & History > Former SP 3/4 Dome car on the move!

Los Angeles Railway Job 119 shoves the Eastbound LACBAR to its holding track to wait for an outbound crew today, 03/30/2023. 
Clearly a rear rider on the train. Doing the shove safely, at every curve to the right was a stop and precede the shove to make sure the track was clear. 

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Great catch!

Interesting to see that it appears to retain green-tinted glass, and not completely Lexan-ized. Good luck, nice car!

Does anyone have any background on this car? I didn't see much on Google.

kurtarmbruster Wrote:
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> Interesting to see that it appears to retain
> green-tinted glass, and not completely Lexan-ized.
> Good luck, nice car!

Yes, good observation!  Original Solex green-tint glass, like most all lightweight passenger cars (especially domes!) are supposed to have.  None of this dark brown tint like everyone uses these days.

This car received minimal Lexan window retrofits by Amtrak.  The down side of that is that most of this beautiful original green tint glass has been broken by vandals.  It is VERY expensive to replace today, but hopefully the new owner will yield to the pressure and retain the outstanding look of that Solex emerald green tint glass, at least upstairs.

It's great to see the car is finally on it's way tonight.

Los Angeles Junction vs. Los Angeles Railway ??
Have I missed something here?

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote:
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> Los Angeles Junction vs. Los Angeles Railway ??
> Have I missed something here?

It's the Los Angeles Junction.  He made a boo-boo in his post to start this thread.  

Some car owners want their passenger car as the last car in the train because of its lighter weight.  

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Some car owners want their passenger car as the
> last car in the train because of its lighter
> weight.  

They're heavier than most empty freight cars, but it's just better for the passenger car to be on the rear when moving in freight service.  

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Some car owners want their passenger car as the
> last car in the train because of its lighter
> weight.  

the sp dome that went to CCRG  now CP had it's drawbar yanked out in ogden coming back from mexico for get her name at the time

I may be out of the loop, but is that SP 3/4 dome going to get restored?  Hopefully?

I rode in one of them on the Amtrak San Francisco Zephyr in 1976, so it would be cool to see one restored.  That one looks pretty rough.

Thanks for the good coverage.

Anybody know the routing for this train, it sounds like through Denver but I can never figure that out.

Here's some info on the SP 3/4 domes:

http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/SPf/

Floor plan for the 3600:

http://espee.railfan.net/images/sp_domecar_plans.pdf

Ooops, my bad, I forgot to put the "Junction" in the full name. 
To make ammends, how about these:

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This car was the SP 3602 (now RPCX 3602), and Amtrak 9372 (I think) for a while.

The car is on it's way to Oregon for a rebuild/restoration.... so in 2-4 years hopefully it will be part of a train behind the SP 4449.

How do I know?   I own the car.  <grin>

The GPS is reporting that the car is sitting on the bridge over the LA river, and has been for more than a day.
The presumed route is:   Barstow, then inside gateway to Pasco, then Vancouver, then Albany Oregon (all BNSF).

We have requested rear end only.... on a big (PSR) train you don't want the buff/draft forces running through your precious car.

Lots of major work to be done. A car of lesser interest / importance might not be worth it.

-David

http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/SP3602/ Some historical photos of this car from Web Lurkers Dome.main
 

Wow!, I just realized I know this car. This was the car my wife and I had on our honeymoon trip on #5 from Omaha to Oakland in 1975. (Actually, this car was only added at Denver)

Good luck on the restoration.

            Looks closer to 7/8 at least.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> Looks closer to 7/8 at least.

This is correct.  The nickname of "3/4 dome" is really only accurate for the prototype car #3600.  The 6 remaining production cars were actually "7/8ths domes".  But ithe old "3/4 dome" moniker dies hard.

Passenger car draft gears and pockets are not designed for the buff and draft forces that occur in freight trains. That is why they are limited to 7000 trailing tons.  In most of today's trains, that means rear end.

dcautley Wrote:
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> This car was the SP 3602 (now RPCX 3602), and
> Amtrak 9372 (I think) for a while.
>
> The car is on it's way to Oregon for a
> rebuild/restoration.... so in 2-4 years hopefully
> it will be part of a train behind the SP 4449.
>
> How do I know?   I own the car.  
>
> The GPS is reporting that the car is sitting on
> the bridge over the LA river, and has been for
> more than a day.
> The presumed route is:   Barstow, then inside
> gateway to Pasco, then Vancouver, then Albany
> Oregon (all BNSF).
>
> We have requested rear end only.... on a big (PSR)
> train you don't want the buff/draft forces running
> through your precious car.
>
> Lots of major work to be done. A car of lesser
> interest / importance might not be worth it.
>
> -David

Heads up, I was able to catch this car passing through Fresno earlier today. It seems as if some taggers have vandalized the car while it was still in LA.

Still though, can't wait to see how this car looks once it arrives. Good luck with the restoration!

Image taken at: https://goo.gl/maps/vVvocxJ9BDQFE6aq9

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