Passenger Trains > AMTRAK Harbor Series Sleepers

While I was surfing the Amtrak Photo Archive, I came across a picture of a sleeper (#2051) named the "Fairport Harbor"

http://lib2.clark.cc.oh.us/amtrak/amtSLEEP/amt2051.jpg

Does anyone have any more info on this car other than what the website
provides? It's sister cars belong to "The Harbor Series" of NYC sleepers.
Is the Fairport Harbor still working for Amtrak? If so, what trains does
she usually work? Thanks in advance for any info.

#2050-56? were ex NYC 22 roomette cars (Budd) rebuilt to slumbercoaches with 16 single rooms and 10 double rooms.

Amtrak bought them from Penn Central and used them normally on 48-49 I believe.

These cars had two kinds of single rooms; the duplex kind and one that was about the same size as the double rooms. I was fortunate to ride in one of the larger singles on a trip from New York to Dallas.

heracles87 Wrote:
.
> Is the Fairport Harbor still working for Amtrak?
> If so, what trains does
> she usually work? Thanks in advance for any
> info.
>
>
Long ago retired and probably recycled into a Buick

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> #2050-56? were ex NYC 22 roomette cars (Budd)
> rebuilt to slumbercoaches with 16 single rooms and
> 10 double rooms.
>
> Amtrak bought them from Penn Central and used
> them normally on 48-49 I believe.

True. They were converted by NYC about 1961 during a period where NYC thought that budget sleeper service might have a future.

Amtrak used them on a variety of eastern routes. I rode them on the Montrealer, Cardinal and the Broadway as late as 1994.

They were great cars. Some of the single rooms were actually roomette-sized. On my trip on the Cardinal, my Harbor car had the most perfectly round wheels I had ever known. I stayed up practically all night to enjoy the sound and feel of this car on the high speed CSX welded rail between Cincinnati and Kenova. This car rode like a marble on a glass tabletop.

Amtrak doesn't get much of my business anymore. I miss the low Slumbercoach fares and riding in a Viewliner just isn't the same. Bob

Ex-NYC, Ex-AMT #2055 Toledo Harbor is currently for sale by Illinois Transit Assembly Corp. www.iltransit.com

I actually had space in this car one time on AMTRAK's Broadway Limited eastbound in the 1990s while traveling to the PRRT&HS Convention in Harrisburg, PA. Then, it was used as a Slumbercoach. At the time, it was a very economical way to book sleeping car space on this train. While meals were not included, the cost of space in a Slumbercoach was about 1/3 the cost of space in a first class sleeper. And, because the Fairport Harbor was converted from a conventional sleeper, the particular room I occupied had more space than a Roomette!

I also saw this car in the Chicago yards on a previous AMTRAK trip.

When converting the original sleeping cars to Slumbercoaches, the New York Central named the cars for harbors that existed along their water level route.I have a nostalgic affection for this particular car. The car was named for Fairport Harbor, in Ohio. Fairport Harbor, Ohio happens to be the home town of my parents.

Actually, this isn't quite true. When built as 22 roomette cars, they were named in the Harbor series. When the NYC had the cars converted to 16-10 Slumbercoaches in '61, the names were dropped. At roughly mid-point in their Amtrak careers as HEP-equipped Slumbercoaches, the Harbor-series names were resurrected and applied to the remaining cars.

To rebuild these cars to the Slumbercoach configuration, NYC did the neccessary stripping of the original all-roomette interiors at their Beech Grove shops. They also did a thorough reconditioning of all underbody components, including trucks, before sending them to Budd to have the new interiors fitted out.

According to the roster in "New York Central Lightweight Passenger Cars, Trains and Travel,by Geoffrey H. Doughty, TLC Publishing, Lynchburg, VA, 1997, 10 of the 31 cars in the Harbor series were converted to Sleepercoach in 1961, and seven of these were transferred to Amtrak in 1971: Fairport Harbor (ATK 2051), Dunkirk Harbor (ATK 2052), Monroe Harbor (ATK 2050), South Haven Harbor (ATK 2054), Tonawanda Harbor (ATK 2054), Vermillion Harbor and Toledo Harbor. I have not included numbers for the last two cars since Doughty's book lists them both as ATK 2056. Perhaps someone could clear this up.

The other three converted sleepers were retired in 1968 and scrapped.

New York Central also leased four 24 single room, eight double room sleepercoaches from Budd in 1959 that were sold to the Northern Pacific in 1964. All four of these cars were later transferred to Amtrak, as well: NP Loch Tay (ATK 2089), NP Loch Rannock (ATK 2082), NP Loch Arkaig (ATK 2092) and NP Lock Awe (ATK 2083).

Interesting replies everyone. Thanks. If anyone has any shots of this car or its kin while under NYC ownership, that would be great. The book by Doughty seems to be the perfect material for answering my questions so thanks to elissimon for that reference.

One for sale in Illinois huh? Maybe I can drop a hint to the board that operates the former NYC depot in Painesville in acquiring this car. A mere 10000 dollars...

MLC, what a coincidence, myself and a friend, who first discovered this car in a random search, both live in Fairport Harbor.

MLC Wrote:
> When converting the original sleeping cars to
> Slumbercoaches, the New York Central named the
> cars for harbors that existed along their water
> level route.I have a nostalgic affection for this
> particular car. The car was named for Fairport
> Harbor, in Ohio. Fairport Harbor, Ohio happens to
> be the home town of my parents.

Amtrak Slumbercoach #2052 "Dunkirk Harbor" is now owned by the Dunkirk Historical Society in Dunkirk, NY about 40 miles from Buffalo. Here's a link to some info on that car.

http://www.s363.com/dkny/harbor.html

I was the lucky Bidder on these 2, along with 3 other cars when they were up for Auction by Amtrak in April 2001 from Hialeah Florida. The cars were in pretty good shape appearance wise, but alot of the parts from the undercarriage had been canibalized to keep existing Heritage Diners, Dorms, and Bags running. (Amtrak doesn't inventory many of those parts anymore) The Cars are stored in Eastern Ohio along with privately owned Holly Harbor, renamed I believe from South Haven Harbor.

What is strange about this series of Amtrak rebuilt cars is that they all retained their original Budd Skirting (except Holly Harbor). Does anyone know of any other HEP rebuilt Heritage cars that retained their Skirting or why it was retained on these cars ?

I'll try to post some pics later if anyone is interested.

Harry

Harry, you're our mystery owner. Ray Getty of Fayetteville, AK, who also purchased a car while in Hialeah has told me of you being the owner of the car but couldn't remember for the life of him your name. My buddy and I were planning on going to Lordstown in hopes of finding the car. Thank you for responding to the thread. I definitely want photos as it may save us a trip then. Any you have can be sent to sephiroth@ameritech.net And again, a big thank you.

Rob Hunter

PS, Ray's webpage for his car can be found at www.cox-internet.com/pullmandogz