>

Kpcnews

Fort Worth Denver Business Car Texland ex-CS Cafe Observation

Passenger Car Restorations Today

By Aaron Isaacs HRA Editor

The focus of this website is the parlor cars of the LIRR during the golden age of passenger railroading; however, the parlor car restoration scene is alive and well on today's heritage railways. There are 80 passenger car restorations currently underway. He estimates that another 200 cars are under restoration or operate on short lines.

Examples include the set of three 1914 parlor cars under restoration by the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad. These were originally built by Pullman for the Union Pacific Railroad and operated on the famous Overland Route between Chicago and San Francisco. Much closer to home, the New York Central Railroad Museum owns two 1920s-era parlor cars that were last used by the Penn Central Railroad. These cars await restoration to their original appearance when they hauled New York City businessmen to their vacation destinations, including the Thousand Islands, Montreal and Chicago

And now the big news. The former Texas & Pacific Railway Business Car “Texland” (above) was built in 1924 by the Pullman Company for private use by railroad executives on official business and excursions. She was retired in 1968 and acquired by the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis in 1970. However, she left St. Louis in 1996 for the Texas State Railroad in Rusk, Texas. The car was moved to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad in 2016. The car is somewhat unique in that she has a 4-wheel swivel observation truck on one end of the car and six-wheel swing-motion passenger trucks on the other end for smoother riding and better weight distribution.

Fmw Solutions