Bob, I lived in Houston from 1970-1972 while attending Rice. Occasionally, I went over to the Houston Union Station to observe the action of the Santa Fe, only one train by that time, the "Texas Chief". A preservation group also had a former ATSF 6-4-6 Pullman painted in two-tone gray and an observation car from the KCS. I believe it was the "What Cheer". Then it happened that the SP brought over a heavyweight Pullman club lounge from Beaumont, and the preservation group tackled that for a time, but it was eventually sold to a group out East. The Pullman club lounge was painted in KCS colors but by 1932 had served on the CGW as the "Mount Mansfield" and most often had run on the Twin City-Omaha/Omaha-Twin City night trains. When the CGW abandoned Pullman service on the night train on May 10, 1949, the car evidently went to the KCS. Where it served there I don't know. I perused a number of KCS timetables but never saw any equipment listing for such a car. My guess is that the KCS used it as a buffet lounge, possibly between Shrevereport and Port Arthur. On the KCS, the two CGW 10-section club lounges had no name, only the numbers 200 and 201. Perhaps you know something about the car. The Mount Mansfield and its companion had once been 10-section open-platform lounges and had operated on the Montrealer between DC and Montreal. Interesting stuff, this Pullman info. It comes to mind that the companion car was the Mount Doane, but might be wrong about that.
Tom ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Bob Werre [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 1:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: [RITSlist] Re: Pullman heavyweight lease cars? I'll apologize up front for letting this drift a bit, but just last week I was over at a former photo lab that now specializes in large murals and trade show displays. In the back area there is a well-done photo of, what I assume, was the Sam Houston Zephyr in Houston's Union Station. I'm also assuming that the print is on display at Minute Maid Stadium (formerly Enron stadium) but originally Union Station itself. I asked if they should ever decide to trash it, to give me a chance to pick it up! Of course, it fell on deaf ears and besides, what would I do with a print at was about 8' x 12'? Bob Werre PhotoTraxx Dave, What, a book on the "Zephyr Rocket"? Now that will be great. Yes, put me on the list. To date I have thought that train never got the attention it deserved. I always thought it would be fun to ride that train somewhere and dine in the parlor-diner-observation. Unfortunatley, by the time that might have been possible the train itself was pretty much a coach-only affair with a ton of baggage cars and a mail sorting car. In its prime, I recall the following consist: An E-7 or E-6, maybe an E-3 from the RI--can't recall for sure; a heavyweight-Harriman-roofed mail baggage car, a full baggage car, two streamlined coaches [seems they were always RI cars when I saw the train]; two streamstyled heavyweight Pullmans; and a streamlined palor-diner-observation. That made for a seven-car consist which the train consistently had back its prime. Its one E-unit for power made me weight the speed potential of that train vs that of the "Twin Cities Zephyr" with seven to eight cars and two E units. Tom ________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] on behalf of David Engle [[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 10:15 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Thomas, Lawrence Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: [RITSlist] Re: Pullman heavyweight lease cars? There were two cars, Zephyr Tower and Rocket Tower; also a Cedar Rapids and mate whose name I don;t have at the moment. We need to get you on board for the Zephyr Rocket book coming out later this year; Larry Thomas is the editor. DJE ----- Original Message ----- From: Thomas Baker<mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 9:05 AM Subject: RE: {S-Scale List} Re: [RITSlist] Re: Pullman heavyweight lease cars? Dave, Your reference to the Rock Island and its Pullmans brings up a childhood memory: As a young boy, I recall riding the Twin City Lines streetcars home from the school I attended in Minneapolis. On Friday afternoons I often rode the Minnehaha streetcar line from downtown. That line took me right past the Milwaukee Road depot on Washington Avenue where even before 3:00 p.m. the "Zephyr Rocket" stood in the depot with its consist ready for a departure at 5:00 p.m. As a kid, the first thing that surprised me was that every other day a CB&Q E-7 would be the power. Apparently, power assignments rotated, and on Friday an E-7 from the Q operated out of Minneapolis. I assume that an E-unit from the RI operated out of St. Louis on that same day. Back in the early Fifties the train must have been fairly well used by the traveling public including businessmen because it had two heavyweight Pullmans in its consist. Both cars had the so-called "streamstyled" rooflines and were painted silver and had artdeco lettering common to that on equipment used by the Q and the RI. Four Pullmans must have operated in the pool, two out of Minneapolis for St. Louis and two out of St. Louis for Minneapolis. You seem to have connections to people who know about the RI. Do you have any way to discover the names of the Pullman cars used on this run. I recall seeing each Friday the "streamstyled" Pullmans. They had "Pullman" centered on the letterboard and the names, as I recall, of the railroad operator in small print on the letterboard by the door on each end. Tom ________________________________ F
