In the 1940's and '50's I'd reguarly see the Sycamore which ran between Chicago and Cincinnati on the Big Four line. This train carried a lightweight streamlined round end parlor observation car which was painted Pullman green with, as I recall, gold lettering. Were there similar cars with the same paint scheme that ran on other trains elsewhere on NYC system or was this a one-of-a-kind car? The coaches, tavern-lounge and diner that made up the rest of the Sycamore's consist were all non-streamlined heavy weight cars.
Mark
Mark...if nobody answers this here, I'm a member of the NYCSHS and can ask over on their forum. Plus I sent it to my passenger consist "round-table".
This is very unique and heretofore not heard of item by this NYC fan.
Buck
The New York area communter coaches were always Pullman green. including the post-war air condiitoned arch-roof cars in the 1000 and 1100 series.
KCSfan In the 1940's and '50's I'd reguarly see the Sycamore which ran between Chicago and Cincinnati on the Big Four line. This train carried a lightweight streamlined round end parlor observation car which was painted Pullman green with, as I recall, gold lettering. Were there similar cars with the same paint scheme that ran on other trains elsewhere on NYC system or was this a one-of-a-kind car? The coaches, tavern-lounge and diner that made up the rest of the Sycamore's consist were all non-streamlined heavy weight cars. Mark
I wonder if the car you're asking about was the one that was rebuilt for the Pacemaker in 1940. For the first year of its existence the train utilized an open end observation car. The cars were rebuilt from open end observations, so it kept the celestory roof but the end was rounded like a lightweight car and had 4 wheel trucks. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, non fluted intercity lightweight cars were green with gold striping.
[quote user="ZephyrOverland"
]I wonder if the car you're asking about was the one that was rebuilt for the Pacemaker in 1940. For the first year of its existence the train utilized an open end observation car. The cars were rebuilt from open end observations, so it kept the celestory roof but the end was rounded like a lightweight car and had 4 wheel trucks. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, non fluted intercity lightweight cars were green with gold striping.
[/quote]
The car I referred to did not have a celestory roof so it must have been different from the ones that were rebuilt for the Pacemaker.
Dave, I was not inquiring about commuter cars but about a specific parlor-observation car assigned to the Sycamore and any others like it that might have run on other NYC inter-city trains.
Keep in mind many heavyweight cars were rebuilt with a "streamlined" styled roof replacing the clerestory. Sometimes it would be pretty hard to tell them from an actual streamline car. The Feb 2012 RMC has an article on doing such a conversion on a Pennsy sleeping car.
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The first scan is that of NYC 52, the observation bar lounge rebuilt by Beech Grove in 1941 for the James Whitcomb Riley. The car did not have any parlor chairs as we know them, but then, the NYC used lounge type chairs in its pre war and post war streamlined parlors and bar lounge cars were often substituted for parlor cars. As rebuilt, the car was painted silver, red and grey, with the red being bright and orange in hue. It could have been repainted into a khaki green with yellow stripes scheme after lightweight Budd built parlor observation cars replaced it in JWR service.
The second scan is that of NYC 56, one of two observation bar lounge cars (the other was NYC 53) converted by Beech Grove in 1940 for service on the Pacemaker. These two cars were painted khaki green with yellow stripes. The third scan is that of NYC Chicago, a parlor observation car rebuilt by Beech Grove in 1939. This car was almost identical to its twin Detroit, which was rebuilt by Beech Grove in 1936. Both of these cars were used on the Detroit-Cleveland Mercury and the Detroit-Chicago Mercury. As rebuilt, these cars were painted medium grey and aluminum. They received numbers 1020 and 1019 respectively in 1952. I am pretty certain that the car in question was not one of the two cars used on the Mercury trains. All three cars were out of service by 1956.
The second scan is that of NYC 56, one of two observation bar lounge cars (the other was NYC 53) converted by Beech Grove in 1940 for service on the Pacemaker. These two cars were painted khaki green with yellow stripes.
The third scan is that of NYC Chicago, a parlor observation car rebuilt by Beech Grove in 1939. This car was almost identical to its twin Detroit, which was rebuilt by Beech Grove in 1936. Both of these cars were used on the Detroit-Cleveland Mercury and the Detroit-Chicago Mercury. As rebuilt, these cars were painted medium grey and aluminum. They received numbers 1020 and 1019 respectively in 1952.
I am pretty certain that the car in question was not one of the two cars used on the Mercury trains.
All three cars were out of service by 1956.
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