I saw one, recently, and it was a long one. OK, I only saw it on Youtube, but I've been puzzled as to why, aside from the Big Boy, these trains exist? I frequently see a NSC passenger train but it is no where near as long.
The dome car, Moonlight Dome, was recently purchased from a private rail company, Cincinnati Rail. I looked up the name of a few cars and they were named after railroad execs, Hunter Harrison, Thomas Rice, Champion Davis, Michael Ward, Alfred Pearlman, John Smith, Kevin Carpenter, and one or two I couldn't pick out.
The John Collison caught my eye, because it has a roof line similar to one of Dr Wayne's locos that he frequently posts. It is the next to last.
If I moleded the modern era, and Walthers came out with this set, I would buy it.
Folkston Georgia, fast forward to 44:34
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy I frequently see a NSC passenger train but it is no where near as long.
I'm not familiar with NSC. (National Safety Council?)
These "executive" trains kind of grew out of the prior use of Business cars that have been a staple of railroad "brass" for years.
I used to follow the Conrail "OCS" or Office Car Special that was hauled by the rebuilt E8s, two fromer PRR units and an E-L locomotive.
Conrail E8 4022 OCS by Edmund, on Flickr
BNSF had an extensive collection of customized cars specifically used for schmoozing potential and current freight customers and bolstering the egos of the railroad executives.
Union Pacific has a large fleet of "heritage" cars, some used for public functions and others reserved for the elite and business executives.
Think of a land-based Lear Jet.
I toured the BNSF business car shops in Topeka Kansas some years back:
They did some amazing things with ex-Espee commuter cars and former Santa Fe and CB&Q Pullmans.
President Special by Todd Dillon, on Flickr
OCS at Essex by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Some businesses had private cars and in some cases, several. Charter Steel andQuad Graphics had four or five private cars used for entertaining guests and, hopefully, parlaying this into future sales.
http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archive/2015/02/19/the-tough-part-of-working-for-trains-a-day-on-the-quad-graphics-private-cars.aspx
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanI'm not familiar with NSC.
Sorry I was confused what forum I was on. NSC is the stock symbol for NS. BNSF would be BRK/B, CN is CNI, UP is UNP on the stock exchange. CSX, KSU, CP are the same.
I would mind being schmoozed, but I guess I'll have to pay the Rocky Mountaineer to do it. The have started trips in the US. We did Calgary to Vancouver 2 years ago and it was great.