Private Rail Cars in Smithsonian Magazine

[jeaton]

Jay

Thanks for adding the history.

When employed by the Illinois Central, I rode office cars on several occasions and have always thought that it was a great way to travel. A private railroad car is on my dream list.

I posted the note because it was nice to see a good article about an aspect of railroad interest in a publication not devoted to railroads. Hope you have a chance to see it.

Jay (also)

[garr]

According to Robert Hanson's "History of the Georgia Railroad", the Georgia 300 was rebuilt from Western Railway of Alamba Pullman sleeper-lounge General Polk. The rebuild work was done by the W of A at the Montgomery Car Shop during 1954 and early 1955. The Georgia Railroad received the 300 in March 1955. It was rendered surplus in 1983 and Mr. Heard bought it in 1986.

I have been on the Georgia 300 twice, once while it still served the Georgia Railroad and once after its restoration by Mr. Heard. The car is definitely first class and seems to get used in a lot of high profile assignments. The 300 was in good shape when the Georgia Railroad was using it, but it received a lot of abuse via vandalism during its 3+ years of storage(1983-1986).

Jay

[jeaton]

The September 2004 Smithsonian has a rather good article on private rail cars written by Myron Beckenstein.

Among the cars specificly mentioned is the Georgia 300. Owned by George Heard, the car was built by Pullman in 1930. Its original ownership is not reported. This car was in the train used by President George H W Bush on his 1992 campaign tour, President Clinton in 1996 and was the last car on the train for the Perry/Edwards tour.

Any forum members having an interest in private rail cars might want to check this out. http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu is the web site but the Sept issue is not yet posted.