The end...the very end--twice!

[CShaveRR]

Today's Q351 brought in a couple of interesting loads from CSX. Each of the PTTX flat cars was loaded identically, with three or four components from the shells of a Milwaukee Road Skytop Lounge! There were the rounded ends (windows were either missing or broken), the vestibule end, and a piece of the side and the roof, on each of the cars. Hardly enough to rebuild either, it would seem, and there were only these shell fragments.

These parts are destined for the Milwaukee Road Historical Association. It would be interesting to find out whether they have other components for these cars on hand, or if these are spare components for the existing Skytop, in the event that the unthinkable happens to it.

I was wondering whether these parts are what's left of the two Skytops that had been placed on a barge or whatever as part of a waterfront entertainment center or restaurant or whatever (the loads apparently originated in Buffalo). The place then burned, and the barge sank, if I remember correctly (Google doesn't seem to help me here). These pieces were painted in the Milwaukee Road paint scheme, which didn't look too bad on the parts seen--no rusting or blistering, at least away from the edges.

[MP173]

Carl:

What has been the most interesting lading you have seen from the tower in your career?  This has to rank in the top 10 doesnt it?

ed

[Modelcar]

Does anyone have any idea how many of these complete cars are still in existence.....?

Remember seeing a photo of one that had been a victim of arson...Probably in Trains mag. back some years....

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

I seem to recall that the proposed restaurant was in Erie, PA.  If so, the salvage operation could have been carried out by a firm based in Buffalo and then loaded out from there.  I believe the active tracks left in Erie are not too close to the dock or street that I have in mind, and don't have sidings that would be needed to load such items, so a move of some kind would have been needed anyway - Buffalo's not that far away, and why not go by water ?

Mostly speculation on my part, but for what it's worth . . .

- Paul North.

[mikeyuhas]

CShaveRR

(Google doesn't seem to help me here).

This might help.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

And this:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=114894

Note the comments to the video linked in Mike Yuhas' post.

- PDN.

[mudchicken]

Carl : are you referring to the surviving MILW Skytop that frequently is in storage here on the east side of Denver out in industrial "bow and arrow country"?????

[jeaton]

Here is a link to a somewhat dated review of the status of the ten Skytop Lounge cars.  http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/MILW/

From the site it would appear that Carl spotted peices of #14 Arrow Creek and #16 Gold Creek.  These were two of the 6 built by Pullman for the Olympian Hiawatha.  These had 8 double bedrooms with seating in the lounge for 20.

The MILW sold all 6 of these cars to the CN.  As for the other 4 cars #12 Alder Creek and #18 Spanish Creek were sold for scrap;  #17 Marble Creek was sold to an individual in Phillipsburg, Pa and the August 1999 Trains reported the car scrapped;  #15 Coffee Creek was undergoing a full restoration, see http://www.coffeecreek.info/restore.html but the site reported the sale of the car to an anonymous person in 2007 and thereafter no updates on the restoration project.  Perhaps that is the car that has been spotted by the mudchicken.

To continue.  4 cars of similar design but configured as parlor cars were built by the Milwaukee's shops.  #186 Cedar Rapids is owned by the Friends of the 261 and will be found on just about every trip 261 excursion trip.

187 Coon Rapids is in indoor storage in Escanaba, MI  (Isn't that the guy who won't let anybody see his collection?)

#188 Is on exhibit under roof  at (of all places)  the Daytona Beach (FL) Museum of Arts And Sciences.

#189 Priest Rapids was first burned and then cut up by Milwaukee Road forces in 1970.  A picture of the burned and twisted hulk got published in Trains and according to the trainweb site article lead to a banning of visits and any photography on Milwaukee Road property.

 

[CShaveRR]

I'll defer to Jay's answer on the origin of "your" car, MC.

Thank you, Paul and Mike, for your links. I had forgotten that it was the Lansdowne that these cars were mounted on--that "barge", as a ferry, had quite a history of its own, and (again, if I remember correctly), it's even further gone now than the Skytop cars are.

The fragments of the sides that I saw make sense if the remainder was disposed of in the construction of this restaurant. For example, the lack of one of the sides would be attributable to construction of some sort of connecting room between the two cars.

[CShaveRR]

MP173

Carl:

What has been the most interesting lading you have seen from the tower in your career?  This has to rank in the top 10 doesnt it?

ed

Oh, I'd say so! And for historic significance, it probably ranks in the top two or three. I couldn't put my finger on any more interesting lading--plenty of deadhead locomotives and passenger equipment, of course. The best feeling about a piece of lading I had was when I saw a transformer load that had received a nasty dent in it somewhere (structural steel bent); by reporting it I saved the railroad from a very nasty damage claim.

[jeaton]

Just a note to point to yesterday's (6/19) Trains Newswire for the story on the hulks of the Gold Creek and Arrow Creek.  They are going to the Milwaukee Road Heritage Center in Montevideo, MN.