Another factor that probably makes the Budd ATSF and GN "big domes" more popular is that the floor in the dome area of the MILW "super domes" sits lower, and hence the seating does as well. Thus passengers don't have the full range of visibility that they do in the Budd full length domes.

Didn't they also own ex-IC round-end obs Mardi Gras that used to be the Roanoke Chapter car always on SR/NS excursions? I thought it was part of Iowa Pacific's Colorado operations?

I would say unless there is an extremely generous, historically-minded billionaire waiting in the wings, we're going to see a lot of very sad photos of quite a bit of railroad history turned into razor blades in the near future. This is just far too much for the preservation community or tourist railroading to absorb all at once.

Hopefully not. It’s a pretty big country with quite a few diverse operations.
I must say I’m personally tempted by a few of those cars... but getting into the passenger car business is probably not the best of ideas for me!

Yes and in addition to Mardi Gras, they also have Lookout Mountain, the open air Heavyweight used on Sourthern excursions for many years. Those are the two I really hope are saved. I hope all of it gets saved, but that's a lit of equipment hitting the market all at once.

What I remember most about the Mardi Gras when I was volunteering as part of the Washington, DC Joint Trip Committee (DC and Potomac NRHS chapters, and Chesapeake Div. RRE) for the NS trips is that Mardi Gras had to be part of the train, rearmost, and at least for a couple of years DC Chapter's Dover Harbor couldn't even be in the train because it was Pullman Green. Then when they quit insisting on a totally matching consist the Dover couldn't be rearmost, and they still had to use the Mardi Gras. It was like a guaranteed payoff to Roanoke Chapter, almost Mafia-like. I know that some of the DC Chapter officers at the time were more than a little upset about that. Of course nearly 30 years later, Dover Harbor was the tail car on many of the NS "21st Century Steam Program" trips, as well as numerous trips with NKP 765, along with their two ex-PRR "Congo" coaches. Virtually none of the officers from the 1990s are still around, and my memories of the dispute may not be totally accurate, yada, yada, yada.

Anyone know what shape the Ponchatrain is in? I wonder what it’s doing in Kokomo... is there a museum there?

I saw it in operation on the City of New Orleans just a few years ago.
That’s a beautiful car.... tempting.

Here is a photo from 2017, also from Kokomo, another caption says it was being used on "Indiana Transportation Museum's Polar Bear Express"

Interesting sidenote that some of the cars Ed Ellis put back in IC colors are just wraps rather than full paint jobs. I wonder what they look like now 10 years on, or how hard they are to remove.

David -

Thanks. I didn't know that. Are the Illinois Central E-units also just wraps?


Les

I seem to recall that some of the E-units are wraps as well, but I'm not positive. (It's really amazing what can be accomplished with a vinyl wrap, actually.)

If the Railfan & Railroad list is accurate on locomotives, there is sad news on that front. The two C&NW/Metra E8s at Silvis were both scrapped this week.

I received the complete list of locos and cars for sale and the " asking" prices for each item.

My WAG is that 95% of them will not sell anywhere close to the listed prices and most will either sell at a no reserve auction or end up being scrapped in place.

I hope that some of the nicer pieces escape the torch. Time will tell.

Ross Rowland

There's gotta be some prime pickings for the next 21st Century Limited or Yellow Ribbon Express in that lot.....................

Once I saw the huge number of locomotives and cars, I fully understood the costs on the capital of Iowa Pacific. Ed Ellis was behind the Amtrak attempt to haul freight behind behind passenger trains. It did not work out well. Just to hoard that much equipment boggles my mind. In no way would someone find a use for so much equipment. Once you pull that much capital out no wonder the rest of the empire crumbled.

1st of all... hauling freight behind Amtrak trains was profitable and did exactly what Amtrak was asked to do (make money).

2nd of all... Ed Ellis was really close to changing the game and would have been using all of that equipment if things had gone a little bit differently and Amtrak had been more cooperative.

Let’s not fault a guy for trying to make passenger rail better in the USA... he tried his best. Yes he made some business mistakes that cost him the whole deal but he tried. Better than those of us who sit around dreaming and saying what if...