Does anyone know the status of these cars? I have located 5 lounges still at Amtrak as Pacific Parlours, a number of transition coaches at Mid America Railcar and also 3 at John Radovich's facility in Dallas.

Any information on the AT&SF or Amtrak number, location and status of other remaining cars would be appreciated.

The Pacific Railroad Society of Los Angeles, California, owns Amtrak 39919. This is a transition coach-dorm.

See: http://www.pacificrailroadsociety.org/equipment/index.html
also see links at bottom of page:
PRS Equipment Roster
THE PRS ROLLING STOCK: OUR MAINLINE PRIVATE CARS
Word of caution -- the roster and narratives do not seem to be up to date.

Before the coming of Amtrak PRS was heavy into doing "poppy picker" day-trips with some long-distance tours. In the late 1960s and early 1970s it acquired a variety of meal, lounge and sleeping cars and continued to operate long-distance tours.

Then came HEP and Superliners. This very much ended the extensive use of its own fleet of cars as only one car NATIONAL FORUM was converted to HEP. That car is used with other private owned cars to run excursions.

Amtrak 39906 and 39907 are at the Hobo Railroad in New Hampshire, though evidently no longer owned by them:

http://www.hoborr.com/equip.html

Does anyone know if one of the (not sure of the correct terminology here) match cars- the car that matched a standard single level car to a bi-level car- has managed to survive in preservation?

Wes

Frank

Thanks for the info on the Hobo cars....I saw that page but there are several sources that suggest that one of the cars (AT&SF 533, Amtrak 9907, Amtrak HEP 39907, Hobo Railroad (Stored)) was at Gateway Rail Services in Madison, IL in October of 2009, when an inventory was done.

With that in mind, if anyone is local to the Hobo and has recent knowledge of the status of these cars, it would help clear up that mystery.

As it stands at the moment, including the Hobo cars, I have identified 52 Hi Levels existing as of 2009 (6 were wrecked and scrapped and 2 others are "parts") out of the 73 original cars. I believe that these cars may represent the most intact "fleet" of any single name train every operated, thanks to their production in 1956 and 1964 and their innovative design (they became the model for the Superliners).

Any other information is greatly appreciated.

Craig Brinkman

U25B

The term most generally used for the cars that connect standard single level cars to the high level cars is "transition". Because the AT&SF Hi Levels were so unique, this fleet contains a large percentage of "transition coach" cars:

526-527 (Amtrak 9900/9901) - This were the protoype cars and are uniquely configured
528-548 (Amtrak 39902-39923)
725-736 (Amtrak 39925-39926)

Transition coaches were the most flexible cars in the fleet, not only because one end was low and one high, but because you could couple them "high end to high end" so that they could be used anywhere in the train, in pairs. This unique feature ensured that they survived for quite a while in Amtrak service.

Craig Brinkman

John Radovich (John's Cars) in the Dallas, TX area has a number of Hi Levels, some of which I have confirmed. Can anyone on the Interchange affirm which cars he currently has?

I show the following cars in his fleet:

AT&SF 544, Amtrak 9918, Amtrak HEP 39918
AT&SF 707, Amtrak 9947, Amtrak HEP 39947
AT&SF 709, Amtrak 9949, Amtrak HEP 39949
AT&SF 723, Amtrak 9963, Amtrak HEP 39963

The above were confirmed in an article in 2004 about a local fan trip:

http://www.trainweather.com/blacklands041704.html

It is worth noting the great pictures in this article and the very good condition of the interiors of these cars, as of that time.

Two additional coaches are reputed to be in his inventory:

AT&SF 546, Amtrak 9920, Amtrak HEP 39920
AT&SF 734, Amtrak 9934, Amtrak HEP 39934

and one diner (these are the rarest of the legacy El Capitan fleet):

AT&SF 654, Amtrak 9984

Can anyone assist in confirming/denying whether John has these cars?

Thanks

Craig Brinkman

Thanks for the info Craig, but the car I am talking about is the one that was usually in the front of the train, trailling the baggage coaches and was a single level car with a raised end to give the impression of a seamless transition to the high level coaches. I don't have a picture but maybe someone on the forum may have one that they could post a link to...........

Wes

Wes, here's a link to a pic of a surviving single-level "transition" baggage dorm that's apparently at the Mad River & NKP railroad museum.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emd111/3747741216/

I think the raised roofline at one end of the car was merely a cosmetic attachment over the existing roof. It could probably be removed if desired without compromising the structural integrity of the car. As mentioned before the actual "transition" stairway was inside the adjacent Hilevel car.

Former ATSF 3482 has survived sans it's adapter, and is currently owned by the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. Here is a link to a photo of her in 1978, and another one of her in 2006 that is representative of her current shape.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2346579

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=330407

thought a few people might find this picture of an adapter interesting.... laying in the weeds in Madison IL....

in addition, around the corner from where the adapter lay in the weeds, this high level, saw the end of the line....

anyway.. thought it was all interesting....


Dean Levin

In relation to Mr. Levin's post, Mid America Railcar leasing now offers one of the former Santa Fe Hi-Level cars for lease. It is one of the transition cars, converted by Amtrak into dorm cars. It appears to have been externally refurbished as a Santa Fe car, now named "Mesa Verde" and retains the dorm accommodations. Could be an interesting PV experience....

http://www.midamericarailcar.com/pages/fleet/fleetHigh.html

This page at the DOME.main site lists the dispositions of many of the hi-level cars, though I do not know how up-to-date it is...
http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/hllounge/

Also, this page at the Passenger Car Photo Index contains links to many of the surviving cars...
[urlhttp://passcarphotos.info/Indices/AMTK6.htm][/url]

With respect to the transition baggage dorm at the Mad River & NKP Museum, sad news to report:

Craig,

The car in the picture is the 9995 (Amtrak number). It was old a few times and was eventually scraped in Logansport, Indiana. The carbon steel under the stainless was all but gone.

Thanks, Chris Beamer, President, MR & NKP RR Soc.
----- Original Message -----
From: "C Brinkman" <railadventures@yahoo.com>
To: madriver@onebellevue.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 1:26:53 PM
Subject: AT&SF El Capitan Transition Baggage Dorm

I am doing research on AT&SF passenger equipment and found this one on the web:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emd111/3747741216/

I reviewed your equipment roster and did not find it listed. Can you identify which AT&SF or Amtrak car this is for me?

Thanks for your assistance,

Craig Brinkman

With respect to Amtrak 9995 / AT&SF 3482, they are confirmed as the same car so the reported sighting below may have pre-dated the scraping by the Mad River & NKP Museum:

Former ATSF 3482 has survived sans it's adapter, and is currently owned by the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. Here is a link to a photo of her in 1978, and another one of her in 2006 that is representative of her current shape.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2346579

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=330407

Craig