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Private Cars

 
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nyc301



Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
Location: Knoxville, TN

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 9: 43 pm    Post subject: Private Cars Reply with quote

I am the owner of former P&WV business car #400 Van Corum (originally New York Central #301). The car is presently stored in very poor condition from an abandoned restoration attempt by a former owner. Hopefully some day I can report on a full restoration. However , I am looking for information on another private car that was used on the P&WV at one time - the #300 WESTMORELAND. This was the personal private car of Henry Clay Frick and was built at the Pullman Car Works in 1910. After the death of Mr. Frick the car became the property of his daughter, Helen. I had thought that the car was purchased by the P&WV at some point but evidently it was only "loaned" to Mr. Charles Graham for his use by Miss Frick. There is an excellent photograph of the car in P&WV lettering in Beebe's MR. PULLMAN'S ELEGANT PALACE CAR. I also understand that the car was "destroyed" in 1967 but I have not been able to confirm any of this info. I would appreciate any information that might be know about the car's tenure on the P&WV and what actually did happen to it. Also information on any photos that might be around while the car was in service on the P&WV. I am also curious about where the P&WV business/private cars were stored when they weren't occupied and what railroad normally carried them in and out of Pittsburgh? Thanks in advance for any info.

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New York Central #301
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 12: 18 am    Post subject: # 400 Reply with quote

How bad is the car? Any windows? What color paint if any is it in now? I would assume it has been in the Knoxville area for quite some time?
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 5: 26 am    Post subject: Private Cars Reply with quote

Interesting post. This site may be the place to get most of your answers on private cars. Both Bill and Howard visit the site and read the message board. Many of the "Old Hats and younger family members" that are still around also read this board and look at the photos. They have lots of first-hand information on this subject. I have in my collection about 60 or so photos on P&WV Business Cars. We do have a complete Photo story (20pics) of car #300 both inside and out when it was in it's glory. Many photos from the personal collection of Mr. C.J. Graham chairman of the board of the P&WV, this car(#300) was his pride & joy. We do plan to post most of these on our site. Send an E-mail we will contact you.
Thanks, Webmaster JZ.
P.S keep posting on the Board you may get more answeres and information than we have!
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 11: 25 am    Post subject: P&WV 400 Reply with quote

Basically the former #400 is in VERY poor condition. While the car is "all there" the interior has essentially been disassembled. The former owners were interested in the car because of its ownership by Graham Claytor (as the NEW RIVER 400) and use with the Southern Railway steam program during the early 1970's. They had elaborate plans to rebuild the car for use on Amtrak. At some point the car had been donated to TVRM in Chattanooga and was used on the property for a while but eventually due to a lack of attention the roof began to leak and the car was moved to storage at the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant just outside of Chattanooga. Years of neglect took its toll and the car was sold to Steve Ziderveen. Nothing was done with the car and it was sold again to the group that was going to Amtrak it. The roof leaks had seriously damaged the interior ceiling panels and the typical Pullman corrosion had severly damaged the sidesill along the hallway side of the car but the interior was still in fairly good shape with good windows. They proceeded to gut the kitchen (probably needed as the floor and exterior wall were so bad), strip all of the lighting and wiring out of the car and disassemble practically everything in the car, AND....remove the entire steel roof along with the interior ceiling. Once this was done they did replace all of the bad carlines and rebuilt the roof on each end and had new ceiling panels cut to size from the original Pullman drawings but they didn't put the main sections of the roof back so they couldn't install the ceiling. At that point they lost interest and the car sat for several years, finally getting a tarp over the top, adjacent to the shop at TVRM (next to the mothballed 4501). Fortunately all of the parts were fairly carefully stored and most everything marked as to where it went. After several years of inactivity the management at TVRM said either do something with it or we will scrap it. That's when I came in and said I would buy the car and do SOMETHING with it so it wouldn't get cut up. At this point the car is sitting on brand new wheels that were put on by the Southern but with friction bearings making a major move impossible without changing wheels. Once shop time and space are available at TVRM a new steel roof will be put on the car and the difficult task of putting the car back together will begin - without the roof there is little use in starting any other work. I have no plans to operate the car - it will only be for stationary use. The car does still have modern thermopane windows that are in fair condition (at least they keep the rain out) and as I said above all of the pieces of the car are there and it is a fairly sound structure except for the side sill on one side.
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BillK



Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 96
Location: Dumfries, Va.

PostPosted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7: 17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't know if they where the "Business Car's" but I remember see passenger car's sitting in Rook back in the mid 50's.

BillK
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