So...you want an old Budd MTA car? For dirt cheap? Yes, you do.
Do it.
Do it.
Do it.
So...you want an old Budd MTA car? For dirt cheap? Yes, you do.
Do it.
Do it.
Do it.
I'm sure I can fit it on my property if I demolish my house.
Not gonna lie, when I stayed at the Red Caboose Motel in Strasburg, I was definitely thinking that I could set up a pair of cabooses as a living space. I even found two ex-Delaware & Hudson cabooses for sale in NY for $20k (one was really rare, a one-of-one bay window caboose built at the D&H's Oneonta shops) but getting them moved from Dryden, NY to Rome, NY by tractor trailer would have cost a fortune.
Duke said:
The description on the auction site says "they are gutted and buckled", so getting them roadworthy again would be a tall order.
In reply to Duke :
Holy crap. That's another thing that goes on the "if I ever stumble into stupid money" to-do list.
Not sure how I would get all that home, but $25 seems like a steal.
Heck, even if it goes up to a couple hundred dollars, that still doesn't sound too crazy.
In reply to Jesse Ransom :
Same here. How cool would it be to tour the US in your own rail car. You'd need staff, though, naturally.
In reply to Jesse Ransom :
If you want the experience, the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey is running 48 trips from New York City to Albany-Rensselaer with their 1940s New York Central tavern-lounge 43 and round tail observation-sleeper-lounge car Hickory Creek tacked on the back of regular Amtrak trains. On September 17th, they're also running a trip with them from New York City to Chicago and back on the tail end of Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1948 iteration of the 20th Century Limited. Prices are pretty steep, though cheaper than actually owning a private car, and they sold out in less than 60 seconds last year, prompting them to add more trips this year.
In reply to NickD :
That's awesome.
We were just doing some early poking into a less luxurious but fun train trip in Yorkshire last night, where the Transpennine Real Ale Trail runs along a line that would be an hour to just ride if you didn't get off at the half dozen stations along the way, each of which has locally brewed beer.
Found out about it on the Oz and James Drink to Britain series, which I'd have to rate as some of James May's best work.
When I was out to Edon, Ohio/Hillsdale, Michigan for the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's Tri-State Excursion, there was a private passenger car present in the consist, and even more interesting, it was a barn find. When Norfolk Southern liquidated some of their executive passenger car fleet in the mid-'80s, they sold off Roanoke, which was the old Norfolk & Western president's open-end observation car. Someone bought it, completely overhauled it to Amtrak spec, redid the entire interior, repainted it....and then it was placed in storage in a warehouse for 29 years. Never turned a wheel after the rebuild until 2020, when the owner finally sold it to the current owners, who have hit the rails with it. While the blue and white paint is really pretty, they plan to put it back to the original Norfolk & Western appearance, due to it's historical significance.
NickD said:Duke said:The description on the auction site says "they are gutted and buckled", so getting them roadworthy again would be a tall order.
Rumor has it you can buy usable private cars for about $300,000.
Parking fees of $4000 a month and pulling fees of $4-$5 a mile add up, though.
Duke said:NickD said:Duke said:The description on the auction site says "they are gutted and buckled", so getting them roadworthy again would be a tall order.
Rumor has it you can buy usable private cars for about $300,000.
Parking fees of $4000 a month and pulling fees of $4-$5 a mile add up, though.
It's worth pointing out that there is a different between a passenger car that a freight railroad will be willing to interchange and is FRA-compliant for usage, and a passenger car that Amtrak will allow you to use on their services. There are plenty of passenger cars out there that I could buy and use for NickD's Fictional Scenic Railroad and still not be Amtrak compliant. Amtrak, among other things, requires 480V head end power and roller bearings on all axles.
It was, and kind of still is, a buyer's market for passenger cars right now. Ed E. Ellis had his Iowa Pacific Holdings go bankrupt and implode about 4 years ago (earning it the nickname of IOU Pacific) and they were liquidating everything and he had scads of passenger cars stacked up like cordwood all around the country. Turns out you can't try and run a bunch of railroads like they're you're own personal 1:1 scale model railroad, at least not for any length of time. Reading & Northern in Pennsylvania bought twelve of them, and I think may even have a few more that they're purchasing.
In reply to NickD :
What I heard is that you could buy a private passenger car from Amtrak for $300,000.
Duke said:NickD said:Duke said:The description on the auction site says "they are gutted and buckled", so getting them roadworthy again would be a tall order.
Rumor has it you can buy usable private cars for about $300,000.
Parking fees of $4000 a month and pulling fees of $4-$5 a mile add up, though.
A lot of those private cars are rentable if you feel the need. Staff available, sometimes required. They occasionally need moved, and are happy to offset some of the cost. Article in the local newsletter mentioned it a while back.
llysgennad said:Duke said:NickD said:Duke said:The description on the auction site says "they are gutted and buckled", so getting them roadworthy again would be a tall order.
Rumor has it you can buy usable private cars for about $300,000.
Parking fees of $4000 a month and pulling fees of $4-$5 a mile add up, though.
A lot of those private cars are rentable if you feel the need. Staff available, sometimes required. They occasionally need moved, and are happy to offset some of the cost. Article in the local newsletter mentioned it a while back.
Webb Rail is one of those that has private cars available for charter, including a New York Central stainless-steel round-end observation and two Northern Pacific dome cars
You'll need to log in to post.
