Saturday, January 8, 2011

Home Sweet Dome

Our first dome car, the Silver Pony, arrived today!

Here it is on the interchange in the morning. On the right we see Bob Olsen, who was also admiring our latest acquisition.




It was moved onto the property about 4PM. (L) Crossing Olson Rd.








The move had to be made very slowly, since the car barely clears the trolley wire. Jamie was running the locomotive, Frank D. was watching clearance, Tom Hunter was riding on top of the engine, and Joe was inside the dome, pushing up the wire with a stick as needed.


Passing the depot.

At the Pavilion.









The Interior

It's actually better than I expected. Thanks to our readers, I now know that the stairway up to the dome is at the rear of the car. So the front of the car is currently pointing south.

(L) The rear (north) compartment. It's a little rough.

(R) The dome itself. The seat frames are there, and I'm told we have plenty of spare seats.






(L) The hallway under the dome. On the right are the washrooms.

(R) The front passenger compartment. It's in better condition.







(L) The front compartment.

(R) Fine art, railroad style.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    Stairway to the rear

    -Hudson

    ReplyDelete
  2. David WilkinsJanuary 8, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    Stairway to the rear, but the seats in the dome reverse like normal coach seats. If you rode a similar car in Amtrak service, it seems like they never ran them with the stairs to the rear. This meant that if you rode one at night, it was hard to see outside, with the light leaking up from "below" in front of you.

    By the way, this car was on the last Rio Grande Zephyr. What a neat car!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Randall HicksJanuary 8, 2011 at 6:41 PM

    Thanks, that makes sense.

    Now that I think about it, we rode the Empire Builder out to Seattle and the Super Chief back from LA about 1965, and it seems that indeed the stairs would be to the rear. I spent most of the trip in the dome. What a blast!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melvin PerkinsJanuary 9, 2011 at 12:09 PM

    I Have a question, with the stairs
    to the rear, is the short end of the car foward ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Randall HicksJanuary 9, 2011 at 5:43 PM

    Yes, that's correct.

    ReplyDelete

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