I just got back from a trip to Kentucky. We had a great time, but there's not a lot to report about railroad preservation. From the road, KRM appears little changed. At Mammoth Cave, the locomotive and its car are under a tarp while the shelter is being rebuilt, as I take it. But on the way back, we were driving along the scenic Indiana side of the Ohio, when we happened across a collection of decrepit passenger cars at the end of a little-used branch line, in Tell City.
I wouldn't ordinarily pay much attention, but some of them are still lettered for ITM. So these are some of the survivors of the long, painful death of IMOTAC. If anyone has inside information on who owns these cars or what their plans are, I'd be mildly curious. Otherwise, perhaps Tell City can actually keep a secret!
4 comments:
I suspect they are owned by the tourist railroad in Tell City, which seems to be having difficulties of its own. https://www.ohiorivertrain.com/
The thing that's confusing me is why is there an Amtrak Horizon Cafe car there, and what happened to it. The vestibule at the other end looks all tore up, but the rest of the car looks general intact.
I suspect the cars with Illinois Central paint are former Iowa Pacific cars. It should be worth noting that while Iowa Pacific loved painting their stuff up for the Illinois Central, most of their passenger equipment wasn't actually ex-IC. Some of it was, but most of it wasn't. A shame they couldn't acquire that one ex-NP Dome Coach that was still wearing IC paint and restore it (IC 2202?).
-Matt Maloy
What's with the Amtrak Horizon cafe car?
Your guess is as good as mine. Luckily, we have readers who know much more about these things than I.
But it's always seemed to me that running a commercial tourist railroad is a good way to lose large sums of money. I'm certainly glad that I never saddled Frank or his sisters with the responsibility for something like this. As a member of IRM, you're free to donate however much time or money you feel comfortable with, and you can always walk away if you must. We really appreciate all of you out there who help, and you can be sure we won't be sending the repo men after you!
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