:? We made a trip to the Kraftmaid outlet in the Warren (Lordstown) Commerce Park. Former Warren Space Center. As we came in, there were Amtrak  and a Stainless Steel sided Sleeper cars. Does anybody know anything about them. Does somebody own them? I talked to a man who has come to the outlet for a few years and said they were there then. Wouldn't be nice to have them rehabed?

^I saw them there about 5 years ago.  I have no idea why they are there.

How many cars were there? And where is this located, exactly? Might be worth a look!

There are 7 single-level sleepers.  5 or 6 look like Heritage/Amtrak equipment.  I don't know what the other one or two are.  One of the former Amtrak cars has two rows of windows that are offset from one another.  They all looked to be in pretty decent shape. 

 

They are just sitting in a siding in Lordstown Commerce Park.  They are visible from SR 45.  The site is located just east of the GM/Lordstown plant, a few miles north of the Turnpike. 

 

 

Sleepers with two tiers of offset windows are slumbercoaches, the cheapest sleeper accomodations. I think they were a PRR innovation, and Amtrak held onto them for quite a while. The compartments were singles, with smaller berths than a regular roomette. If my memory is correct, each still had its own washbasin and toilet, but you may have had to partially stow the bed to access the toilet, something of an inconvenience in the middle of the night. The compartments were small, and the foot and maybe the head of the berth, when opened, extended into niches in the wall. They accomlished this by nesting the compartments on two different levels, hence the staggered windows.

 

They were cramped but adequate for someone my size, cheaper than a roomette, and far superior to spending the night in a coach with fussing babies, bad smells, boarding and detraining passengers banging into your seat with suitcases at 1 a.m. in someplace like Omaha, and sitting next to a drunk who wakes up in the night swinging his fists.

There are 7 single-level sleepers.  5 or 6 look like Heritage/Amtrak equipment.  I don't know what the other one or two are.  One of the former Amtrak cars has two rows of windows that are offset from one another.  They all looked to be in pretty decent shape. 

 

It's actually a very late Three Rivers train from 1999, which was inadvertently put on the siding there by CSX. Reports are a thunderstorm screwed up CSX's antiquated automatic block signaling system on that section. The passengers are still inside the train, where the conductor continues to assure the restless people that CSX will work out the problem shortly. The saddest part of this story is that this mayl not be the tardiest Amtrak train in the national passenger railroad's 37-year history. That can't be determined until the train arrives Chicago and the effect of Amtrak's cushy schedule padding will ultimately have on the train's tardiness is measured. Who knows, it may yet arrive pretty close to on-time once the padding is taken into account! Free the Three Rivers!!

O-o-o-kayyyy...the nice young men from the Shadyrest Home have a nice jacket they want you to wear now...

O-o-o-kayyyy...the nice young men from the Shadyrest Home have a nice jacket they want you to wear now...

 

That's what happens when you've been a rail advocate in Ohio for the past 20 years--it makes you a few bubbles off center.  :drunk:

I seem to recall those slumbercoaches on the lines out of Chicago. Very distinctive window arrangements.

 

I think the CN&W had them, but dont recall them on the MILW.

 

 

Hey, I had fun typing that! 

:?This morning, on my way to work,(Weathersfield Twp., which is between Niles and Warren on Deforest Rd. I think it is a lightly used(not much anymore) B & O line. The old Erie, track removed is next to this line. There is some type of trailer used for an office. I saw passenger cars. They were sort of dark maroonish with Chipawa Valley Railway on it. Can anybody explain?

I went past this location earlier this year.  The cars are still there. I'm wondering if it's this facility:

 

Ohio Railcar Services

5232 Tod Ave SW

Lordstown, OH

I seem to recall those slumbercoaches on the lines out of Chicago. Very distinctive window arrangements.

 

I think the CN&W had them, but dont recall them on the MILW.

 

I think the PRR introduced the slumbercoaches. They ran regularly on Amtrak's version of the Broadway Limited, and I used them on several trips.

PRR never had Slumbercoaches. Instead, they had duplex sleepers, which had the same sort of staggered rooms with offset windows, but were bigger and priced somewhat higher.

 

I think the CB&Q had the first Slumbercoaches, which ran on the Denver Zephyr between Chicago and Denver. Other roads which had them were NYC (factory built and conversions, which they called Sleepercoaches), NP, B&O, MP and a few others. All were built by Budd, tho pullman had a design which was never built.

 

i do wonder what the scoop is on those stored cars?

They're waiting for the Ravenna Connection to be restored so Cleveland - Youngstown - Pittsburgh can start again. :-D

PRR never had Slumbercoaches. Instead, they had duplex sleepers, which had the same sort of staggered rooms with offset windows, but were bigger and priced somewhat higher.

 

...

 

Dang. I knew I'd not likely get through life without ever making a mistake, but I didn't expect my first one to come so soon.  :wink:

Well whaddya gonna do. Excrement develops! :-D

i do wonder what the scoop is on those stored cars?

 

That is the location of Ohio Railcar Services.  I would guess they are probably there for parts or to be refurbished for private car owners.