Private rail cars offer a rare kind of luxury and beauty

Posted by James Ewinger/Plain Dealer Reporter January 24, 2009 01:03AM

 

Turn away now if spending makes you queasy.

 

This is about private railroad cars, which provide their owners with luxury, comfort and prestige but offer little in the way of speed or thrift.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/private_rail_cars_offer_a_rare.html

wow thats awesome. thx noozer.

 

here's the grand isle (1890) back at ya:

 

Locomotive 220 and Private Rail Car Grand Isle

 

This medium-sized 4-6-0 locomotive (with 4 leading wheels, 6 driving wheels, and 0 trailing wheels) pulled freight and passenger trains across Vermont. The engine, built in 1915, was the last coal-burning steam 10-wheeler used on the Central Vermont Railway. The inscription "28%" on the coal tender conveys that the engine could drag 28,000 pounds of dead weight.

 

No. 220 became known as the locomotive of the presidents because it pulled special trains carrying Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. It was retired from service in 1956 and given to the Museum for preservation.

 

The private rail car Grand Isle was built about 1890 and presented to Vermont's governor. Visitors tour the luxury car's mahogany-paneled parlor, dining room, and staterooms, which were important symbols of social rank at the end of the 19th century. The Grand Isle was purchased for the Museum in 1960.

 

 

http://www.shelburnemuseum.org/buildings_and_grounds/detail.php?id=15