PAR Business Train (ST 100, 101, 102 & 103; PAR 1 & 2)

Pretty sure this consist was the original or early-Guilford days business train...
first car is MEC, last 2 are D&H. I know first car is MEC because in "Guilford - Five Years Of Change" it has the same car, but relettered "Springfield Terminal" from Maine Central.
(click the link, then click the pic to show full-size).....
http://www.railroadexplorer.com/media/c ... iginal.jpg

Photos posted of MEC 517/516?, which hauled the business car consist last weekend, back on regular freight duty yesterday. They were so clean from the wash, wax and shine job for the business train, the photographer wrote about it in his caption, apparently unaware of last weekend.

Link to photos at NERail:

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20080 ... 913143.jpg

Interesting...I did not realize those units actually are assigned to road service. I was always under the impression they were "buisiness train only." So where do they go for the "detailing" job?

Stag Hound wrote:So where do they go for the "detailing" job?

Waterville.

A few more specifics on the business cars:

ST 100 was DH 100. D&H purchased it from Norfolk & Western in 1976. Its original number was NW 102.

Photos:

http://www.trainweb.org/dhvm/images/dhr ... 100-01.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/dhvm/images/dhr ... 100-01.jpg


ST 101 was ST 43, and before that was DH 43. D&H purchased it from Denver & Rio Grande Western in 1967. Its original number was DRGW 1290. Previous name was Champlain, and before that, Castle Gate.

Photos:

http://www.trainweb.org/dhvm/images/dhr ... /43-01.jpg

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?11006358%2BZ-6358

So what is the process? Obviously wash, but do they really buff those? That is a lot o' wax! They do look quite presentable (especially to Pan Am standards) as the white handrails are actually reflecting off the car body.

I missed seeing the train by 4 minutes. Thats what I get for taking the green line. Why wouldn't Pan Am use one of their Pan Am colored engines rather than the Guilford black. And why haven't they repainted the cars. Might the dignitaries have wondered if they were stilling running on Guilford rather than Pan Am?

The blue paint schemes would look out of place until the repaint the cars. It looks much better with the orange band running consistently down the train (IMHO).

Does anyone have the roster of passenger cars (used for their office car specials) and any pictures of them? (and/or any history/heritage behind those cars)

I am thinking about modelling them in HO scale and I want to see what that roster looks like as well as the car types and their paint scheme.

AFAIK, ST100 is a heavyweight end coach.

The only passenger cars they have that are currently in service (and by "in service" I mean they are used once or twice a year) are ST 100 and ST 101.

More info on their history can be found at the following thread:

Business Train Sightings, and History of the Business Train

And here are some photos:

ST 100 & ST 101: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=147489

ST 100 rear end detail: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=509780

ST 100 front end detail: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=509787

ST 101: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=990088

ST 101: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=509785

ST 101 vestibule detail: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=509786

Many more photos are available; try a on search NERAIL Photo Archive.

They had four at one time, as shown in this picture:

Great shot!

And here is what the train looked like before the cars were repainted:

http://www.railroadexplorer.com/media/c ... iginal.jpg

Supposedely there is a GTI passenger car inside Waterville, that isn't the 100 or 101. I have never been there or have no evidence to this though.

There is or was and old Guilford Rail passenger car sitting at Iron Horse Park a few years ago. It looked to have been sitting in the same spot for quite some time as it was faded and rusty. It might just be one of those four cars in the picture I posted of the Guilford Business Train at Crawford's (called Crawford Notch Station at the time). I would assume that two of those cars are the ones still used today?