PRR Master Room Obs cars

IIRC, PRR had four 2 MR 1BR Obs cars, Federal, Metropolitan, Skyline and Washington Views.

Were there other MBR cars, and do any still exist?

What became of the Iron Horse Enterprise's Mountain View that used to be available for charter? Was it a MR configuration?

The four cars that you mention were pre-war cars, built in 1938. IIRC, FEDERAL VIEW and WASHINGTON VIEW were assigned to the LIBERTY LIMITED from Washington to Chicago, while METROPOLITAN VIEW and SKYLINE VIEW were assigned to the BROADWAY LIMITED from New York to Chicago. The cars were built by Pullman Standard, and the floor plans were identical; the only variations were the lounge decor. All contained 2 Master Rooms and 1 Double Bedroom (with open hopper/commode). The observation end of these cars was round.

In 1948, two new cars were built (by Pullman Standard) and assigned to the BROADWAY LIMITED. These cars, TOWER VIEW and MOUNTAIN view, had squared-off observation ends, and contained the same 2 Master Rooms and 1 Double Bedroom (but with an enclosed annex). These cars remained in BROADWAY LIMITED service until the end of the all-PULLMAN era in December of 1967. Revenue service ended in the winter of 1968, when these cars were assigned to SCL's FLORIDA SPECIAL. They were sold to private parties soon thereafter.

I don't know the current whereabouts of any of these, although I believe that the pre-war cars wound up in Mexico, and have probably been scrapped by now.

One of the post-war cars (Mountain View or Tower View) is included in the collection of equipment at the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum in Strasburg, PA. That car is unrefurbished and cannot be entered by the public, but a walk around the exterior of the car might be possible.

The Tower View is the one at the Strasburg museum. The Mountain View is in private ownership and may be availble for chartered trips. On a side note.. On a recent Amtrak trip to Altoona,Pa I had a bedroom in a viewliner sleeper also named "Mountain View"

Who owns/charters the Mountain View? Wasn't that once part of Ross Rowland's enterprise?

The Mountain View (and its 'running mate', Alder Falls) brought up the rear of the 614 Port Jervis trips for the first few runs, but it wasn't part of Ross Rowland's operation. It was privately owned, by David Ross and a partner (whose name escapes me at the moment). David was kind enough to allow my wife and I to tour the car in Port Jervis, and again when it was on display at the 1997 Hoboken Festival.

The last contact I had with him was an email in early 2000; he had suffered a heart attack a few months after the trips, and he and his partner had decided to either sell or scrap the car (in Port Jervis he talked about the underframe/body bolster being close to needing serious work). Part of the problem was physical- he and his partner felt they were no longer up to maintaining it- and part was financial; to that point Ross Rowland had not paid them for the use of the car (sound familiar?).

Not long after that I heard he had been found dead in his apartment in Ft. Lee (a batchelor, he lived alone and as I remember there were no known suvivors).

I lost track of the cars after that- no idea what happened to them. The Alder Falls was a 6 Double Bedroom Buffet Lounge.

(BTW- I have also spent at least one night in the 'new' Mountain View - on the Silver Meteor.)

On the Eire Limited with C&O #614 there were Mountain View , Alder Falls and Ace Packer { own by Al Luedtke )

614 gave a great show Pulling 25 coaches and a Aux. Tender. I was on the Oct. 19, 1996 trip , the weekend that the North Eastern came up the Eastern seaboard . The next day at Port Jervis, NY. the Eire Round Table looked like a huge swiming pool .

Len.

Anyone have an update on the status of the Mountain View? Who owns it now? still at Whippany? Serviceable?

CarterB wrote:Anyone have an update on the status of the Mountain View? Who owns it now? still at Whippany? Serviceable?

The last time I inquired, MOUNTAIN VIEW was owned by Pullman Classics Ltd; the primary shareholders of the corporation were David Ross (deceased a few years ago) and Al & Lucille Siebold. There are/were other minority shareholders in the company.

I last saw MOUNTAIN VIEW in storage on the Morristown & Erie Railway at Whippany NJ during the July 4th weekend. The car last operated on the Amtrak system in 1995, prior to the termination of the Broadway Limited. It would need some work to pass the Amtrak PC-2A (40 + 10 year inspection) and PC-1 (annual) inspections, as well as cosmetic work. I'm not sure the car's owners have the time and resources to revive the car to mainline standards, for the second time in its/their lifetime. If it's air brake system is in date (COT&S), and it has no FRA defects, then it could operate in non-Amtrak service such as an M&E excursion train.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to ride the car at the peak of its service as a private car, in the late 1980s thru mid-1990s.

Every now and then I feel that MOUNTAIN VIEW, rather than NYC's HICKORY CREEK, should be the flagship of the URHS fleet.

I agree, the Mountain or other Views with the 2 master Rooms to me, is superior to the 4 DBR of the Hickory Creek. However, the proposed 'rebuild' of the Hickory Creek with basically 2 MBRs and 2 DBRs with connecting shower/toilet, would make it a more comfortable modernized car.

On a Friday Otober 13, 2006, MOUNTAIN VIEW traveled from Charlotte to New York on the rear of Amtrak train # 80, The Carolinian. I shot a few photos of it when The Carolinian stopped at Alexandria, VA. The car then moved from New York down to Philadelphia. I believe it is headed for Bennett Levin's Juniata Terminal Company.

Rumor: The car is slated for donation to the Railroad Museum in Altoona.

On another side note. I few years back I rode the Three Rivers (Hammond,IN-Altoona,PA) and my EB sleeper was the "Tower View"

Who just purchased the Mountain View, and do they intend to upgrade it for interchange and use?

PRRGuy wrote:On another side note. I few years back I rode the Three Rivers (Hammond,IN-Altoona,PA) and my EB sleeper was the "Tower View"

Or, otherwise known as Amtrak #62045.

It seems that Amtrak could not be concerned with The Pullman Company protocol of ensuring that car names were not 'recycled'. Another case in point relevant to this discussion is Viewliner #62022 Mountain View.

Of course, Amtrak is in the process are "solving' the problem as they shop their Sleeping Car fleet; that is known as simply remove the names.

jhdeasy wrote:On a Friday Otober 13, 2006, MOUNTAIN VIEW traveled from Charlotte to New York on the rear of Amtrak train # 80, The Carolinian. I shot a few photos of it when The Carolinian stopped at Alexandria, VA. The car then moved from New York down to Philadelphia. I believe it is headed for Bennett Levin's Juniata Terminal Company.

Rumor: The car is slated for donation to the Railroad Museum in Altoona.

On Monday November 6 Mountain View was moved out of Juniata Terminal by E8 5809 and placed on a yard track coupled to a CSX boxcar.
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559032
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559040
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559091
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559093
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559096

Subsequently NS (former Reading) SW1001 2106, working as CSAO FJ3, moved the cars to the track that would accommodate heavy six axle freight locomotives.
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559122
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=559123

Still later, three locomotives from NS arrived to take Mountain view to Altoona for delivery to the Railroaders Museum.
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=558990
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=558991
http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... ?id=558995

Bob