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printman2000

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Found this link on another forum. It show many, many old Hi-Level cars and other old passenger equipment being stored in St. Louis.

Anyone know who owns it all or anyone ever seen this yard first hand?

LINK
 
printman2000 said:
Found this link on another forum. It show many, many old Hi-Level cars and other old passenger equipment being stored in St. Louis.
Anyone know who owns it all or anyone ever seen this yard first hand?

LINK
Click to expand...
Craig,

That's interesting. I captured some of the area. Anyone have a clue what this is. Looks like Amtrak equipment and old classic stuff, too.

Yard1.jpg


Yard2.jpg


Yard3.jpg


Yard4.jpg
 
The only car I for sure recognize is one hi-level lounge like the Pacific Parlor Cars. I assume all the other cars around it are also hi-levels since they would not have any superliners there.
 
Funny where things turn up, I lived in St. Louis and still am close and have never seen anything like your photos? Would be great if those old cars could be updated and put back in service. It might be that repairing some would be more costly than building from scratch? Just a guess though. I see a wonderful old fan tail car sitting in there, probably a parlor car from the looks of it, or maybe a lounge. Trouble with all of them probably is that if you wanted a matching train set then its probably not possible with an odd car here and there.. But it would sure be fun to see many of those back on the road in good shape? I wonder if they might be in the old Missouri Pacific Yards, which I think is now Union Pacific? They used to have some nice business cars in there that were visible from the road.

I missed the printed name on one of the streets as Mc Nair avenue, someone in St. Louis should be able to find these and see if they are still there?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I did see some ex.LIRR P72 coaches in that bunch. I was really astonished at all the equipment, such as the Hi-Level dorms, slleepers, diners and lounges as well as the Heritage Domes, dorms, etc.. Thanks for that awsome map!

cpamtfan-Peter
 
Google search:

Illinois Transit Assembly Corp

1980 3rd St

Madison, IL , 62060-1556

Phone: 618-451-0100

FAX: 618-451-8934

Website: www.iltransit.com

Products Description:

Rebuilds railroad cars Railway and tramway machinery and equipment, Locomotives and electric trolleys, Railway and tramway cars, Railroad support equipment and systems
 
An overall map of the area. The yard is just below the red pin I placed on the map. Granite Cit, IL.

Yard5.jpg
 
Second picture from the top-any idea what the white roofed car is at the 7 o' clock position? It looks like it has wrap around windows but on a single level?
 
If you click the original link, and do a zoom-in on the 3rd row from the left, there are quite a few cars that are covered with some type of cloth-looking wrap or blanket. I assume if this company has gone to the trouble of wrapping some of the cars, they are planning on doing something with them?
 
I believe ITAC is now Gateway Rail Services, Inc. They rebuild, repair, store, etc. private rail cars. While they have a .com website, there is also a .org website of the same name which shows some equipment for sale.

Lots of domes on those tracks... and maybe even a mythical "slumbercoach".
 
ceblack said:
I believe ITAC is now Gateway Rail Services, Inc. They rebuild, repair, store, etc. private rail cars. While they have a .com website, there is also a .org website of the same name which shows some equipment for sale.
Lots of domes on those tracks... and maybe even a mythical "slumbercoach".
Click to expand...
He is correct about the company, their home page shows the same building from the opposite side.
 
Why exactly did they remove most all of the domes from service? Too expensive to keep and maintain?

http://www.railpixs.com/amt/Amt9372atHoustonTx-Feb78.jpg

What kind of car is this?

Lastly, were "hi-level" cars what was used before Superliners were introduced? I don't really know much about hi-levels....

Could they be used on the east coast...?

Some of those cars look very nice. The domes would be awesome to see back in service, but I'm not sure what the chances are. Maybe if the budget is increased a lot?
 
Crescent Mark said:
Why exactly did they remove most all of the domes from service? Too expensive to keep and maintain?
http://www.railpixs.com/amt/Amt9372atHoustonTx-Feb78.jpg

What kind of car is this?

Lastly, were "hi-level" cars what was used before Superliners were introduced? I don't really know much about hi-levels....

Could they be used on the east coast...?

Some of those cars look very nice. The domes would be awesome to see back in service, but I'm not sure what the chances are. Maybe if the budget is increased a lot?
Click to expand...
The Hi-levels were made for Santa Fe (and they named them Hi-level). Amtrak inherited them and used many before the Superliners were purchased. In fact, I believe the hi-levels were the inspiration for the Superliners. Even after the first order of Superliners arrived, Amtrak continued to use many of the hi-levels, especially for transition cars between the the two level cars and single level cars. Once the second order of SL's came, the transition dorms came and most all hi-levels went away from Amtrak. They used 3 coaches for the Heartland Flyer for many years but replaced them with Superliners last year I think. SO now the only hi-levels in service are the Pacific Parlour cars on the Coast Starlight.
 
I stumbled upon this yard three or four of years ago. All of a sudden, there were all these old passenger cars. I was with a friend who lives in the St. Louis area and he knew nothing about it. We are going to St. Louis in November and I hope to get a chance to go by here again. We are going to the transportation museum outside of St. Louis. Anybody know if this is on the way?
 
printman2000 said:
One interesting thing I found out yesterday is that there was a Hi-Level prototype that Amtrak used. It looked a bit different than the production Hi-levels and had kinda a funky shape to it.
You can see some pictures at http://www.railpixs.com/amt3/amt3.html (scroll down midway)

Here is a direct link to the best picture http://www.railpixs.com/amt3/prototypeHiLe...uston_Jan81.jpg
Click to expand...
since there is a single level car behind it do we assume this is a transition car???

what is the number it can't be read in the photo

is it still in service.

Bob
 
creddick said:
I stumbled upon this yard three or four of years ago. All of a sudden, there were all these old passenger cars. I was with a friend who lives in the St. Louis area and he knew nothing about it. We are going to St. Louis in November and I hope to get a chance to go by here again. We are going to the transportation museum outside of St. Louis. Anybody know if this is on the way?
Click to expand...
They are about 26 miles apart. One in Missouri and the other in Illinois. See this MAP.

The transportation web page is HERE.
 
Amtrak #9901 (pictured) and #9900 were the Santa Fe's prototype HiLiners. They ran together as a pair CHI-LA until the main order arrived a short while later, and a second order in the early 60's. They're different from all the others in that the upper half slopes inwards about three inches. Not quite HEP, but all were powered by individual diesel gensets. yes, they were transition coaches-- Santa Fe had no HiLiner food service cars at first, and no HiLiner sleepers ever (El Capitan was all-coach). Thye first two were never converted to HEP-- two 1964 straight coaches were converted to transition instead (they were originally built with this option).
 
Also, a dozen dome coaches (most ex-CB&Q, if not all) had a second life under HEP. 9400-9411. The company that made FRA safety glass figured out hopw to curve the stuff, and Amtrak then redid the coaches manly for the CONO/River Cities trains. Soon, it was discovered that the FRA glass suffered from "micro scratches" that quickly frosted over leading windows. Little curly wind deflectors were tried with some success, but the age of the cars, maintenance costs per passenger mile, the presence of much newer Superliner cars, and the dome cars benefiting a rather few number of people (while others grumbled "I paid more than they did and I don't get to sit there") sealed their fate. For a very short time, the Pere Marquette ran with three or four domes. One dome coach sans-glass was sent to Boston after a ConRail clearance-im proving program to test the then-new clearances (cleared, but barely), but nothing came of it.

When I rode River Cities/CONO Jefferson City, MO to New Orleans, the RC had already lost its dome coach. Supposedly thru service, we had to detrain at St Louis Union Trailer and ride a Heritage Coach that was added to the CONO right behind the baggage cars. The two dome coaches were filled, and the people there weren't going to leave their seats for anything. Lots of grumbling. Conductor threatened some teenagers repeatedly that were constantly conniving to get laid, and most seats had only one person in them. Crews were not happy about the problems the Domes caused.

Somewhere in Mississippi a seat in the middle of the dome finally opened up; I found it to be slightly better than a Superliner coach seat, and nowhere near as nice as a Sightseer lounge. About 50 miles N of NOL, I discovered a friend was in the very front dome seat, engineer's side, so I sat with him. THAT seat was worthy of a true dome coach experience! Unfortunately, in trying out the other seats after arrival in NOL, I found that it really applies to just the first four, five or six rows of seats. The one remaining full-length dome lounge is, for all practical purposes, just a lower-clearance Superliner lounge.
 
Well, that was one heck of a word omission: Most seat PAIRS had one person in them. The on ly seat with more than one had those annoying teenagers. . . .
 
MrFSS, thank you so much for the info. As I said, I stumbled upon this area on the way to St. Louis. We have friends in Greenville, IL and this looks kind of on the way to the transportation museum. We are going there in November. Is the transportation museum worthwhile? Lots of train stuff?

We are going to Chicago from East Lansing (I know, Blue Water but still a train) next Saturday. I am spoiled now. The last time I rode this train I upgraded to business class. Now I can't ride anything less. I only wish the OTP was better.
 
creddick said:
MrFSS, thank you so much for the info. As I said, I stumbled upon this area on the way to St. Louis. We have friends in Greenville, IL and this looks kind of on the way to the transportation museum. We are going there in November. Is the transportation museum worthwhile? Lots of train stuff?
We are going to Chicago from East Lansing (I know, Blue Water but still a train) next Saturday. I am spoiled now. The last time I rode this train I upgraded to business class. Now I can't ride anything less. I only wish the OTP was better.
Click to expand...
I've not been to the Transportation Museum, but would like to some day. Wish I could tell you about it. Maybe some of our St Louis members will know.
 
Tom;

Thanks for your hard work in putting this together. This reminds me of the gold rush days~ everybody is going to head to St. Louis for a look see. Might be a good place to have next years AU Forum?
 
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