Hmmm. You have me curious. I'm not familiar with such trains on the SP. What's the history behind this?
In 1929 and 1930, the SP bought 24 gas-electric motor coaches from Brill, Bethlehem and Pullman to provide service where the traffic demands did not warrant steam train operations. Twelve cars were assigned to the T&NO. These did not have passenger accommodations so usually towed an old Harriman coach and at times baggage car. I modeled train #310 and #311 that ran between Houston and Kenedy, Texas over the old San Antonio & Aransas Pass RR, a 179 mile trip one way making twenty two stops. It lasted until April 1, 1950.
I am pretty sure the twelve units assigned to the Pacific lines were used all over California and Oregon serving lines with low passenger demand. Some of them lived on in MOW service but most of Pacific Lines Doodlebugs were scrapped by the end of WWII.
Box, Right you are NP Northern Pacific. Diesels are hard to come by on my layouts. This is from back in the day when I didn't know any better! Jim
Since I moved to Mass last year I've been amazed how many of these old "dining cars" are still around especially close to my location !! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Worcester_Diner Miss Worcester is just 2 blocks down the street from work and was built right across the street from where it currently sits by the Worcester dining car company. There are at least three others in town that I know of. I did also find a larger one in Old Saybrook Ct. I know of one very nice one in Gardner Maine also. Now i'm hungry for French toast, I may have to drive into Worcester shortly !! Randy Worcester Mass Neat stuff.
There was an old diner car on south Main Street in Yreka. They made the best 'burger in town. The only thing was ... they were so greasy ya didn't even have to chew them. They just slid down like oily Oysters! The fries wern't much better, but the great variety of milkshakes/malts made it all worth while! Eventually, they hauled off the diner to make room for a new carwash and gas station. I had a veggie burger at a different place once or twice over the years. Actually ... they were not too bad! I was surprised!
