SUGARCREEK, Ohio — The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum has added former Missouri Pacific business car No. 11, now known as Ohio Central No. 800003, Sugarcreek, to its collection, the museum has announced.
The car has been donated by the family of the late Jerry Joe Jacobson, founder of the Age of Steam Roundhouse and operator of the Ohio Central Railroad from its founding in 1988 until it was sold to Genesee & Wyoming in 2008. The Jacobson family used the car for travel on Amtrak for more than 20 years.
“Although we will no longer see the ‘Sugarcreek’ at the rear of Amtrak trains,” the museum said in a press release, “it is comforting to know that it will still be preserved and in use for the future.”
The car is currently en route from Pittsburgh Union Station to the museum via Norfolk Southern and the Ohio Central.
More on the museum is available at its website.
There aren’t that many ex-MoPac passenger cars still extant, glad to find out about this one.
This car was originally built by Budd in 1949 as the 10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleeping car “Crystal River” for service in MoPac’s St. Louis-Denver “Colorado Eagle.” The MoP added the number 611 in an early-1960’s renumbering, with the car retaining its name. It was converted to business car #11 in 1971, losing its name.
Note: the text gives the name of this car as “Sugarcreek,” same as the town, but the car name in the photo is “Sugar Creek,” two words.