Car No. 260, donated to the museum by the Vermont Rail System, was built in 1891 for the Rutland Railroad as all-wood coach No. 700 by Wagner Car Co. In 1920, the Rutland’s shops rebuilt it as a combination baggage-coach and placed the wood carbody on a steel frame. Steel-frame trucks were also added.
The car served the Rutland Railway until the railroad’s abandonment in 1961. It was sold to the new Green Mountain Railroad in 1963, and was used on that road’s passenger and special trains until 2009. Rutland No. 260 retains its original interior, complete with coal stove and varnished wood walls.
No. 260 was taken off its home rails in December 2013, at North Bennington, Vt., and loaded onto a long trailer for movement by highway to Connecticut. Weather-related delays caused by the harsh winter of 2013-2014 delayed its arrival until March 27. Unloaded, reassembled, and back on live rails again, No. 260 was moved to the museum’s shop in Connecticut, where it was carefully covered for storage.
The museum plans to store the car under cover when it is not in use on excursions.
Tower car W-14 has an elevating platform 10 feet wide and 55 feet long, raising 6 feet above the regular car height of 13 feet, 6 inches for workers to access catenary. It was constructed from a 60-foot flatcar of unknown origin.
The car started life in 1941 as a Budd-built stainless steel coach, part of New York Central’s Empire State Express. Originally No. 2570, the car was named Reuben E. Fenton. In 1966, the car was rebuilt by the Central’s North White Plains, N.Y., shop into a 108-seat commuter coach, No. 1710. During the Penn Central and Conrail era, the car carried No. 2110 and became part of Metro-North’s roster at the agency’s 1983 inception. It was retired from passenger service in the late 1980s.
For more on the museum, go to www.rmne.org.
The Rutland car is wonderful. I have to wonder about the wisdom of accepting the other two cars (especially the line car) unless they have some specific purpose for them. With maintenance capability always at a premium on tourist lines, acceptance of odd-ball equipment not in keeping with the general them of an operation is a potential recipe for future dereliction.
the wire car is a dead ringer for the ones Amtrak had built by MARMON TRANSMOTIVE of Knoxville Tenn in the mid 1980's.
We had ours until the 1st carcars showed up and then the cars were pulled fron service. some were cut up , but we heard some were sold to NJT and NY. Ours were built on 50ft PRR cast flat cars left over from early TRUC-Train days.
the fact i can see lots of orange paint underneath the blue paint, and the side rails and out rigger platforms match what i remember leads me to think these maybe our old tower cars that were rebuit by MTA. right down to the 4 hydrualic cylinders at each corner with matching stabilizing columns that we get filled with oil to keep the deck from swaying.
even the hydrualic tank and motor/pump is in the same location.
Any idea what the plans are for the two MOW cars? Are they going to restore and interpret them as maintenance cars? That's an area that usually gets ignored. Or maybe they'll just use the former coach for storage and have some other use for the wire car?
Wonderful to see that car look so good. In June 1952, if you were a kid boarding the Green Mountain Flyer at Burlington en route to YMCA Camp Abnaki on North Hero Island, you grabbed your trunk, boarded what I believe was this car (added in Burlington), and huddled together for the gorgeous ride across the islands. (In my case I had come up from Bellows Falls so had to change cars.) Talk about rare mileage!
Thanks Howard, I will look again!
The car currently on display in Rutland is coach #551, donated by VRS to City Of Rutland and set up for display in late October 2013.
RMNE open hours are listed on our website, http://www.rmne.org. In-season, the station is open on Tuesdays 9-12 noon, and Sundays 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. In fall foliage season, add Saturdays 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.
I just drove past Rutland 260 sitting in a parking lot next to the crossing on Rt 4a in downtown Rutland. Unless they built and painted another one and lettered it #260……..
The 260 is a great car. We've been in it a couple of times- I believe it was the oldest continuously operating passenger car in the country before being donated. I'm sorry it's left Vermont, but glad it will be preserved and cared for.
No. 260 looks to be in amazingly good condition, especially considering its age.
Oddly enough this museum has NO hours, only train ride tickets and info…