In the first part of the Two Rivers story, we shared some of the history behind the car and it’s first life as a privately owned railroad passenger car. The image above gives an idea as to how the space formerly occupied by the roomettes was modified. Each one of the windows represented the previous location of one of the roomettes. The air conditioning plenum which ran down the center of the car was kept in place but covered with wooden trim. The vents that had provided air to each room also remained in the same locations to cool the newly created lounge. More about those later on…

In the spring of 2006, Roger Stabler had been looking for an Amtrak approved private railcar. He had experience with Bob McLean’s former Canadian National touring car “Burrard” and was a partner in the Yolo Shortline (located on the former Sacramento Northern’s Woodland branch) outside of Sacramento, California. There were a number of possible cars he investigated, but the Palmetto State became the car of choice. He and his wife Gloria visited the car in Easley, South Carolina where Tom Whitted had the car stored. They agreed upon a price and began plans for the car to move west to California.

The car was moved to Charlotte, North Carolina by the Norfolk Southern. There NS has a large yard adjacent to the Amtrak Station for Charlotte. It was here that the car was stored awaiting movement on Monday, April 3rd, 2006 on the rear of train 80, the Carolinian to Washington, D.C. A group of family and friends boarded the car for the ride north. Also aboard for part of that day were Tom and his wife for one last ride. It was a nice ride with a hearty storm following the train with rain on and off along the way. Arriving in Washington, cherry blossoms were much in evidence. A thunder storm then came up, bringing rain, sleet, hail and finally snow as the car came to a stop on the platform in Union Station. The car was then removed from the Carolinian and taken out to the Ivy City facility for service before it was parked on Track 30, where it remained for the following day.

That day offered a first chance to provision the car, as Norfolk Southern had not allowed the car to be occupied before departure from Charlotte. After some shopping, there was time for a bit of tourism about Union Station before going out to dinner. Wednesday, April 5th saw the car added to westbound train 51, the Cardinal. For folks from California, this was our first glimpse of a Viewliner sleeping car just ahead of the Palmetto State.

It was a fine sunny day as we departed. Cherry blossoms were still in evidence as we crossed the Potomac and headed for Chicago. Word had been put out that the car was on a cross country trip and we would appreciate the sharing of any photos along the route. A notable first photo came as we made a station stop in Charlottesville, Virginia. Apologies to the photographer as I have misplaced your name over the years since that day.

The trip down the Shenandoah Valley was impressive and we hope to repeat it again some day. We passed the Greenbrier Hotel at White Sulphur Springs and through the New River Gorge during the night. An early morning stop at Indianapolis was followed by a section of single track with sidings and the rare treat of semaphore signals as well as the National New York Central Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.

Arrival into Chicago saw the car moved from Union Station out to the coach yard near the former CB&Q Zephyr pit, south of Roosevelt Road. We took advantage of the close location of a Dominic’s supermarket and a wash and fluff laundry for a full provision and cleaning of laundry aboard the car. We also had a great meal at the White Palace Grill diner in the same area.

The next leg of the trip on Friday, April 7th was the biggest traveling 2265 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief. Departing from Union Station, several passengers were escorted by a properly uniformed Pullman porter from the waiting room to the Palmetto State waiting on the platform. Regrettably, the car was not on the rear of the consist but was followed by a number of empty Amtrak express boxcars all the way to Los Angeles.

Also visible in the image above are a growing number of rust spots on the rear end of the car. By the time it reached Sacramento, the car had been shaken sufficiently to expose a number of areas which would lead to extensive repairs to the vestibule end of the car. On the bottom of the trap and hand rail, you can also see some of the Corvette metal flake blue paint which had been applied to the car before departure from South Carolina. It was quite a pretty color.

Highlights included departing Chicago, crossing the Missisipippi River and the station stop in Kansas City, complete with it’s Western Auto neon sign all ablaze. The following morning it was time to cross Colorado, climb the famed Raton Pass and do a bit of shopping on the platform while stopped in Albuquerque.

We made our stop at Flagstaff as the Chief had a good group of passengers bound for the Grand Canyon. The next morning, Sunday, April 9th was the early morning crossing of Cajon Pass and arrival into Los Angeles. Another chance for shopping for supplies was required and we finished with a memorable Mexican meal at Olivera Street across from Los Angeles Union Station.

Monday, April 10th, the Palmetto State was on the rear of northbound Train 11, the Coast Starlight heading for Oakland. This is familar territory as we have traveled between LA and Oakland many times over the years on several different cars. It had been a long trip since we left Charlotte seven days before.

The Starlight has over the years become know as the Star-late due to the many delays it can encounter along the way between Los Angeles and Seattle. On this day, it was a fine sunny trip, almost on time as we head north along the Pacific Coast. However, an unplanned and unexplained stop south of Santa Maria added a fair delay to our trip, but allowed lunch to be enjoyed while stopped. We did manage to arrive into Oakland at a reasonable time before midnight. The car was switched off at Jack London Square and taken to the Oakland Coach Yard for the night.

Bright and early on the morning of Tuesday, April 11, we departed Oakland on a Capitol Corridor train heading for Sacramento. Before we arrived in the station, the Union Pacific Sacramento local met the train and switched the Palmetto State over to a spur next to Raley Field (home of the AAA Minor League Sacramento Rivercats baseball team). Nine days after we had departed from Charlotte, our journey had ended. Later that day, the Yolo Shortline moved the car to Woodland – now it’s home for new owners Gloria and Roger Stabler.

In Part 3, we will look at the work performed in rennovating the car, repainting into it’s original two-tone grey paint scheme and a new name – the Two Rivers.