ACL Dome car use

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Did ACL ever make use of dome cars on the Atlantic coast runs? I understand a B&O dome car may have been used as a pilot program,but was not adopted perhaps because of bridge heights. mw

-- mike west (mwest4@home.com), March 30, 2000

Answers

The domes were,5RMT,1DBR,3DR cars.

-- J Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), December 23, 2000.

I had the good fortune to ride in all three of the ex B&O dome cars on the ACL Florida Special, between Richmond and Fort Lauderdale, in the winter of 1970-71. They had compartments and roomettes. If my memory is correct, there were 4 compartments and 10 roomettes. The compartments had side by side beds. Surprisingly, the cars were in widely differing states of repair. The Moonlight Dome was absolutely superb; the Sunlight Dome was good; the Starlight Dome was tattered and worn. As luck would have it, I rode on the Starlight several times, and the others only once each.

-- Richard Saunders (richards@well.com), December 21, 2000.

Mike, I think you already have your answers and sources, but I would add that in/around 1969 I rode the SCL Champion to Washington and as a railroad family riding passes, we had a bedroom in the last car of the train, the Moonlight Dome. The good news was that we had the car to ourselves, but the bad news was we would need to relocate to a coach for the Richmond to Washington ride because the dome was to be removed at Broad Street Station (low clearances in Washington). Not to worry- when the porter saw our SCL passes, he promptly found us an available drawing room in a PRR sleeper, so we continued our journey in style.

-- Mark V. Huband (mhuband@guarantec.com), March 30, 2000.

My book on ACL passenger service (available from the ACL & SAL HS, $25 plus $3 s/h) has a photo of the B&O dome with an ACL herald applied to the side, as used in Florida Special service. It also has a summary description of the other dome car usage Michael mentions.

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), March 30, 2000.

The B&O leased three of its ex C&O dome sleepeers to the ACL for use on the Florida Special. The cars, Moonlight, Starlight and Sunlight Dome, were originally constructed for the still born "Chessie" by Budd in 1948. They ran for a few months on the C&O in their original layout as daytime room cars and then were converted for sleeping car use and sold to the B&O. The B&O ran them on its Capitol Limited until 1965-66. The Florida Special used them that one winter season and then the cars were leased to the CN for use during the Expo 67 years. After the CN sent the cars back, the SCL purchased them and then used thenm on the Florida Special and the Silver Star between Richmond and Miami. I had a wonderful time riding the "Moonlight Dome" between Miami and Jacksonville on the Silver Star in 1969. The se dome cars were built to a reduced clearance profile and did not have the standard round window profile other Budd built dome cars used.

It should also be mentioned that leased Northern Pacific dome coaches and dome sleepers ran during the winter on both the South Wind and the City of Miami. When IC purchased six ex Missouri Pacific dome coaches, it then ran one on the City of Miami.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), March 30, 2000.



SCL leased a B&O dome for use on the seasonal Florida Special. It was detatched/attached at Broad Street Station in Richmond due to tunnel restrictions at Washington.

-- Doug Riddell (railroaddoug@erols.com), March 30, 2000.

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