As of 2:00pm on Wednesday, January 21st, the 80 foot Atlantic Coast Line Office Car #303 sits at the Rocky Mount Station (old Railway Express building on the siding) in public view. But there is no lettering or numbers on it yet. It arrived at the staion by truck. Best sun light is in the later morning. Mr Varney (deputy city manager of Rocky Mount)was in Raleigh at a city officials meeting so he did not see it.

-- Dick Kearns (kearnsrh@aol.com), January 21, 2004

Answers

I was at Rocky Mount Station today 9-10-04. The Atlantic Coast Line Office Car #303 is all painted up and all the marking are painted on, letters and trim are in gold. End of car light has a new lens and new awning on rear plat from. The inside of the car is in need of work and it's currently under way. One last thing to add, the rear coupler is broken.

Joe Brown

-- Joe Brown (railroad_joe@yahoo.com), September 10, 2004.

"If anyone is interested, I will be happy to see if I can find a copy of any photo(s)."

I'd be interested in seeing any shots you could find!!!

-- Jerry M. LaBoda (laboda@bellsouth.net), March 09, 2004.

I believe the 303 was assigned to Mr. A.L.M. Wiggins who was chairman of the board for both ACL and L&N. Before agreeing to take these positions, he made clear that he would continue to reside in Hartsville, SC. He was given an office in the ACL passenger depot and the 303 was positioned on a stub just outside his office door. When he needed to go on official business, the 303 was moved to Florence and added to end of the mainline passenger trains there. I have seen photos at the Hartsville Museum of the car as it sat in Hartsville. I think it also may be on the cover of his autobiography. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to see if I can find a copy of any photo(s).

-- Phillip Gandy (hab1270@aol.com), March 09, 2004.

ACL sold the 303 to the L&S about 1966. It was then bought by a church camp in Littleton, NC, about 1975 and trucked there. In 1997 Rocky Mount obtained the car and brought it back for restoration. It had been at a city warehouse facility until the move yesterday. The interior has been beautifully restored, and when the exterior painting and lettering is finished, the car should look like it just rolled out of the Emerson (South Rocky Mount) car shops. If everything moves along on schedule, the car should be ready for dedication on April 24, which is the weekend of the annual ACL & SAL HS archives open house event and the "Old Timers" employee reunion.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), January 22, 2004.

Awesome!!! I didn't know it was being taken there.

I have a photo of the car (in green and white) Laurenburg and Southern paint by Russell Underwood in my RailImages.com album: http://www.railimages.com/gallery/jerrylaboda/adz

-- Jerry M. LaBoda (laboda@bellsouth.net), January 22, 2004.