| Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Instruction Car 1820 at Council Bluffs, Iowa on October 3, 1964, Kodachrome by Lou Schmitz, Chuck Zeiler collection. The car was lettered INSTRUCTION CAR, but was once lettered LOCOMOTIVE INSTRUCTION CAR. This car was built October 31, 1925, Lot 4885 Plan 3951 ( ungraded to Plan 3951L on May 12, 1931) and named National Road. It was lettered for the National Limited until May 5, 1938 at which time the lettering was removed. In June 1944 it was set aside at B&O's Chicago yards for use as upholstery and paint shop, and foreman's office. On May 20, 1947 it was sold to General Motors, painted blue-green, lettered G.M.C. Office Car, and used on GM's Train of Tomorrow as an office car. Todd Schannuth adds: This was the Blue Goose that traveled with the GM Train of Tomorrow in 1947-1949. The Train of Tomorrow needed a support car, and that duty fell to an old-style heavyweight car. The car was former B&O combine NATIONAL ROAD, built in 1925 to plan 3951 in lot 4885 by Pullman-Standard as a club-buffet-baggage. For the Train of Tomorrow, the seating section was removed to create dormitory space for the Pullman porters who traveled with the train. The car was initially painted completely blue-green like the rest of the train, save for a small bit of silver on the rear roof. The 'metal' fluting applied to the car to match the rest of the train was actually just paint. The car usually moved ahead of the Train of Tomorrow on other scheduled passenger trains. When this was not possible, the car was put directly behind the Train of Tomorrow locomotive. For many months the nickname Blue Goose was unofficial. Before the car got a full Train of Tomorrow makeover to match the rest of the train, the car was simply lettered G.M.C Office Car. It later received BLUE GOOSE lettering in the same style as the rest of the cars. Blue Goose also carried the ramps needed at each display site. Later, the car was used by EMD as a mobile Diesel Locomotive Training Center, then to Rock Island as Instruction Car 1820. The car MAY reside today in Rocky River, Ohio. See also: http://themetrains.com/gm-train-of-tomorrow-roster.htm |