Vintage Dome
A couple of weeks ago I saw this dome in Hood River, Oregon. Given the flat window panels on the dome itself, being flat rather than gracefully curved and sculpted, I wondered if this was one of the very first dome cars.
After briefly poking around on-line, I felt this was ATSF 501 as the fluting seemed to jibe. To confirm I asked a group of knowledgeable people on Facebook. Alfred Lynch says,
That is definitely a Pullman Standard dome car that was originally part of the Santa Fe 500 class...built for the 1951 Super Chief. Most likely, that is the original number. Those cars contained the famous Turquoise Rooms, a private dining area...designed to be coupled the 600 class diners.
The car is part of equipment owned by the Mount Hood Railroad; the company does both revenue freight and tourist operations.
One image by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.
