CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD Coach"Jane Marie" (Privately Owned) |
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This car was built in 1947 for the Rock Island Railroad. Its coach seats could carry 68 passengers. It was originally named "Des Moines" for one of the cities the railroad served.
It ran initially on the "Twin Star Rocket" between Minneapolis and Houston, named for Minnesota (the North Star State) and Texas (the Lone Star State). It later served on the Rock Island and Southern Pacific's "Golden State," named for California (the Golden State). On that route between Chicago and Los Angeles it passed through Tucson, Chandler, Phoenix, and Yuma along the way.
It was purchased in 1988 by a museum member who brought it to the Arizona Railway Museum in 1989 and named it "Jane Marie." He converted it to a private car which can be attached to Amtrak trains for touring the U.S. by rail.
The Pullman Company built this lightweight coach for the Rock Island Railroad, named it "Des Moines" No. 330, and delivered it in April 1947. Its length is 82 feet 10 inches over end sills. It is unusual in that it has a vestibule at each end for passenger entry, and a movable divider which could be adjusted for different classes of service to comply with the "Jim Crow" laws still in effect in southern states. The car was rebuilt by the Rock Island in 1962.
This was the second Pullman car to carry the name "Des Moines." The first was a heavyweight sleeping car built in 1927 for the Milwaukee Road. That one was eventually sold for scrap.
When Amtrak began operating in 1971, the Rock Island declined to hand over its passenger operations and continued to run two passenger trains on its remaining routes, the "Quad Cities Rocket" and the "Peoria Rocket," with the State of Illinois subsidizing the cost. This car was still operating on the "Quad Cities Rocket" when the Rock Island ended passenger service on December 31, 1978 and the railroad shut down in 1979.
Jonathan Wood bought the car in Guthrie, Oklahoma in 1986. Another private owner purchased it in 1988 while the car was still in Guthrie, and brought it to the Arizona Railway Museum. It arrived by rail on February 28, 1989 and was stored on a siding at Pecos Road which was leased from Jack Bogle. It was moved onto the grounds at Armstrong Park after the switch was installed in 1993, and then moved to Tumbleweed Park along with the rest of the cars in 2006.