| Built by Pullman in December 1925 in Lot #4923 to Plan #3521A as the 10 section (10S) sleeper-lounge observation MONTE VISO, 1 of 15 such cars built in that Lot; cars were outshopped in November and December. 4 of these cars, including the MONTE VISO, were built for the CAPITOL LIMITED; the other 11 cars were built for the general service pool. In January and February 1926, these 4 brand new cars received CAPITOL-series names; the MONTE VISO was renamed CAPITOL ROAD. The CAPITOL ROAD was sold to the C&NW on 12/7/1948, only three and a half weeks before the Pullman divestiture, which occurred on December 31st. C&NW rebuilt the CAPITOL ROAD to a business car as #400 (2nd), with 2 double-occupancy staterooms and a secretary's room. The rebuild was likely finished in 1949, and the #400 (2nd) was assigned to the company president. In 1981, the #400 (2nd) was renumbered to #401 (3rd), and was renumbered again in 1982 to #404 (3rd). In either 1985 or 1986, the name WYOMING was applied to the car, and several years later, the kitchen end was damaged by a fire, which was caused by a fuel leak. This fire occurred at Norfolk, Nebraska, and the WYOMING was returned to Chicago via a freight train. C&NW assessed the damage and the decision was made not to make repairs. As a result, the WYOMING was sold in 1991 to Ralph Justen, who renamed the car WISCONSIN, and it was used for specials and charters on the Great Lakes Western. Ralph later sold the car to a private owner, who renamed it CAROLYN. In 2014, the Valley Railroad acquired the CAROLYN as VRRX #400, and in mid-April 2015, it was moved to Essex, CT, via Willard, OH, and Cumberland, MD. Regarding the other 14 cars built in this Lot: at the divestiture, only 2 cars were sold and leased to Pullman: MONTE CARLO was sold to GS&F and MONTE ROSA was sold to CofG. The other 12 cars were retained by Pullman until sold to several roads or to scrap dealers. The CAPITOL ROAD is one of five cars from this Lot which are extant; the other 4 survivors are: MONTE BALDO was sold in 1965 to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI, and the museum renamed/numbered the car as #46 THE BARABOO; MONTE CRISTO was sold in 1954 to CGW, which rebuilt it as business car #100, it was later KCS TOLMAK, and is now #99 NEW ORLEANS; MONTE LEONE was sold in 1954 to SP, which rebuilt it to business car #110 LOS ANGELES (1st), it was sold in 1977 to FCP, in the early 2000's it was acquired by a private owner, and is now stored at Gateway Rail; finally, the MONTE ROSA, as owned by CofG, was leased to Pullman until November 1949, and afterwards was modified to an instruction car with the name PROGRESS, it was later sold to Robert Snow and located at his Church Street Station in Orlando, and in 2012 it was moved with the other Church Street equipment to the Florida RR Museum in Parrish. Scanned with an Epson V550 from an original Kodachrome 35mm slide. |