An Oldie but Goodie...

The American Association of Private Railcar Owners, (AAPRCO) sponsor a special train each year for their annual convention.  In September of 2014, the AAPRCO convention was in Portland ME and that special train was known as the Pine Tree Limited.  The train was assembled in Chicago and as the route would have it, the train passed through the Southern Tier of NY.   Below is an excerpt from the special train description, quoted from the AAPRCO website: 

"Our convention special train will offer travel over a substantial amount of mileage that is not accessible by regularly scheduled Amtrak trains. Our revised operating plan has the special train departing Chicago on Thursday morning September 18 and heading east to Cleveland on Norfolk Southern's former New York Central route. Although our original plan was to take the route of the former Nickle Plate Road, Norfolk Southern asked us to shift to the former NYC route due to freight congestion and insufficient operating crews. On Friday, September 19, we will travel east on Norfolk Southern (the former Nickle Plate Road) for the run from Cleveland to the Buffalo NY area. Next, we will travel southeast on Norfolk Southern's southern tier route (former Erie Railroad) to Binghamton NY. On Saturday, September 20, we will head north on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway to Syracuse NY, where we will head east on CSX (former New York Central "Water Level Route") to Schenectady NY, where we will interchange to Pan Am Railways (former Boston & Maine Railroad), including a short distance on Canadian Pacific, using a reverse move of about 8 miles, then traveling east through the Hoosac Tunnel to East Deerfield MA. On Sunday, September 21, the final segment of our eastbound journey is on Pan Am Railways to Portland ME.

I was fortunate to be able to photograph the special train in two locations, first during refueling in Horseheads, NY and then again as the train crossed the Chemung River at Elmira.  



























The train had many vintage private cars but of particular interest was the New York Central's Babbling Brook, a Budd Observation Car.  

The Babbling Brook was built in June of 1949 by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, PA. Originally ordered in December of 1945, the Babbling Brook was one of a group of four identical cars built for the New York Central Railroad for use on the New England States, the NYC’s premier trains between Boston and Chicago. The car was built to Pullman Company plan #9506, lot #9664-023. As built, the Babbling Brook contained five double bedrooms with sleeping accommodations for ten people, a small bar and buffet kitchen, and a twenty-five seat rounded-end observation lounge. 

Click Here to Read More about Babbling Brook:  http://www.webbrail.com/history