This historic rail car was built by the Pullman Company in 1914, during a time known as the "Gothic period" of heavyweight passenger cars. Originally known as car No. 450, it operated as a flagship dining car for the New York Central Railroad. Designed as a 6-axle Diner Class D-74 model, it is a significant example of pre-WWII streamlined passenger car design. The car was retrofitted with air conditioning in the 1930s.
It operated for NYC up until the 1950s, when the company retired most of their heavyweight equipment in an effort to streamline operations. The cash-strapped Delaware and Hudson Railway purchased the car to replace their old composite (wood and steel) carriages, where it continued to operate as the D&H 154 for some years.
In the 1960s the aging car was sold once again to the Empire State Railway Museum where it operated under the High Iron Railway Company. Riding over Central Railroad of New Jersey tracks, the car was used in "steam safaris," where passengers could re-live the luxury of early railroad travel; passengers were even served meals using the car's kitchen to complete the experience. These excursions helped introduce the concept of reusing historic railroad equipment for recreation and tourism.
In 1969, the car was transferred to Essex CT to join the newly founded Connecticut Valley Railroad Company. In 1971, it was painted dark green, re-numbered 154, and given the name Lion Gardiner, from the first settler in New York. The car began showing signs of deterioration in the kitchen floor, as well as problems due to the old air conditioning system and burst water pipes. It was mothballed in the Essex woods around 1976. Ten years later, it was pulled onto some disused tracks in Kingston NY, where it was once again left abandoned.
Sitting on the derelict rail line next to the Lion Gardiner were Erie Lackawanna MU (multiple unit) cars, also built by Pullman, which were used for commuter service in New Jersey. These cars were powered by electrified overhead wires instead of steam or diesel locomotives. Also known as "Edisons," they were inaugurated in 1930 when Thomas Edison drove the first train from Hoboken to Montclair to promote large scale usage of DC current. Edison would have been dismayed to know that the lines were re-electrified using AC power and thus the DC cars were subsequently put out of service in 1984.
As for the Lion Gardiner, despite being the last heavyweight dining car in existence, it seemed doomed to be cut up for scrap due to the cost of renovations. In December of 2015 however, the car was placed on a trailer and hauled out West, presumably for restoration. The fate of the MU cars in unclear.
Video of the coaches moving for the first time in 15 years can be viewed here, as well as footage of the Lion Gardiner being pulled over the Hurley Mountain Road crossing here (after it was cleaned up a bit and primed red to stop the rust).
