Extra Board. Here is a duplicate 35mm color slide by an unidentified photographer taken in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on 8 April 1962. Shown here is Pennsylvania Railroad Observation Car #1126. It is the last car of a "Railfan Special to the Horseshoe Curve," sponsored by the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. According to Mr. James C. Smith Jr., "The 1126 is a one-of-a-kind car, built as the observation for Pennsy's pre-war, all coach South Wind. It has an Obs end that is more round than tapered, but not as round as Santa Fe and Reading Budd obs cars. The windows are also taller than the standard used on other full-sized Budd cars, and I'd bet this was the first stainless steel train to have its exterior painted. The South Wind was one of three Chicago-Miami trains that covered the route, each leaving the opposing terminal every third day. The others were IC's City of Miami, which used IC's Central Station, and the C&EI's Dixie Flagler, which left from Dearborn, while the PRR train used Union. The three trains followed different routings between Chicago and Jacksonville, but all three used the FEC, onward to Miami." |