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Re:(erielack) Erie solarium cars

Pullman didn't do "cookie cutter" jobs.  Pullman-built cars for Pullman service were built to Pullman specs.  They may have offered variations in paint and decor, but even that came out of the Pullman books and off the Pullman shelves.

65 restaurant cars in the "Club" series came in the 1930s from Pullman rebuilds of older (1917-ish) section sleepers, and were built to one or another variation of Plan 4025 :  8-sections, kitchen (for complete meals), dining area, and lounge with observation end.

Pullman assigned these cars to railroads which requested the Pullman dining service to replace or supplement their own dining services.  The roads inluded : A&WP/WofA(1 car); ACL(2); B&M/CV/CN(2); C&O(5); C&EI(2); CGW(6); Erie(11); Mobile&Ohio(1); NdeM/IGN(13); PRR(12); PereMarquette(5); SPdeMexico(4); and Wabash(4).  Erie was among the larger customers, but hardly a custom customer.

Randy Brown
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Thank you, Randy, for the additional facts. According to the text I quoted, however, it is very clear that there was more customizing than just the name. The text clearly states that these former all-sleeper cars were rebuilt in 1933 specifically for service on the ERIE and that the interiors were done according to ERIE specifications, namely, Navajo carpet pattern and a Neo-classical wall treatment. It is also clear from the interior Photo 185, p.96, of Spring Brook Club that these were intended to be not just restaurant cars but rear-end cars as well. As rebuilt for the Erie from standard heavyweight sleepers, the rear end had large vertically oriented picture windows in the sides to a height above letterboard level and a car door with a window from 18" above the floor to the same level as the top of the picture windows next to it -- making the car a rear-end quasi observation. There are shown nine or ten really plush living-room kind of chairs 
in this rear-end viewing and munching area...actually a pretty classy interior. The rear interior of Pepper Pike Country Club (Photo 188, p. 97) as converted for the Erie also shows the same rear window arrangement and really plush sitting-viewing area with the interior specified by the Erie including a painted pattern all around the interior of the clerestory that matched the new Navajo carpet on the floor. Again, a classy looking car that was not just a cookie-cutter job.

Joe Braun



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