"Tuscarora Club" |
Tuscarora Club 2037 heavy-weight dining car |
"Tusacarora Girl" says the Genessee Valley Transportation Company, owner/operator of several shortlines in New York and Pennsylvania, have purchased the former LIRR 2037 ONTEORA (previously named TUSCARORA CLUB) from her. Congratulations to the
folks at GVT for saving a 98 year old modernized heavyweight passenger car
with a long record of service on LV and then LIRR, 1911 thru 1974! Published: 07/30/2009 |
Tuscarora Club at Jack Deasy's LIRR Parlor Cars Website |
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Railcar Owner Hires Demolition Firm Published: 07/30/2009 Pullman Rail Car in Marietta Square Destroyed Monday, October 19, 2009 By Marietta.com The historic 1917 Pullman rail car that has been a part of the Marietta Square for almost 40 years is now being dismantled. The railcar sat adjacent to the Marietta Welcome Center and, according to the City of Marietta, became “both a safety hazard and an eye sore.” The rail car’s current owner, Michael Thomas, purchased the car last year and had plans to move it to New York. Those plans changed after his mechanic looked at the nearly century old railcar. “Based on his report, the car superstructure is rusted and while it was perfectly OK for a static display the cost to get the car to operational condition would have been prohibitive,” Thomas wrote. He then offered the car to the city, asking “Would the city of Marietta be willing to take the car? Do you want it? I would consider donating it with say $2,500 to spruce it up. If not the car will have to be scrapped.”
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Fan Trip 09/30/1962 to Montauk |
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This car was on a fan trip 09/30/1962 to
Montauk.
The consist was - FM #2404, heavyweight parlors: "Tuscarora
Club", "Manhasset", "Commack" and Observation car
"Jamaica". LIRR #2000 Observation "Jamaica" Wantagh 12/04/2007 Photo: Al Castelli
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The buffet style meal included Lobster Newburg. There were photo stops at Shinnecock Canal bridge and Easthampton. A photo of the trip is on the cover of the book: "MBI RR color History LIRR" by Stan Fischler Voyageur Press (June 15, 2007) Info: Jim Gillin | |
The Tuscarora Club by Edward Frye |
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I first became aware of the Tuscarora Club when I purchased a hardbound
edition of "Steel Rails to the Sunrise" at a fabulous store
(long gone) in East Meadow, Lee’s Hobbies, courtesy of my late Father, Edward Frye, Sr.
From the moment I opened the book (which I still have, incidentally), I
was intrigued by the photo of Tuscarora’s interior, illustrating Willie
Wilson standing beside the LIRR’s seated President. Shortly
thereafter – in the summer of 1967 – my Dad drove me to Montauk one
Sunday afternoon for my first visit there, to see the heavyweight parlors
which he so often spoke of. Lo and behold – and much to my
amazement – there stood the Tuscarora Club, which I had always wondered
about, but never saw in the few parlor-car trains that ran through our
home town of Massapequa Park on rare weekend occasions. I was
absolutely thrilled… With his standard 35mm camera in hand (loaded with Kodachrome print film…that’s right…print film, not for transparencies), he took numerous pictures for me, two of which follow: The next photo is of the "Ebb Tide", taken that same afternoon
prior to its westbound departure from Montauk station. Tucked behind
Number 215 is one of the railroad’s open platform observation cars.
Off in the distance, you can just see a small truck loading provisions
aboard another parlor car.
These are two napkins that I picked up off the ground alongside Tuscarora
Club when my Dad and I were in Montauk taking the photographs above.
I’ve kept these ever since that day in 1967, and – remarkably –
they’ve fared very well over all this time. Last year, to better
preserve them, I've mounted the napkins in a special “see-through”
frame that consists of two glass panes. I took a chance and scanned
them as framed…the result was better than I anticipated! This was a day absolutely filled with wonderment; later – in the early
evening – we were dining in Baldwin at another Long Island icon (Raynor’s
Cabin, on Sunrise Highway), when I looked out the window at the right
moment and saw the westbound Ebb Tide my Dad photographed earlier roll by
the elevated station there. For many years afterwards, I returned to
Montauk to view and photograph the parlors; my “specialty”, of sorts,
became the lightweight former Pullmans that replaced the classic
heavyweight cars…during the final year-or-two of the lightweight cars
(and upon their actual retirement), I spent many weekends during the
winter months, photographing (in detail) the numerous cars that were
stored there prior to being sold and/or dismantled. Edward
Frye August
25, 2009 LIRR Breakfast "Tent" menu card Dashing Dan 1959-68 used in bar, diner, and parlor car service. Courtesy: Edward Frye |
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