Caltrain interesting consist

Hey guys - I'm a latent MUNI/Caltrain/Bart fan, I don't get out there as much as I'd like to but love the transit system. Today I saw this:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 9&nseq=105" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a 2002 pic of a Caltrain F40, plus a depowered RDC and four ex-Metra/CNW gallery cars, all looking like they flew a few missions over Germany in the war (IE rough...). I never knew Caltrain used such rolling stock. Those red-stripe gallery cars were parked in Joliet (SW Suburban Chicago - think Transbay to San Jose distance) at the EJ&E yard for quite some time.

Tad: CalTrain bought and used some former MBTA "Boise Budd" cars for a time...I never knew they had or used any ex-C&NW painted bilevel cars...

Just remember that the former SP bilevel cars were painted cars similar or identical to North Western's bilevels...

MACTRAXX

Mactraxx, those red-line gallery cars are definitely ex-CNW. Some railcar broker has been sitting on them for a decade or more now, and he's still got a string of them in main EJ&E Joliet yard, according to Bing maps aerial view. If you look at the link below, you can see the faint red line on the cars to the left. I drove by in 2006 and they are in crummy shape. Probably headed for the scrap heap. I'm a bit surprised CN didn't kick them out at the EJ&E buyout.

http://binged.it/1hRrFOp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit - according to this CRO report, the Joliet string were sold to a tourist line in Quebec in 2010. Unsure if the Caltrain loaners were in that deal or not. I haven't been to Joliet in a long time and have no idea how old that Bing shot is.
http://www.canadianrailwayobservations. ... O_0610.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Boise Budds have moved on to GCRY at Williams Az,believe used as the 2nd train to Grand Canyon during the summer,
with a few Domes in the consist,with a F40ph as power.

Tadman wrote:Mactraxx, those red-line gallery cars are definitely ex-CNW. Some railcar broker has been sitting on them for a decade or more now, and he's still got a string of them in main EJ&E Joliet yard, according to Bing maps aerial view. If you look at the link below, you can see the faint red line on the cars to the left. I drove by in 2006 and they are in crummy shape. Probably headed for the scrap heap. I'm a bit surprised CN didn't kick them out at the EJ&E buyout.

http://binged.it/1hRrFOp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit - according to this CRO report, the Joliet string were sold to a tourist line in Quebec in 2010. Unsure if the Caltrain loaners were in that deal or not. I haven't been to Joliet in a long time and have no idea how old that Bing shot is.
http://www.canadianrailwayobservations. ... O_0610.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tad: I never knew that Caltrain had leased former C&NW bilevel cars - It must have been during a car shortage - and by the early 2000s the former SP bilevel cars were long gone...
The "Boise Budds" I do remember - They were using a set for SF Giants baseball trains back around the year 2000...

MACTRAXX

The line runs right outside my office, and I've seen a number of unusual things over the years. But I've never seen those white bilevels, and I've never seen a locomotive on the north end of the train! So I think it was a special move of some sort.

I thought I remembered reading a long time ago that CalTrain leased these cars for a short time while they were waiting for the Bombardier cars.

The guy's old, low-budget web site for leasing these cars is still up, and it has a photo of the cars supposedly in CalTrain service:
http://www.cl.ais.net/~dbehr/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like one of several cases of railfans buying junky old commuter cars in the hopes that there will be a demand for them. I personally feel that the resources it takes to buy, transport, and store all the commuter cars that have flooded the passenger car market in the past few decades might have been better put towards more historic and rare equipment that is also always on the market.

http://www.tourisme-charlevoix.com/fr/a ... Charlevoix" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Judging by this, though, it looks like a few of the cars have actually been put to a viable use, so maybe the broker broke even after storing them in Joliet for about a decade.
Found by searching the name of the tourist line, Les Trains Touristiques de Charlevoix, from Tadman's link.

These used to sit in Denver for a while.

http://www.ozarkmountainrailcar.com/det ... muter-Cars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;