…Continued from Christmas in July: Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour at Portland, Oregon.
Amtrak P42DC #157 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train was pulled by two of Amtrak's General Electric P42DC locomotives.
Amtrak P42DC #71 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The lead locomotive was #157 and the second locomotive was #71. They were built in April 2001 and April 1997 respectively.
Amtrak P42DC #71 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The first three cars in the train were numbered MRLX #801101, MRLX #801102 & MRLX #801103. The MRLX reporting mark is registered to Mid America Railcar Leasing. These three cars were previously used as the exhibit cars for Artrain USA, a traveling art museum aboard a train. The train was retired in 2007 in favor of trucks in order to reach more communities.
MRLX #801101 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The first car, MRLX #801101, was built by the Budd Company in December 1948 as a sleeping car for the New York Central.
MRLX #801101 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
It was originally named Missouri Valley and featured 10 roomettes and six double bedrooms. It was part of a group of cars that were originally assigned to the New England States, the Ohio State Limited, and the Southwestern Limited, as well as general service.
MRLX #801101 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
In 1950, the New York Central assigned five-digit numbers to all of its lightweight sleeping cars, although the numbers weren’t actually applied to the cars until after they had been withdrawn from Pullman service in 1958. This car was assigned #10136. It became Penn Central #4276, and then Amtrak #2836.
MRLX #801102 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
MRLX #801102 and #801103 were built by the Budd Company in July 1949 for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Each car formed one part of a twin-unit dining-kitchen-dormitory car.
MRLX #801102 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
Seven of these twin-unit dining-kitchen-dormitory cars were built and assigned to the Broadway Limited, the General, and other trains.
MRLX #801102 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
Each twin-unit set consisted of a 68-seat dining table car with a four seat waiting room, and a kitchen car with dormitory space for 19 crew members. While designed to operate as a set, the two units were separate cars and were not articulated.
MRLX #801103 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The cars were numbered 4610-4623; the dining units had even numbers and the dormitory-kitchen cars had odd numbers.
MRLX #801103 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
MRLX #801102 was originally PRR #4621. It later became Penn Central #4621 and then Amtrak #8805. MRLX #801103 was originally PRR #4618.
MRLX #801103 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
All three of these cars were purchased by Artrain from Illinois Transit Assembly. In 2008 the entire Artrain consist was put up for sale through Ozark Mountain Railcar. They were acquired by Mid America Railcar Leasing (MRLX).
MRLX #800863 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The train's exit car was MRLX #800863, a former baggage car originally built by American Car & Foundry in January 1955 as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #3680.
MRLX #800863 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The car was later acquired by Mid America Railcar Leasing. It was also used by American Rail Excursions and named Taos.
Lamberts Point #800702 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The last car in the train, which was not open to the public, was open-platform observation Lamberts Point, which was built in 1914 by the Norfolk & Western as a Business Car.
Lamberts Point #800702 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
Lamberts Point was acquired by the Friends of the 261 in 2002 and was leased to Canadian Pacific from 2004 to 2009. It is assigned the road number #800702.
Lamberts Point #800702 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
The car features a kitchen, a dining area with seating for six, a lounge area with eating for six, and 3 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom.
Lamberts Point #800702 in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009
