(The following story by James Buescher appeared on the Intelligencer Journal website on July 16.)
STRASBURG, Pa. — While the rest of Lancaster County celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and picnics, Strasburg Railroad engineer Steve Weaver was getting ready for a moment he had been anticipating for nearly a year: flipping the main electrical switch in the newly refurbished Reading Car No. 10.
“You’re always a little concerned, because you don’t always know what’s going to happen,” Weaver said. “But when we flipped that switch, the whole inside of the car lit up like Wanamakers on Christmas.
“It was such a beautiful moment for us here at the railroad,” he said. “We helped make the car come alive again.”
As part of the celebration for the 175th anniversary of its charter, Strasburg Railroad will unveil the refurbished Reading No. 10 President’s Car today. It was built before World War I for George F. Baer, then president of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and reportedly used on Harry Truman’s famous 1948 “whistle stop” presidential campaign.
The car will be hooked onto trains departing at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. starting today and running through Labor Day. Because wine will be served on the car along with hors d’oeuvres, patrons must be age 21 and over to ride.
“We’re a great destination for families, of course, but we’re also always on the lookout for new ways to reach people traveling without children or couples who are looking for a fun experience,” Strasburg Railroad spokeswoman Hope Banner said.
“Having this car … allows folks to have a more intimate experience on the rails, to mix and mingle in a train car that, in the early part of the 20th Century, was the last word in prewar luxury,” Banner said.
Featuring settees with Victorian brocades, vermilion mahogany walls with rosewood inlay, Edwardian staterooms and even a crew and service area with an original nickel-plated anthracite range, efforts to refurbish the car took more than five months and $150,000 to complete.
“We wanted to make the car operable, but we did not want to disturb its historic fabric. The plumbing still worked, and we kept the original 32-volt Victorian light fixtures, for example. But we also outfitted the car with a state-of-the-art air conditioning system plus redid the brakes,” Weaver said.
As railroads in the United States began to decline in the early 1960s, Weaver said, the Reading Co. decided to mothball the luxurious railcar because of the costs involved with its operation. Eventually, though, the company put the car on the auction block, where Strasburg Railroad purchased it in May 1964.
“Our thinking here at the Railroad is that it’s important to bring visitors in, but it’s even more important to give people the kind of experience that will make them want to come back,” Banner said. “And a trip in an authentic refurbished antique railroading car is just the kind of experience that will help do that.
“This car was the Leer jet of its time,” Banner said. “And now, almost 50 years after its retirement, it’s going to be back riding the rails.”
Tickets to ride the car cost $45. For more information, call 687-7522 or visit www.strasburgrailroad.com.