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WINNER of the 2012 Trains Magazine Preservation Award
Donate now to help us save the car, raise this fallen flag of the PRR, and put Collinsville Inn on the mainlines of America's rails for future generations of rail enthusiasts. We've raised about $10,000 of the approximate $35,000 needed to restore the car to mainline operations. Please consider a donation today.
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Your gift in any amount is appreciated and will go directly for the restoration costs of the Collinsville Inn!
Collinsville Inn is a 1949 Budd Built stainless steel car, which the state of Maryland donated to DCNRHS in
2008. No. 148, COLLINSVILLE INN—was built by the Budd Company in 1949 for the Pennsylvania Railroad as 21-roomette sleeper. Collinsville Inn was turned into a coach (click here for picture of sister car from that era), its current configuration, to support increased traffic loads anticipated for the World's Fair in 1964 in New York. The car was named for Collinsville, Illinois, a town along the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The car is due some some additional mechanical inspections, restoration work, and improvements before it can run again on mainline rails of America. DCNRHS is currently seeking up to $35,000 to restore car to mainline operations as a companion to its sister, the Franklin Inn. We have extensive research the cars and plans to repaint the exterior in her 1962 livery, which primarily was actually stainless steel with decals.
Collinsville Inn Needs Your Help Collinsville Inn showing damage by vandals before we were able to secure it. This is repairable with your help and support. - Photo by Alex Mayes
Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority, SEMTA purchased Collinsville Inn, along with 11 other 1500 series cars, in 1976, rehabbed the cars at Mechtron Industries in Wilmington, DE after the cars came to Detroit (and were stored in Windsor, Ontario before the purchase), and were used in SEMTA commuter service on the GrandTrunk Western until Oct., 1983. While in SEMTA service the Collinsville Inn was named Hazel Ridge and numbered as car No. 108. In 1984 SEMTA leased these cars to Metro North (MN). At some time after that the Michigan Dept. of Transportation took over ownership of the cars, and the lease, until MN no longer needed the cars
Collinsville Inn last saw service as a commuter car, rebuilt for MARC train service, serving as part of MARC's Heritage Fleet. MARC applied the former PRR names to the cars in 1994, at the time when they went through major rebuilding. Collinsville Inn was numbered MARC 148. The MARC Heritage fleet cars were retired from service in 2001 and were stored at MARC’s facility in Brunswick, MD, when MARC acquired the MARC III double-decker coaches now in service principally on the Penn Line.
In November 2008, MARC passed title to MARC 148 to the National Railway Historical Society, Washington, D.C. Chapter, Inc. The car was finally released to the Washington D.C. Chapter in early August 2009.
Collinsville Inn has had an Amtrak PC2 (40 year) inspection, but needs a PC2A inspection, brake system modification, graffiti removed and broken windows replaced, "new" PRR livery, significant cleaning, and some minor repairs. The Amtrak number is:
The cars is registered the AAR with the reporting mark:
- NRHX148 - Collinsville Inn
You can help us get the Collinsville Inn back to her former glory by sending a donation to:
DCNRHS Equipment Fund
P. O. Box 230
Savage, MD 20763
or by donating on-line.
To see what the Collinsville Inn will look like upon restoration, check out her sister car which we have already restored.
WHAT THE COLLINSVILLE INN COULD LOOK LIKE, BUT ONLY WITH YOUR HELP!
Photo by Alex Mayes (click on photo for larger view)
DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.
History of the Collinsville Inn
Pennsylvania Railroad #8254 Collinsville Inn was built by the Budd Company in 1949 as twenty-one (21) roomette sleepers. It was built according to plan #9513 in lot 9967, diagram 289. The coach was constructed with 41-NP-11 trucks, and was painted in a Tuscan Red livery with gold lettering and black roofs.
A total of fifty cars were manufactured by Budd in class PS21B. The PRR’s fleet of twenty-one roomette sleepers also included seven additional cars in class PS21A constructed by American Car and Foundry and two cars in class PS21C constructed by Pullman-Standard. A complete roster of these cars can be found on Garrett Spear’s “The Complete Roster of Pennsylvania Railroad owned Streamlined Parlor and Sleeping
Cars” website, as well as a picture of sister car, Ashtabula Inn.
In 1963, the Pennsylvania Railroad needed coaches to replace an aging fleet of P-70 coaches for the Northeast Corridor for the New York World’s Fair. Work on converting fifty of the Inn-series cars into coach lounges began on April 3, 1963 and was completed by December of that year by the Budd Company. With the rebuild, the cars were redesignated as Class P85L coaches.
Forty-eight of the cars had 64 coach seats and a small, twelve-seat lounge at the end opposite the vestibule, and were renumbered 1500-1547. Two of the cars had 64 coach seats with a six-seat snack bar lounge; these were numbered 1548 and 1549. Collinsville Inn was PC 1508.
When outshopped, the cars comprised simple, stainless steel, with PRR Keystone logos at each end on the window band and with red number boards at each end on the lower portion of the car side. The names of the cars were no longer carried on the cars. Beginning on October 9, 1963, this series of coaches was placed in service between New York and Washington. Many of the cars, including DCNRHS' Inn cars, were last in commuter service in the eastern US.
NOVEMBER 10, 2012
Trains Magazine Awards 2012 Preservation Award to help save the Collinsville Inn
MONTREAL – Trains magazine has presented its prestigious annual Preservation Award to the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society for the mainline restoration of a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger car, Collinsville Inn. Restoring a high-capacity coach will enable DCNRHS to introduce new generations of rail enthusiasts to the history and excitement of mainline rail travel.
The presentation took place Saturday, November 10 at the annual dinner for the joint Association of Railway Museums/Tourist Railway Association Inc. in Montreal.
Budd built Collinsville Inn as a 21-roomette sleeper in 1949. It was converted to a coach in time for the 1964 World's Fair in New York. It later saw service as a commuter car and passed from the Maryland Department of Transportation to the Chapter in 2008. It has had its Amtrak 40-year-inspection and, following additional mechanical and cosmetic work, should be roadworthy in 12-18 months.
This year’s project was selected from more than 75 proposals from across North America. In addition to volunteer labor, the project is estimated to cost at least $27,900.00 - $35,000, all of which will need to come from donations. The remaining funds will be need to be raiised from private donations. We can do it, with your help!
The project was featured in the February 2013 issue off Trains.
The second photo above, by Alex Mayes, was taken in 2011. Volunteers look over the Collinsville Inn at Brunwick, MD - Photo by J. Lilly
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