Bloomington

In July of 1952, the ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD ordered six 11 Double Bedroom sleeping cars for use in the CITY OF MIAMI and PANAMA LIMITED.  One of these six was the Bloomington.  The cars were delivered in July of 1953 as lot 6913, plan 4168-A.  They were built using the P-S girder construction with smooth sides painted in IC's orange and brown with deluxe gold striping and lettering and without side skirting between the trucks.  These cars rode on 41-BNO-11 trucks with WAB decelostat anti-wheel-slip devices, clasp brakes and piston (automotive) style snubbers.  They were equipped with Safety Industries electromechanical air conditioning and a shaft driven generator.  All six cars were retired and sold during 1970 and 1971. Each car contained eleven bedrooms.  The eleven bedrooms were lettered A through K and could be made up into five suites (A&B, C&D, E&F, G&H and I&J) with room K standing alone.  During the day, each of the bedrooms had two movable chairs in place of the traditional sofa seat.  Since the rooms were designed for only two people, this arrangement worked well, although it made it difficult to entertain guests. The Bloomington was acquired by the Pacific Railroad Society in 1971.

Pacific Railroad Society, Inc. PO Box 80726 San Marino, CA 91118-8726

Pacific Railroad Museum 210 W. Bonita Ave. San Dimas, CA 91773 Phone: (909) 394-0616

Copyright 1997-2008 Pacific Railroad Society, Inc.