The most significant physical asset of PRS, as well as the part of our historical collection which consumes the greatest part of our efforts and resources, is the PRS mainline private car fleet.

In a way, the term "private cars" is misleading, in that the cars were never used as the private cars of individuals during their lives as active cars on the railroads. Now belonging to PRS, they are irrevocably dedicated to educational purposes, and their preservation and operation are clearly meant to be for the good of the public. Nonetheless, their legal status is that of "private cars" which are operated on common carrier railroads, including Amtrak, under contract. This is so although they are examples of the types of revenue cars commonly used by the major railroads on their long-distance trains in the 1940's and 1950's. The PRS fleet includes no business cars, nor any richly-appointed luxury cars such as were used by wealthy and influential persons in the past. It is a rare PRS member, however, who does not feel that he or she has some personal stake in these cars.

In 1969 passenger service in the United States was being curtailed as quickly as the ICC would allow. Failing revenues in all aspects of passenger operations meant cutbacks, notably on Southern Pacific, which experimented with providing the most basic services possible. PRS, however, was enjoying considerable success with excursions, offering 14 excursions during the calendar year of 1969. During this period the excursion department was managed by Rolland Graham, a young, inventive, and hard-driving personality who also had been editing Wheel Clicks. Rolland foresaw that the excursion effort would be greatly curtailed in the future as sleeping cars became less and less available for charter. He also could tell that the curtailment of dining car services would mean future one-day trips would be dependent on automat cars or box lunches. With these ideas in mind, Rolland began to consider seriously the acquisition of railroad cars by PRS.

The first PRS private car, Imperial Bird, was purchased after Rolland, on the advice of Dick Reynolds, looked into the availability of the car and did some preliminary negotiations with the representative of the Autoliner Company, which was in the process of qualifying as the agent for the sale of all UP passenger cars to be freed for sale. Each member of the PRS Board of Directors, with the exception of Leroy Donat, voted for the purchase of the Imperial Bird. Director Donat explained that he thought the maintenance costs would be too high, and that the cars would be a financial liability. History has proved that Director Donat correctly predicted high maintenance costs, but the revenue generated by the cars during their active years was more than enough to offset their purchase prices and maintenance during the years they operated.

Among supporters of private car purchases, Director Nolan Black led the way. He gave support and encouragement to Rolland in the search for appropriate cars. Private car purchases were thought to be important to ensure continuing excursions, to preserve representative examples of railroad equipment, and as an investment of surplus capital which the IRS would presumably rather see tied up in a historical collection than accumulating interest in a bank. Many members still remember being asked informally at the 1969 Christmas Banquet what they thought of PRS getting private cars. Most looked forward to being able to operate and work on cars under PRS control, although the scale of the enterprise had yet to be envisioned. The Board of Directors sent out an opinion poll in December, 1969, which asked the members' opinion on the subject, and upon the return of the ballots ratified their purchase of the Imperial Bird.

The Imperial Bird was purchased directly from the Union Pacific. It appeared at the former United States government supply depot at Mira Loma, where UP stored its surplus passenger cars, during December of 1969. PRS volunteers, including Rolland, John Petros, Chris Ditlefsen, Herb Johnson, and Owen Knapp, lost no time setting about in the fog to ready the car for its first PRS adventure. The Imperial Bird was a Union Pacific sleeper with four double bedrooms, four compartments, and two drawing rooms. It was built in 1942, making it PRS' oldest mainline car. The Bird was constructed with steel frame and siding. It had a Waukesha-powered air conditioner and a Waukesha propane engine to generate electricity. The car had a reputation for a comfortable ride, as well as for its first-class accommodations. PRS replaced some well-worn walls and carpeting in some of the compartments with new carpeting and wood grain paneling. The Bird was used extensively on the long-distance excursions.

The Association of American Railroads required each car in interchange to bear reporting marks to bill repairs to the owner, and to ensure unique identification of all cars. At the time the Imperial Bird was acquired, the initials PRS were already used by the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, so PAR was adopted as the reporting marks for Pacific Railroad Society. Cars which had no numbers in railroad service were thereafter given sequential PAR numbers, while others kept their original railroad numbers and simply had the PAR substituted for the railroad's reporting symbol.

Once we had taken possession of the Imperial Bird, Dick Reynolds, who was also purchasing cars for use with his travel business, alerted Rolland to the availability of the Timothy B. Blackstone. The Blackstone was a sister car to one Dick was then negotiating to acquire, the Samuel King Tigrett. Intrigued, Rolland got the details, the Board approved the sale, and PRS found itself the owner, sight unseen, of an American Car and Foundry-built, four-section, eight-roomette, three-double bedroom, one-compartment sleeper, built in 1950 and bearing the name of the president of Gulf Mobile and Ohio R.R. from 1860 to 1890. GM&O shipped the red and maroon car to Kansas City, Missouri, where Union Pacific put it on the Portland Rose. The car sustained slid-flat wheels on that leg of the journey, so UP repaired it, and the car completed the trip by freight train. The car "popped" into the East Los Angeles Yard one Saturday where amazed PRS members were working on the Imperial Bird.

Both the Imperial Bird, now bearing reporting marks PAR 1, and the Timothy B. Blackstone, bearing reporting marks PAR 2, were used on the Snowflake Special trip to Williams, Arizona, with return over Santa Fe's Parker District. A northern section, sponsored by Dick Reynolds' Great Western Tours, which joined the excursion at Barstow included the Blackstone's sister, Samuel King Tigrett, as well as Pullman heavyweight Clover Plot and other unusual equipment.

To distinguish the PRS cars, a paint scheme utilizing Armour yellow and green was devised. The Armour yellow was chosen because the PRS had been able to rent space in UP's East Los Angeles Yard for car maintenance, and many of the UP employees helped out with maintenance, including those who did the first paint job for PRS. Green was used to distinguish the PRS cars from UP's own cars. Later in the history of PRS, a broad green stripe, such as Chicago and North Western used on its passenger cars, was adopted, with a distinctive running script in the letter board. This script was among several proposals designed by the Truxign Company, and John Petros, with Rolland's ratification, chose this style which became a PRS trademark.

Rolland bore the early responsibility for managing private car maintenance and operation, but the heavy workload soon resulted in the appointment of the first Private Car Committee co-chairmen, John Petros and Herbert Johnson. Private car workers in the early days included Jim Atkins, Dingle Baskerville, B. Alan Black, Chris Ditlefsen, Jim Erdman, Bill Farmer, Jim Futterer, Jim Grupp, Bill Hilbert, Larry Jennings, Paul Jennings, Gary Kapic, Owen Knapp, Bill Miller, Brian Norden, Al Novak, Don Schmidt, Chuck Schnaars, Ed Sinclair and Reid Washbon. Many others showed up to work for one or two weekends or even for a season or two, drifted away, and then returned to work again. Careful guidance was given by railroad professionals. These including Bill Kennedy at GATX, who drove all the way from Mira Loma, and John Schwartz and Ted Wallin, the electrician and pipe fitter, respectively, who brought their working knowledge of the UP cars to the PRS enterprise.

Besides paint, the Timothy B. Blackstone received a change of name to distinguish it as a member of the PRS fleet. In March of 1970, a car-naming contest was held. The names Cajon Pass, Golden Sunset, Mission Arch, Paraiso, and Rubio Canyon were proposed, with Golden Sunset being the winner. The car therefore ran as the Golden Sunset for several years. At the time of the next repainting, it was confirmed that there was at least one other car which had operated in interchange as the Golden Sunset, thus violating AAR policy. A majority of the PRS Board of Directors therefore voted to restore the less lyrical, but more historically accurate, name, Timothy B. Blackstone.

Also in March of 1970, PRS bought a coffee shop/lounge from UP, its 5001, which became PAR 5001. Since this car never had a name, Rolland christened it the Starlight Cafe. The Starlight proved to be one of PRS' most dependable workhorses. PRS used it on heavily-patronized long excursions and one-day trips, where buffet meals for 350 or more passengers were prepared and served in comfort and a dignified style. It was the first PRS car equipped with disc brakes and boasted a counter for buffet meals. The existing layout of the car dated from 1959 when Union Pacific rebuilt the 1949 ACF product as a coffee shop/lounge for use on such trains as the Portland Rose. Indeed, the car was in service on the Portland Rose at the time PRS bought it. UP completed the run and shipped it south to PRS. The PRS volunteers, including Owen, Rolland, and John and his family, climbed aboard the car at SP's Dayton Tower just before the Mountain Outin' excursion to Tehachapi and gave it its first PRS cleaning. John reports that UP had sold us the car without batteries, so, in his words, "The PRS Private Car Committee learned the purpose of train-line cables" during that trip.

John and Rolland actively searched for cars for PRS to buy during 1970 and 1971. They wanted, for historical as well as operating reasons, to get a variety of accommodations. Coaches were thought to be unnecessary, since the railroads presumably would have lots of them to charter, to us, but food service cars and Pullmans would have future value. A trip to the Penn Central Beech Grove facility proved fruitless, but while on that trip, Rolland and John encountered the Bloomington in Illinois Central Railroad's Chicago 12th Street Yard. The Bloomington was an 11-bedroom car, built in 1953 by Pullman-Standard Company.

Just before UP closed its East Los Angeles Coach Yard, its dormitory/lounge 6101 was spotted by PRS volunteers as it rested in the East Los Angeles Freight House located behind UP's 5500 Ferguson General Office Building. PRS offered to buy the car, and UP agreed. This 1949 ACF product had its original configuration and the original furnishings, including a modified streamline-moderne door window and mirror in the lounge section. The colors of the furnishings were lime green, yellow, light lavender, and aqua, putting the lounge-car passenger into a frame of mind that is rarely encountered in more modern surroundings. This car bore heavy service on one-day excursions.

Riding with Dick Reynolds on the Panama Limited, during a PRS excursion, PRS representatives made a deal to purchase Illinois Central diner 4110. The original name of this car was the Shadrach Bond, another tongue-twister that caused renaming to be considered. But historical considerations prevailed, and the 48-seat full diner, built in 1948 by Pullman-Standard, kept its name. The car was long rumored to have an "all-electric kitchen," but the PRS crews who dug out years of accumulated grease from the walls and ducts of the kitchen reported that the stove burns logs, just like the stove on PAR 5001. The Shadrach Bond has not been restored to service, although major work was begun to clean and repaint its interior.

On the same trip that brought PRS the Shadrach Bond, John and Rolland dealt for the purchase of either the Council Bluffs or its sister, the Cairo. By the toss of a coin, Dick Reynolds won the rights to purchase the Cairo, while the PRS representatives won the right to purchase the Council Bluffs. The Council Bluffs was originally built by Pullman-Standard in 1950 for the Nickel Plate Road (The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Co.) as the City of Findlay. However, its partial fluting was removed when sold to IC and the car was renamed. It has an unusual five-roomette, six-bedroom, five-roomette arrangement. It has only been used one time, on a lease to Dick Reynolds, and because it needed extensive mechanical rebuilding plus interior refurbishing, along with the procurement of authentic folding chairs, it has not been used since.

With the advent of Amtrak, the national corporation for the conduct of railroad passenger service, in 1971, UP had quite a few cars available for sale. PRS bid on, and won, the National Embassy and National Forum. Both cars were sister six-roomette, four-double bedroom, six-open section cars, built by the Pullman-Standard Company, the Embassy in 1955 and the Forum in 1956. Due to needed work on the trucks, the Embassy was held in reserve while the Forum earned its way as an overnight car and on one-day trips, where the open sections held a large number of passengers, and the rooms were desired for parlor-car service. The National Forum had Budd disc brakes, outside swing hanger trucks, aluminum outer skin, and an authentic 1956 interior. Due to these features, and the fact that it was the last built of any PRS car, the Forum would eventually acquire the highest mileage of any car in PRS service.

There have been some periods during PRS' private car ownership when the cars have not been able to be used at all, and these are the times that most discourage the Mechanical Department and the PRS membership in general. The first of these periods occurred, ironically, shortly after the advent of the newly-formed National Railroad Passenger Corporation, for a year beginning in 1972. During this period there was a complete embargo on private car moves on Amtrak due to insurance concerns. The Amtrak officials had enough troubles just getting their own equipment, a hodgepodge of technologies from most of the passenger-hauling railroads in the country, to run, let alone dealing with private owners.
After the year was over, however, Amtrak allowed private cars to run, but only if painted in "platinum mist" paint with an Amtrak-matching red, white, and blue striped band across the area between the windows. PRS grudgingly adopted this scheme, personalizing it with the running script "Pacific Railroad Society" on the letter boards. This unstable metal-flake paint was applied to the Imperial Bird, National Forum, Bloomington, Blackstone, and half of the newly-acquired Chippewa Creek, with a quick overspray job being done to the other side of the car just to be able to run it.

Private Car workers were interested in the unique Creek series sleepers, with their 12-single room, four-double-bedroom accommodations. The two-up, two-down window arrangement made them distinctive at a glance, and the individual rooms would be quite comfortable for single travelers. In January of 1972, Rolland saw the chance to purchase the Pullman-Standard-built, ex-Pennsylvania Chippewa Creek from the Penn Central. This car featured PRS' only 110-volt electrical system, a system which has been complicated by some uninformed repairs by Penn Central electricians that left electrical irregularities in the car. In spite of its quirks, the Chippewa Creek was used on several excursions. PRS member number one, Dick Fleming, was the AT&SF engineer on the crew that spotted the Chippewa for PRS at Percival Steel.

The closing of the East Los Angeles Coach Yard meant that a new work site would have to be found. Chris Ditlefsen arranged for storage space on spur tracks at the Dart Warehouse Corporation in East Los Angeles. This area was sufficient for the storage of a large number of cars. Space was also leased in the Union Pacific East Los Angeles Freight House, but access to the Freight House was restricted and it was thought that extensive mechanical work could not be performed on the active tracks at Dart. A suitable site was found for three cars inside the Percival Steel Company building on South Santa Fe Avenue in Los Angeles. While the inside facilities were good for preserving the cars, the cars themselves were over silty dirt next to a dock which prevented the performance of some types of heavy repairs. PRS workers were content with it, however, until changing market conditions once again prompted Percival Steel to ship by rail, and a notice was given that PRS had to get its cars out by the end of the 30-day lease period.

Some of the cars were then stored on tracks subleased from the Overland Rail Travel Corporation at Republic Machinery Movers. This was an outside spot, suitable for all types of heavy repairs, and situated next to the Los Angeles Junction Railway engine house, which made it popular with PRS crews. Other cars were stored on Overland-leased tracks next to Peachtree Street in the City of Commerce, a site which again was complicated by its proximity to a dock. The subleased sites, moreover, were expensive.

An intensive effort to find track space for storage and repairs, including trackwalking by chairmen Jim Erdman and Al Novak, among others, resulted in the discovery of an unused siding in the yard of the Kirsch Company on Malt Avenue in Commerce. A lease with Kirsch resulted in a nearly ideal site. Stand-by power was installed, a water line was run to the car maintenance area, and the entire yard was fenced. PRS moved into "The Malt Shop" on March 31, 1975. The area under the tracks was paved, and a miniature "pit" was dug out. At the "Malt Shop," up to five cars could be kept, trucks could be removed and replaced, and there was plenty of space for the storage of equipment.

PRS cars have made many appearances in television and movies. In 1975, he Starlight was the star of a widely-seen Sanka coffee commercial, while PRS Pullmans were featured in the small independent film, Tracks. When used for filming, PRS volunteers always had to be on hand to safeguard their charges.