TCRX 514

514 was built by the Budd Company in 1954 as a Railway Post Office Car for the Rock Island Line. Often at the head end of the line’s Rocket streamliners, this car was a mobile post office where US Mail workers picked up, sorted and dropped off mail at various towns along the Rockets’ routes, often without stopping from 70 MPH(!) As passenger service declined throughout the 1960s though, the US Postal Service cancelled many mail contracts with railroads as they switched to air and trucking, and the renumbered 96511 would eventually have its mail equipment gutted, and be demoted as a storage car for the railroad’s Maintenance of Way department. After the Rock Island’s demise in 1980, the car was found languishing by the budding Broadway Dinner Train operation, who had the car refurbished and fitted with two Detroit diesel generators to provide Head End Power (HEP) for the train’s lighting, heating and air conditioning. 514 would serve dutifully as the power source of comfort for the Broadway until its demise in 1999, when the car was purchased by TCRM in 2000.

Currently, 514 is having its innards upgraded from Detroit Diesel to Cummins; using the same type of Gensets in our primary power car, ex-CB&Q 1009 “Silver Chest.” 514 will be our standby HEP source when completed.