Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's video: Tour our dome observation car

Take a tour of our newest passenger car and take a look back at when it was brand new! Help us jump-start the restoration of this incredible dome observation car with a donation on Giving Tuesday! https://fortwaynerailroad.org/donations/riding-mountain-park We've acquired the Riding Mountain Park – a dome-lounge-observation car originally built for the Canadian Pacific in 1954. Plans call for the car to undergo a significant multi-year mechanical overhaul that will update its original electrical and HVAC systems and interior furnishings at a cost of approximately $250,000. When completed, Riding Mountain Park will join our growing excursion program and help celebrate the special experience of traveling by train in the Golden Age of Railroading. Named for the Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, Canada, the car’s design was partially inspired by the California Zephyr’s stainless steel passenger cars in the United States. The Riding Mountain Park was once part of “The Canadian,” a first-class passenger train that operated between Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver and was one of eighteen such Park-series cars. Deemed surplus by Via Rail Canada, the successor to Canada’s passenger rail service, and later sold into private ownership in 2005, the Riding Mountain Park has been in storage for over ten years at the Adrian & Blissfield Rail Road Company in Blissfield, Michigan. It largely retains its original interior and a replica of artwork created by members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. All Park-series cars were described in 1954 as being the “feature car of each train.” Pending restoration, the car will enter service as part of the Indiana Rail Experience, a new rail tourism program operating on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad in Western Ohio, Northeast Indiana, and Southeast Michigan over former Wabash Railroad and New York Central trackage. In 2022, the Indiana Rail Experience welcomed over 6,000 guests from 35 states and three countries in just ten days of operation. Events and excursions in 2023 will feature historic Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive no. 765, and other vintage locomotives and historic passenger cars.