St. Louis & Southwestern No. 1 “Dixie”
- Built-in 1910 by Pullman (Lot 3804, Plan 2416) for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) as a steel parlor car, named “Hartley”. The car was returned to Pullman. Pullman sold the car to the SSW April 4th, 1940, rebuilt it as a Dining Lounge car, #242. The car only saw service for a short time as #242 before it was placed in storage later in 1940. The #242 was pulled from storage in 1953 when the SSW management decided to convert it into an official car.
When the #242 emerged from the shop, it was now known as the SSW #1 “Dixie” making it the second car to be numbered #1 for the SSW and the third car to carry the name “Dixie”. When released from the shop, the “Dixie” was painted in the Southern Pacific(SP) inspired orange and red “Daylight” paint scheme. The “Dixie” remained in this scheme till 1960 when it was repainted into the ‘Simulated Stainless Steel’ (SSS) with the scarlet red letter-board paint scheme of the SP. Ultimately the “Dixie” was retired in early 1970 and sold to Bovay Engineers. Later was sold to private ownership, date unknown.
The “Dixie” was moved to a ranch near Landes, TX where it remained till 1986 when it was moved again. At this time, the “Dixie” was going to be readied for an operational restoration. It moved around from Dallas down to San Antonio where it was shopped at PFL Industries in Kirby, TX where it was going through prolonged restoration. From there it was moved to Trans-Texas Rail (TTR). It remained at TTR for many years before ownership was transferred to the Cotton Belt Railroad Museum in Tyler, TX. The car remained in their ownership till June 20th, 2019, when the “Dixie” was donated to the San Antonio Railroad Heritage Museum.
Car Stats:
- Length – 73′ 6” over sill ends; 83′ 10” over couplers
- Steel Body
- Steel “fishbelly” underframe
- Equipped with 6-wheel steel trucks, 11′ 0” wheelbase, 5”x9” Timken roller bearings. The trucks originally came from the SSW #5, “Fair Lane”
- – Weight 187,080 lbs.
- Built as a steel parlor lounge car, its first name was “HARTLEY”
- Acquired by the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad (Cotton Belt) (SSW) April 4th, 1940, rebuilt as a dinner/lounge and numbered as SSW 242
- Shopped by the SSW and converted into the business car #1, “DIXIE”.
- During the rebuild, the “DIXIE” received the trucks off the SSW “FAIR LANE”
- Released for service in 1953, the “DIXIE” wore the SSW version of the SP “Daylight” paint scheme.
- Sometime in 1958, the “DIXIE” was repainted into the SP’s Simulated Stainless Steel paint scheme.
- Early 1960’s, Hydraulic draft gear was added to the kitchen end.
- Retired and sold in 1970 to Bovay Engineers.
- Arrived at PFL Industries, located just outside Kirby, TX, in the early to mid 90’s.
- Later moved to Trans Texas Rail Shop (TTR) San Antonio, TX in the late 90’s.
- Moved after TTR lost the use of the old Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) locomotive maintenance shops in downtown San Antonio, TX out to a location known as Remount Yard, a former automotive trans-load facility for the railroad. The “DIXIE” sat at this location from 2007 to 2012.
- In 2012, to prepare for the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad’s 844 steam excursion, which was to be displayed at the former Remount Yard, the “DIXIE” was moved again, down to East Yard, the former SP yard just blocks away from the old locomotive shops the “DIXIE” left years prior.
- The “DIXIE” sat at East Yard until it was acquired by SARHM late 2019 from the Tyler Tap Chapter of the Cotton Belt Historical Society.
- February 2020, the “DIXIE” was placed on the rear of the local yard job out of East Yard and moved out to Alamo Junction Rail Park where it sits today, awaiting the completion of its restoration.
- It is unclear as to how or when, but the SSW #1 “DIXIE” was acquired by the Tyler Tap Chapter of the Cotton Belt Railroad Society, with plans on restoring the car and putting it on display at their museum in Tyler, TX. Unfortunately this never came to pass and the Tyler Tap Chapter decided to donate the SSW #1 “DIXIE” to our organization. Our plan is to restore the “DIXIE” back to as it would have appeared when it was first debuted.
