|
The RV's
cherished Kenilworth
Station was damaged by fire in August of 1974. The
burned building was rendered useless by management and the
railroad's office work was subsequently done from a work trailer.
Veteran railroader Bernie Cahill became President and General
Manager of the railroad in 1975. Cahill soon discarded the work trailer in
favor of a new "office on wheels."
Cahill purchased a former
Lehigh Valley parlor car to be outfitted as the railroad's offices.
The car was meticulously changed to suit the railroad's needs. All
the inner furnishings, including the chairs, were carefully stacked
inside the enginehouse. Also part of the "offices on wheels" was a
boxcar numbered, #2050, this fully insulated and air conditioned car
is where Cahill's offices were located.
The old LV parlor car was built
by Pullman in 1927, as the first in a series of solarium-type
observation cars constructed to re-equip the LV's flagship
train, the "Black Diamond." The parlor car that came to the
RV titled the "Black Diamond" while the other cars
were titled, the "White Diamond," the
"Harriet," and the "John Wilkes." Pullman retained ownership for a
number of years, before selling the cars outright to the LV in 1940.
The four cars were renumbered in a series #1551-1554. They were
subsequently rebuilt and modernized in 1954. After the LV ended
passenger service, the #1551 was retained by the LV a a rider car.
The LV sold the car in 1966 to the Pleasant Valley Winery in
Hammondsport, NY, the car was subsequently resold to the RV in
1975.
The origins of the boxcar,
outfitted as an office, are unknown, but in photographs it seems
like a Conrail herald is blanked over.
For the duration of Cahill's
tenure as President and General Manager the offices on wheels could
be found sitting on a siding in the Kenilworth Yards,
opposite from where the Kenilworth
Station (which was torn down in 1979) sat.
The Delaware Otsego
Corporation purchased the RV in 1986 and the need to have
management on site quickly vanished. All business functions were
handled from the DO's offices in Cooperstown, NY. The RV had become
a subsidiary of the DO. Soon after the DO acquired the RV, the old
parlor car was moved to Cooperstown. The boxcar, which the DO
continued to utilize, was eventually moved to Rochelle Park, NJ and
has been renumbered as NYS&W
#120742. | 
