# Ex Santa Fe Skyview on #14 (10)



## Phil S (Feb 10, 2013)

Marked Iowa Pacific SLRG 557 800966. On its way to Oakland. Anybody know anyhting about it? It's sure purty. We're down about 1.5 hrs I think. Had to wait for an empty UP stacker just before SLO, plus two more meets.


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## MikefromCrete (Feb 10, 2013)

WellTrained said:


> Marked Iowa Pacific SLRG 557 800966. On its way to Oakland. Anybody know anyhting about it? It's sure purty. We're down about 1.5 hrs I think. Had to wait for an empty UP stacker just before SLO, plus two more meets.


Reno Fun Train?


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## NS VIA Fan (Feb 10, 2013)

It's ex Milwaukee Road "COFFEE CREEK" (later CN "FUNDY") I believe it's the only Skytop Sleeper surviving. CN used them on the Ocean and Scotian and here's a shot at Halifax back in the '80s.


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## railiner (Feb 10, 2013)

Great cars! Believe they were originally built for MILW's "Olympian Hiawatha", Chicago to Tacoma/Seattle transcon. Similar to 'Skyview' parlor observation cars used on shorter 'Hiawatha' daytime Chicago/Minneapolis trains...


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## Bob Dylan (Feb 10, 2013)

:hi: Beautiful Cars! I've seen, but not ridden, on the One that railiner mentions that is often seen in the St.Paul Yards! (ex-Milwaukkee Road) Wonder what VIA did with these Jewels, are they in Private Hands or were they Scrapped???


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## NS VIA Fan (Feb 10, 2013)

jimhudson said:


> Wonder what VIA did with these Jewels, are they in Private Hands or were they Scrapped???


The cars never made it into the VIA era and I misspoke in my first post, that photo was taken at Halifax in the '70s.
Coffee Creek is exCN Fundy and I believe the rest have been scrapped.

After the cars had been in service on CN for a few years, Transport Canada (or it's equivalent back then) had a problem with the cars.....no rear exit.....and they were removed from service.


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## Blackwolf (Feb 10, 2013)

NS VIA Fan said:


> jimhudson said:
> 
> 
> > Wonder what VIA did with these Jewels, are they in Private Hands or were they Scrapped???
> ...


The rather small issue of a rear exit never quite made sense to me as a reason for scrapping whole cars that had to have been mighty popular with passengers. Was the government not satisfied with placing exit windows in there? It would have been quite easy for a company with CN's resources to fabricate a fix with little to no effort or cost.

Alas, water under the bridge at this point. Still frustrating!


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## AlanB (Feb 11, 2013)

Blackwolf said:


> Was the government not satisfied with placing exit windows in there? It would have been quite easy for a company with CN's resources to fabricate a fix with little to no effort or cost.


Actually VIA doesn't have the typical emergency windows on their trains that we have here in the US; at least on the older cars. I'm not sure if the Ren equipment has the more modern stuff where you pull the handle and remove the insulation and then the window.

But on the older equipment the SCA is required to teach at least 1 passenger within that car how to use the special emergency hammer to break out the windows in the event of an emergency. It's almost like being seated in an exit row, although they can pick any able bodied person within the car to teach the trick to. They put a little colored sticky above the door of the person that was trained in how to break out the windows.

I assume that something similar is done in coach, but I didn't investigate that.


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## NS VIA Fan (Feb 11, 2013)

We might have been going down the wrong path here and its my fault......so lets back up a bit.

As per the OP, Iowa Pacific has an ex ATSF Dome SKYVIEW.

But they also have an ex CN SKYVIEW car which was originally an ex MILW SKYTOP.

Got That?


http://community-2.webtv.net/railnewspb/GoldenArrow/


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## Blackwolf (Feb 12, 2013)

AlanB said:


> Blackwolf said:
> 
> 
> > Was the government not satisfied with placing exit windows in there? It would have been quite easy for a company with CN's resources to fabricate a fix with little to no effort or cost.
> ...


Yes, a red tag is placed above the seat in coach as well, just like the sleeper. I am guaranteed to be the designee in my car when riding VIA every single time. That's what I get for being a firefighter. 

The tempered glass windows might be a thing of the past really soon, though. The Burlington wreck on VIA last February brought some very negative attention from Transport Canada due to several passengers actually being thrown _through_ the exit windows as the car derailed. As a result, one of the findings was a recommendation for VIA to adopt the same removable gasket-style exit windows that Amtrak uses and phase out the older hammer-and-tempered glass windows because of their inability to keep passengers inside the vehicle should they be thrown about. A move I would be rather happy with as a passenger, actually.


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## railiner (Feb 12, 2013)

I would think that in a serious emergency, depending on one 'designee', if not incapacitated, to try to locate and use the 'hammer and glass' escape plan is not the best option.

The self-instructive label on a red handle on several escape windows seems much better....


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## AlanB (Feb 12, 2013)

railiner said:


> I would think that in a serious emergency, depending on one 'designee', if not incapacitated, to try to locate and use the 'hammer and glass' escape plan is not the best option.The self-instructive label on a red handle on several escape windows seems much better....


Actually the idea is that the VIA Rail crew member is the "designee", with the lucky passenger being the backup.

That said, it is still better if pretty much anyone can just grab the red handle and pull out the window.


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