N&W Pullman 4137 ?

[NW Mailing List]

I think I can clarify the origin of the Budd builder's plate from an N&W S-1.

Around 1964 N&W sold all twenty S-1's to the Pennsylvania Railroad.  PRR
stripped exterior paint, gutted the interiors and converted them into
coaches.  Eventually some or all of these coaches were sold to MARC, the
state of Maryland's commuter operation.  I remember riding an excursion
from Hagerstown to Cumberland in the 1980's and at least one car in the
train had the Budd builders plate stating the car had been built for N&W. 
MARC called these "Heritage" cars, and I think I also saw a plaque with
the car's original name. I'm guessing the number 4137 may be on the back
of the plate in question.  You can be sure that Budd would have used a
production number for everything they built.

I don't think MARC has any of the ex-N&W cars in service anymore.  If a
car was wrecked, I am reasonably certain it happened in MARC service, or
on PRR. Since the car ended up in Cumberland, I would suspect MARC.
Several years ago MARC had a serious wreck, and fire, when an eastbound
from Brunswick to Washington sideswiped the westbound Amtrak Capitol
Limited near Silver Spring, MD.  I do not know exactly which MARC cars
were destroyed. The MARC train ran a signal, and hit the motive power of
Amtrak 29 as it was going thru a crossover.  The ruptured fuel tank on
Amtrak set the derailed MARC train on fire.  It was running in "push"
mode.

When I was in Cumberland last Autumn, I observed an ex N&W S-1 in service
on the Western Maryland Scenic RR, so at least some are still around.

--Rick Morrison