Passenger
Reading Company Grill Car, Class DCLA, #2060
Background & History
In the late forties, the Reading Company made a major effort to upgrade its most important trains by rebuilding and modernizing older coaches in the railroads own shops in Reading Pa. The rebuilt cars had wide picture windows, roller bearing trucks, air conditioning and a stylish 1940’s interior, reminiscent of the streamliners in vogue on other railroads. The first train set to be redone was the “Wall Street” which entered service on March 1, 1948, running between Philadelphia and Jersey City. The second train refurbished was the “Schuylkill” which began running on November 14, 1948 and included car 2060 as its most important piece. The 2060 featured a small but complete cooking area, lunch counter and a pair of dining tables and the remainder of the car had regular reclining coach seats. All of this was perfect for serving light meals and providing a comfortable ride on the “Schuylkill’s” twice daily round trips between Philadelphia and Pottsville.
Grill Car 2060
Car # 2060 as it appeared as Felty’s Diner in Fountain, PA.
Car #2060 started out as standard coach #1937, one of many class PBM coaches built by the Harlan & Hollingsworth subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel in Wilmington, Delaware in 1922. The 1948 rebuilding changed the number to 2060 and the class # to DCLA, the only one of its type on the Reading. In the early 1960s, as highway competition took its toll on the Reading’s passenger services, the “Schuylkill” was downgraded and car 2060 was reassigned to the “Wall Street”. The reclining coach seats were replaced with more tables, thus making the car a full diner. Even this did not last long and by the 1970’s, the 2060 has been sold for scrap and the car-body moved to Fountain, PA where it became a roadside diner.
Remarkably though, the car body was altered very little and the interior remained almost completely intact. In 2002, new owners of the Fountain diner property decided to get rid of their old railroad car and through a series of events, the 2060 car-body was donated to the RCT&HS and trucked out of harms way. After a concerted effort to raise funds to move the car, arrangements were made to move the 2060 to the then new Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, PA.
After sitting out of the way at the museum, the car was inspected and it was determined that the under carriage of the car was too deteriorated to ride the rais again, the 2060 was moved to a location where it could be utilized as a museum exhibit. Future plans call for an interior restoration, and to be used as a lunch room for visitors.
Car 2060 being moved into position at its current home in Hamburg, PA.