P&R wood Car # 90886  “the Leaning Car”

Don Crabtree, with excerpts from the Bee Line Volume #36 No. 3 & 4

Car 90886 was acquired in 2010 and moved to the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg. They were previously owned by George Hart’s Rail Tours Inc. located in Jim Thorpe PA. At Rail tours, the car operated as RTI 52.

Car 90886 began life as a Railway Post Office Car built between 1904 & 1907 as P&R #1758. At that time, much of the Reading passenger equipment was built as a composite. Steel underframe with wood floor, walls and roof. It was one of only two cars in the Class MBf and for some reason didn’t last very long as an RPO Car

In April 1926 it was repurposed into a Milk Car under class BRh.

Again in January of 1931, the car was repurposed into a Tool Car under Class BRhx and served as part of the St. Clair Wreck Train.

And so it went thru its career, ever evolving. In November of 1963, it was purchased by George Hart as part of Rail Tours Inc. and was renumbered as RTI #52. It served as the office for Rail Tours until it deteriorated to the point where it was no longer usable.

In 2010, the car was purchased by a donor of the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society. The car and another three wooden cars had to be moved via truck over the road to the current location at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum In. The car was in such bad shape after sitting at Hamburg, PA, that the cables installed to keep it upright and intact, were failing and the car had to be dismantled to make it safe to be around. It was referred to as the leaning car because the sides were leaning so heavily to one side.