CNR non-airconditioned diner on the Montrealer / Washingtonian

[robertmoeller47-/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

CNR PTTs indicate that a non-airconditioned diner was in service on the Montreal - SAB section of the M / W between 1946 and 1948. If nonair-conditioned indicates the car had a wood versus all-steel body I am looking for sources that might give more information about CNR wood body diners.It has been suggested that since the run is only 60 miles a wood body diner may have done the job as there were other runs that needed the steel body diners in short supply right after WW2.

To the best of my knowledge Lepkey and West do not cover wood body diners in their CNR Passenger Car book.

Any help is much appreciated.

Robert Moeller

[Julian Bernard [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Re: Robert Moeller’s message of Aug. 19:

CNR’s Assignment and Reservation of Space Manual dated May 15, 1949 includes a listing of 71 dining cars which are identified by number, type of lighting and heating systems, seating capacity, whether air conditioned or not and whether of all steel, steel plated or steel under frame construction. Of the 71 cars listed, 54 are air conditioned and 17 are not.

Of the 17 non-air conditioned cars, 16 are steel plated with steel under frames while one is of all steel construction.

Of the 54 cars with air conditioning, 51 are all steel and three are steel plated with steel under frames.

While the manual is dated one year after the 1946-48 period, it seems likely that lack of air conditioning did not necessarily imply that the car had an exposed wood body, but was almost certainly a wood bodied, steel plated unit.

Julian Bernard
Guelph ON

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[robertmoeller47-/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Hi Julian,Thank you for this information. Is it possible to obtain a copy of the page or pages with this information? I would gladly pay for copy, mailer, and postage.

This search started based on an entry in Bob Jones Central Vermont Railway books. Passenger time tables from the CNR, B&M, and NH verified the existence of the diner between St. Albans and Montreal. The CNR PTTs expanded the service period from 46-early 49 to 41 - early 49. The 46-48 CNR PTTs indicate the car was not air-conditioned which lead to the wood body idea, but like some truss rod coaches on the CVR, CNR often steel sheathed cars. The information you presented furthers the idea that the diner was probably a steel sheathed car.

As a former Swanton VT resident and CVR Swanton modeler, having a diner on this train is an interesting opportunity.

Thanks and best wishes,
Bob Moeller