Caritas Ride on the Empire Builder [4K]

On June 24th, 2023, The Friends of the 261 offered tickets to ride the Caritas and Super Dome on Amtrak's WB Empire Builder from Chicago/Milwaukee to St. Paul. Given the fact that I was already going to Minneapolis that weekend, I figured I'd take the train. I hopped on the train in Milwaukee.

The Caritas was originally built in 1948 as a sleeper car on the Frisco's Texas Special. In 1965, Frisco sold the car to the Canadian National. In 1982, Clark Johnson purchased the car from VIA Rail, and renamed it Caritas. He then invested $250,000 renovating it with an art deco inspired interior, as well as giving it an open platform on the rear. In 2006, Iowa Pacific Holdings bought High Iron Travel, where the car was repainted into Iowa Pacific's IC inspired paint scheme. Finally, the car ended up in the hands of the Friends of the 261 in 2021, where it now wears Milwaukee Road paint and continues to operate as a private car with Amtrak.

The Super Dome 53 is one of 10 built for the Milwaukee Road in 1952. They are the heaviest passenger cars ever built, weighing in at 104 tons. These cars operated on the Olympian Hiawatha and Twin Cities Hiawatha. After the Olympian Hiawatha was discontinued in 1962, the cars were operated with the Union Pacific, including the City of Denver. In 1964, six of the cars were sold to Canadian National, while the other four continued use on the Twin Cities Hiawatha. Car 53 was one of the cars purchased by CN. It hopped around railroads, going to VIA in 1978, then going to the CNW in 1985. In 1996, it was purchased by the North Carolina DOT, where it received $1.8 million in mechanical upgrades. Finally the car ended up with the Friends of the 261 in 2005, being remodeled in 2010.

Big thanks to everyone who managed to make this ride a reality, and making it as fun as it was.

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Thanks for watching! And there's more to come.