Pennsylvania Private Car spotted at LAUS

[Cristian]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday (Saturday 3/12) I was at LA Union Station arriving on Pacific Surfliner 768 and right across from us was a strange Surfliner consist - it had regular Surfliner cars as well as one long distance coach car (I was walking besides the train and I stopped when I saw 0524 on one of those cars and did a double-take).

Also, at the end of the train there were the Pennsylvania as well as Wyoming (I can't recall that one correctly - it was a dome car). First time I've seen them in person. Unfortunately I did not have time to take out my camera and take a couple of pictures because I was trying to catch the Flyaway to LAX. (Why drive for 40 min from VNC to LAX airport when you can take a train to LAUS and then a bus... yes, I am finding any excuse to take a train, this forum has put the train bug in me)

Long story short - does anyone have any idea what was the event?

I also saw another private car - the Patron Tequilla Express in a siding.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Privately owned vintage passenger cars - "private varnish" - are common sights at L.A. Union Station. An ever-changing collection of them may be seen from arriving (right) and departing (left) trains. They're off to the side and under a Metro Gold Line flyover, in a small multi-track storage yard known as "the garden." Googling the names of various cars often turns up interesting stuff about them, as does looking into the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Superliner coaches are practically standard equipment in Surfliner consists these days. IIRC they're refurbished wrecks currently on lease to Amtrak California. Their doors are not usually opened at stops, so boarding them or leaving the train from them must be done indirectly, through Surfliner cars.

Private Varnish parked in "the garden" at Los Angeles Union Station, seen from Metro Gold Line flyover. Photo by Lawrence Brown.

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[WhoozOn1st]

In a flagrant violation of doctors' (plural) orders that I stay put awhile longer, Team Whooz went joyriding aboard Metrolink and the Metro Gold Line the other day. Following a three-train Metrolink run to San Bernardino and back, we rode the Gold Line out to Pasadena just to kill some time before our Ventura County Line train home. Riding back from Pasadena I recalled this thread and thought I'd try for a better shot of the private varnish parked in "the garden" at LAUS:

Private varnish storage area adjacent to Los Angeles Union Station, seen from Metro Gold Line flyover, different angle than pic posted above. Platform observation car in left foreground is Patron Tequila Express (former Gulf Mobile & Ohio 50), which the OP likely saw on LAUS unnumbered track 13 ("siding"), a common spotting when the car is due to go somewhere.

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