Certainly some will cheer at the dilapadated vessel's demise; however, I am not one of them. The LANSDOWNE represents a lot of Great Lakes history, and its present state of disrepair was one caused solely by neglect on the part of Specialty Restaurants, the vessel's last owner. With the vessel's loss another priceless piece of maritime and railroad history is gone forever.
I will continue to follow this story and will hopefully within the next couple of weeks have photos to post of the vessel's scrapping.
1 comment:
Jeff
There is considerable interest in the railroad community for saving the Arrow Creek and the Gold Creek Skytop Sleeper Cars. How this will come about is uncertain; the scrap facility is working with others to place the cars off the Lansdowne in some other location while final disposition is made. We have no guarantee of a long term outcome other than scrap but at least we have some time.
This is the email I sent to;
Senators Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Senator Hillery Clinton,
Representative Jay Inslee
Also to Congressman Higgins and to Mayor Brown of Buffalo
Recent events have put 2 irreplaceable artifacts at risk for being
scrapped! The 'Arrow Creek' and the 'Gold Creek' Milwaukee Road Skytop
Observation cars have been part of a restaurant motif on The
Lansdowne, a Great Lakes Rail Ferry, for many years. The prior owners
plan failed to complete this operation and now after many years of
being moved to unwilling harbors, and the death of the persistent
owner, these Historic Cars along with the Lansdowne have been 'sold
for scrap'.
Buffalo New York, their unwilling storage location since 2006, has
given a May 1, 2008 date as a move or be fined date for removal from
the pier where they are located.
The importance of these cars and their historical significance to
the Seattle, Tacoma areas cannot be overstated as these cars were used
only on the Olympian Hiawatha between Seattle, Tacoma and Chicago and
are of a unique and classic Skytop Sleeper Lounge design. These Brook
Stevens cars are emblematic of the high point in the life of the
Milwaukee Road.
As the plan for the restaurant has failed and the rail cars can be
dealt with "separately" , I seek your aid in helping to delay the
scrap action and find a means for preservation of one or both of these
Historic Cars
Thanks
Bob Browne
http://www.boatnerd .com/news/ newsthumbs/ images-07- 4/Lansdowne-
11-25-07- rw-b.jpg.
This is a link to an aerial view of the Gold Creek, nearest the
pier, and the Arrow Creek aboard the Lansdowne.
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