Historic train car in West Orange, New Jersey to get major makeover
WEST ORANGE, New Jersey (WABC) -- West Orange, New Jersey bid farewell to a piece of history Tuesday night.
The Pullman rail car, dating back nearly 120 years, has seen better days. For the past four decades it's been part of a restaurant in West Orange, but now that restaurant is closed, and the rail car is moving along to a new life.
It was my playground as a young kid growing up," said Tony Markouris, the son of the owner. "It was a beautiful, historic landmark that was also sculpted in West Orange and brought a lot of people to the area as a historic landmark."
What began as a luxurious, private, rail car for a copper baron in 1909, later was hitched to the Essex House restaurant in West Orange as a dining experience for the common man.
"It's worth mentioning that Robert Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, was the president of the Pullman Company when this train car was manufactured, and he certainly would have overseen the construction of this," said West Orange historian Joseph Fagan.
After 40 years, the restaurant closed and the Pullman car fell victim to time.
So, the owners decided to donate the rail car to a trust. Plans are to restore it to its former Gilded Age glory, and put it back on track to run as a two-hour, dining, train ride in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.
"A lot of times cars go to railroad museums and put on display, but for this car to get life to operate again is just really exceptional," said David Duncan, an historic railcar consultant.
Eyewitness News is told the restoration project will take at least two years. Meanwhile, plans are to turn this former restaurant and parking lot into an apartment complex.
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