The Grand Canyon Railway has a great collection of working steam locomotives and rolling stock. This photograph was taken of the rail yard across the street from the depot in Wiliams, Arizona. The Grand Canyon Railway keeps the lights on in the cars at night - this, combined with the mercury vapor lights in the yard, resulted in this great night photograph.
Each of the cars has its own special story, the car on the right with the platform is named the Chief, and it has a very interesting history.
The Chief was built in 1947 for use on the Atlantic Coast, in service between New York and Miami. It was retired in the early 1980s and sat in storage until it was purchased by a private investor where it was moved to San Antonio. After being refurbished for $250,000, it was put into service for the Texas Southern Dinner Train from 1989-1991. After 1991, it served as a dinner car for charter in Mexico until 1993 when the Mexican government seized it. After a protracted legal battle, the car was returned in 1994 to the US-Mexico border, where the Union Pacific picked it up for delivery to San Antonio, but the car was lost en route and found later that year in New Orleans. The car was subsequently damaged in a rear-end collision on its return to San Antonio, and the owner put it into storage before selling it in 1999. The next owner added the observation platform at the cost of $95,000 to cover up the damage caused in the collision, but decided to sell the car prior to completing the restoration. Grand Canyon Railway acquired the car in 2002 and put it into service in October of that year as the Chief. It is 76 feet long, carries 37 passengers, and features an open-air rear platform.
