Two Famous Tail Cars Meet. In an unplanned meet that is unlikely to happen again for sometime, American Railway Explorer's "Kansas" sits quietly inside Amtrak's 8th Street Yard as an 18-car BNSF Railway business car special eases through the yard with the iconic "Glacier View" bringing up the markers. Built in 1955 by Budd for the Great Northern Railway's famed Empire Builder, the now 63-year-old car was acquired by Amtrak in 1971 but soon returned to a freight railroad's hands when it was acquired by the Burlington Northern (BN) in 1983. Converted to a theater car while with the BN, the full-length dome/theater car came into the hands of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) that has since become the BNSF Railway. Used exclusively on business car specials such as this, the Glacier View's visit to Los Angeles as part of the BNSF's "Roaming the American West" special was a surprise to many Amtrak employees working the yard this afternoon as they caught a glimpse of what passenger train must have looked like many years ago. Meanwhile, to the right, the "Kansas" history is equally as interesting. A 1950-built product of Pullman, the "Kansas" was originally built as Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) coach No. 1240. In 1956 it was converted to Business Car No. 100, renamed Wilson McCarthy. Acquired by Ansco Investment Company in 1988, it went on to be used on the famous Ski Train that operated between Denver, CO and Winter Park, CO over the Moffat Tunnel route until 2009. Following a complete rebuild to Amtrak PC-2 standards in 2011, the car moved to Los Angeles around 2012-2013 and has operated as a private passenger car available for charter under the American Railway Explorer company since.
