To handle the expected express and mail traffic, a ventilated reefer and an RPO will be needed.  Although the mail contract is quite profitable, the mail volume is not enormous and given the necessity to handle the checked baggage of passengers, a combine RPO/Baggage seems the best bet. The ET&WNC had incorporated an RPO sevtion into a combine and this seemed an ideal way of providing a smoking lounge without cutting into revenue space in the sleepers.

Sleepers are, of course, needed to carry the holiday crowds. A standard 8-1 sleeping car (8 sections and a drawing room), a 4-2 sleeper (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms) plus a 3-1 (3 compartments and a drawing room) buffet solarium lounge would be the normal cars assigned.  The solarium lounge car would provide a light refreshment service in the buffet and would be built with an open observation deck to terminate the train in the grand style.

The train will carry a complement of 40 passengers, plus mail and express – the consist is to be fixed with no additional cars added. Overflow passenger demand will be met by the regular daily train using the old equipment.

Some Details on the Cars

Discussions were undertaken with several car builders but their lack of enthusiasm to build reasonably priced narrow gauge cars  was obvious.  After some extensive discussion, the car works owned by Phil Dippel agreed to supply custom components for assembly by the railroad.

Given the close business connections with other railroads in the area, it was eventually decided to build these cars in the shops of the Ironwood Peter’s Pond and Western using the skilled workers of both railroads.  The decision was made to build the 5 cars mentioned already (express reefer, combine, and 3 sleepers) and the order was kept open for some other cars to be built to the same plans (a parlor car, diner and a coach).

Construction was to be done with a steel underframe but as the shops are better equipped to work in wood, the bodies were to be executed in that medium. This composite construction, common to cars built through the teens would permit not only economy of construction in a strong safe steel frame, it would also give the best possible insulation for the long cold winter.   The designs would be customized for the specific service but would follow the lines of the recently constructed modern narrow gauge cars for the ET&WNC in particular the parlor car Azalea.