U.S. Army operated trains in occupied Japan.

[kvp]

Imho, the name of the closed shop could yield the name of the old owner, who (or any of his relatives) in theory could give a clue about the fate of the car.

[westfalen]

I'm not sure it's a replica, as I don't know why they would bother to add a fictitious maintenance (?) date.

 

It definitely looks narrow gauge to me, as it seems to be sitting quite low to the ground.

 

I checked for railroads around Hinckley, MN and there are some SG lines.  However, there were a good number of NG logging lines in the region.

 

I can't decide if that's O.A.R.K. or G.A.R.K.  In any event, I didn't get any hits for it in MN.

 

Unfortunately I wasn't there on an operating day but I measured the operational trackage in the museum grounds and it was 3 foot gauge, I thought it was a curious choice for a Japanese operation but their operating loco came from South America I believe.  I've since found a better photo of the train with caboose. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Otaru_Museum#/media/File:Steam_locomotive_Ironhorse.JPG

 

There is a similar looking Rio Grande NG caboose with the same number but it is on the C&TS.  My thought was that it was a replica and O.A.R.K or G.A.R.K. was the builder but like you I couldn't find any reference to them anywhere.

 

Just one of the many mysteries of Japan, you never know what you will find behind a door or around the next corner.

Edited January 12, 2017 by westfalen

[velotrain]

I don't know if they provide a contact email address on their site or not, but that's probably the easiest way to get the fact of the matter.

[velotrain]

I contacted the Aspen Historical Society to see if they had any info on the D&RG Frederick.  They sent me photos of a newspaper article from 1991 announcing the pending closure of the Parlour Car restaurant.  The owner states that the car was being used as a chicken coop when he found it, so a lot of restoration work was involved.  This is in two large files 2.5+ Mb, so if anyone is actually interested in seeing them, send me a PM.  I'll try to crop the images to make the file size a bit smaller.

 

Now - if only we had some closure on the Japanese end.

Edited January 22, 2017 by velotrain

[westfalen]

Allied Forces car 2530 ​Toowoomba​ on display on my sister-in-law's military museum T-TRAK module at the Toowoomba model train show on the weekend.

 

[velotrain]

I'm curious - the background hardly looks like a T-Trak layout, and her module seems far deeper than T-Trak standards?

 

Is this some alternate design?

[westfalen]

I'm curious - the background hardly looks like a T-Trak layout, and her module seems far deeper than T-Trak standards?

 

Is this some alternate design?

It is a standard inside corner module.

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by westfalen

[velotrain]

Thanks, that explains it - and you saved 993 words ;-)