Train Rides: Tasting Trains, Royalty Express, Scenic Train, and The Polar Express™ Train Ride
Facts:
-RPCX 1720 was built as Atlantic Coast Line #247, a 1949 Pullman-Standard smooth-sided coach for use in the City of Miami pool
-The car was fully renovated in 2019 by Crossroads Railcar Services.
Seats: 52 total
Tables:
13 tables in the car
Handicap Accessible: No
Bathroom: Yes
Pricing: $38.00-$70.00 per seat varying per event.
French Lick Scenic Railway Coach 1720
Pullman Standard Car Company Built 1949
This Coach was originally built by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company as a 54 seat coach for the Atlantic Coast Line Railway. The car was used on the City of Miami and was thus painted in Illinois Central brown, orange and Yellow. The coach was sold to Amtrak in 1971, and went through an unknown owner after being retired from their fleet. Finally the coach ended up in the collection of the Indiana Railway Museum in the early 1980s. The coach was restored in 2019 alongside 1710 for use as a table car on the French Lick Scenic Railway.
French Lick & West Baden was once known as the home to “America’s Laxative”. The Pluto Water slogan was “When nature wont, Pluto will.” At one point in time, 40-50 train cars were used to ship Pluto Water across the country. This “healing” water naturally contained sodium, magnesium sulfate, and lithium which produced a foul odor. This odor prompted people to say that the underworld couldn’t be far away.
Pluto, the Roman God of the Underworld became a staple symbol in our area. Ultimately, Pluto Water sales were stopped in 1971 when lithium became a controlled substance and was no longer allowed to be sold publicly. However, the Pluto symbol remains and can still be found in many areas locally.
