East Troy Electric Railroad Museum

24, 25: The Dining By Rail Dinner Train Cars, Beverly Shores and Ravenswood

Built: 1926, Standard Car Co., for Chicago, South Shore, & South Bend Railroad
Acquired: 24: purchased 1991; 25: purchased 1986
Motors: Four, 210 hp, two in service each.
Seating: 50, variable table arrangements
Length: 80’   Weight: 80 tons

The Ravenswood and Beverly Shores Dinner Train Cars

In 1989, Museum volunteers led by Paul Averdung  began an ambitious experiment. South Shore Car 25 was found to be in acceptably good running condition, so its interior was removed and an extensive adaptive renovation was begun that took three years. In order to expand the offering of services to the patrons of the line, it was made into a self-contained diner car, still self-propelled, with a tiny bar at one end and a caterer’s galley at the other. A beautiful Art Deco interior was designed by volunteer Matt Gleason, with an easily changed table layout to accommodate many types of parties and events. An exterior color scheme featuring the East Troy Electric Railroad colors of red and silver was applied to complement the grays and mahogany tones of the interior.

Completed in the spring of 1992, it was named the Ravenswood. The first trip was a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party for one of the volunteer couples. This kicked off a busy and highly successful run of numerous luncheons, public dinner trains, and parties of all kinds, including wedding receptions. It also won the Tourist Railroad Association 1995 award for creative adaptation.

A second car was then begun in the spring of 1995, based on the South Shore 24. This car incorporated many functional improvements learned from three years and dozens of operations with the Ravenswood, including a larger, curved custom mahogany bar and more efficient galley facilities. The interior featured dark green as it primary color, and was an immediate hit. Completed in only thirteen months by the volunteers, and named the Beverly Shores, it increased the total capacity per run to one hundred.

After the first season of tandem operation, it was decided to rework the Ravenswood to implement the improvements from the Beverly Shores. In the winter of ‘95-’96, this work was performed and the twins went on to a very busy 1997 season, which saw the institution of new feature runs such as Tea Trains and Luncheon Trains.

During 1997, a Boston rapid transit car was converted to serve as the "commissary car", next to which the diners are parked for kitchen bus service. The Dinner Trains continue to be booked up well in advance.
See the Dinner Train page.