Federal railroad car restored in Evansville

EVANSVILLE -- Before Air Force One, an 83-foot Pullman rail car called the Federal transported Presidents Taft and Wilson. Four decades later, presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson whistle-stopped from the platform of the car.\nFor several years, this vintage 1911 piece of Americana has been stored in Evansville's old Harwood Yard as it was restored and brought up to Amtrak standards by Mid-America Locomotive & Car Repair.\nEvery month since 1999, a couple who bought it have made the 13-hour drive from their Rochester, N.Y., home to help restore it.\nThat is about to change.\nAn Amtrak inspector gave the green light on Tuesday for the car -- renamed the Lackawana in 1998 -- to operate, meaning the couple can move the car home to make final interior touches and charter it for honeymoons, vacations and corporate meetings.\nDave and Janet Luca also plan to show it off in Baltimore at a convention of railway enthusiasts.\nThe couple belong to the American Association of Private Rail Car Owners who hook privately owned cars to Amtrak trains for their own enjoyment or moneymaking excursions. It involves a hookup fee and tariff of about $1 a mile.\nIn the final days leading up to the inspection, the husband and wife were sleeping and eating aboard the car.\n"We're seeing light at the end of the tunnel," Janet Luca said as they gave a visitor a tour.\nThe car has an observation room, two bedrooms with brass-plated beds, two compartments with upper and lower berths, a dining room, a modern bathroom with a new stained-glass window, a porter's bedroom, a pantry, kitchen and a vestibule with a sliding door.\nFrom a side door, passengers will be able to wave at track bystanders.\n"It's like a house on wheels," Dave Luca said. "We'll promote it as an interesting way to travel."\nThe car can sleep eight to 10 people, and Dave Luca said a charter probably will cost $1,000 to $5,000 a night, "depending on whether they want no frills or a special chef onboard"