From Baggage, to Elephants, to Toys.
The Operation Toy Train special ran on the New York, Susquehanna & Western's Southern Division Main Line on December 9, 2023, collecting donated toys from communities along the railroad. The train featured a variety of equipment including TOYX baggage car 1701, which has an interesting backstory. The car was originally built by ACF in February 1961 as Union Pacific baggage-messenger 6304. In 1975, it was retired from passenger service and entered work service as car no. 904807. Twenty years later it was sold to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's circus, who extensively rebuilt the car: renumbering it as RBBB 60017, replacing the exterior steel skin with aluminum, and reconfiguring it to transport elephants. RBBB later used it to transport horses before retiring it and their entire rail fleet in 2016. It was donated to the Dining Car Society in 2017, who leased it to Operation Toy Train in 2023 when it was renumbered to TOYX 1701.
