Dining with a side of Scenery
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The Albee

Built by Budd as a baggage car for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in 1953 and numbered 3651. Conveyed to Amtrak in 1971 and numbered 1101. Converted to Head-End Power from Steam Heat in March 1979 and renumbered 1164. The car was used on various Amtrak routes but mainly on the Lake Shore Limited from 1971 until approximately 2017 when it was retired and stored long term at the Beechgrove Amtrak yard in Indianapolis Indiana. It was sold at auction in early 2019 to Brian Collins and Bill Thomas for use on the Cincinnati Dinner Train. During the first half of 2020 the car was converted to an entertainment car for the dinner train. Extensive modifications were done including adding complete HVAC, ten windows, a curved hallway, custom ventilation and lighting, aluminum and vinyl walls, a complete vestibule with open side windows, safety bars for the four open side baggage doors, a custom performance stage with lighting and audio and a complete stripping of all outside graphics, down to the base stainless steel. The car will now provide a larger performance area for the popular Queen City Sisters to perform after dinner. We have named the car “ALBEE” in honor and recognition of the historic Albee theater that stood on the south side of fountain square in downtown Cincinnati. A mural of the Albee is a prominent feature inside the car.