Cimarron River
Our
Story
Location
St. Louis
Capacity
20
Description:
The Cimarron River was built by Pullman-Standard in 1948. It was originally configured as a 14 roomette/four double bedroom sleeper for the Frisco Railway’s streamlined Meteor. The Meteor ran from St. Louis Union Station to Oklahoma and had through sleepers to Chicago, New York, and Washington. The sleepers were all named for the rivers along the train’s route.
When the Frisco substantially reduced their passenger system in 1965, the Cimarron River and other sleepers were sold to the Canadian National Railway. The CN rebuilt the car, removed the stainless-steel fluted siding, and renamed it Rainbow Falls. VIA Rail Canada assumed ownership of the car in the late 1970’s and repainted it blue. In 1981, VIA discontinued many trains and Rainbow Falls was surplus to their needs.
In June 1983, brothers Andy and Tony Marchiando bought the car from VIA. It was returned home to St.Louis where renovation work began. The exterior is now repainted in the original colors and lettering. The car sleeps 20 people, one each in 12 roomettes and two people in each of four bedrooms. The first trip of the renovated Cimarron River occurred in October 1986. Since then, the car has operated over 600,000 miles.