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Not sure this fits these guidlines but read on,
COUPLE CALLS 'ALL ABOARD' A UNIQUE B & B RETREAT
Photo here:
[media.fergusfallsjournal.com]
Caption reads: The "Imperial Car," is the flagship of the Whistle Stop Limited Line.
FERGUS FALLS, MN -- For those wishing to get away from it all without going five states away, there is a bed and breakfast in New York Mills that provides the privacy of riding your own turn-of-the-century Pullman rail car without the bother of actual travel.
Whistle Stop B and B has a small fleet of rail cars permanently situated right out the back door, and though they don't move, they can whisk you away to another time.
"People tend to comment about the feeling of going back in time," co-owner Roger Lee said. "The cars reek of history, of course; they're over 100 years old."
In the mid-1990s, they were looking for more rooms to let out, after setting up three rooms in their 1903 Victorian home bed and breakfast.
"It started with my wife, Jann" he said. "She said, 'Lets get a caboose.' So we started talking about it, and asking around."
The caboose was found by Pelican Lake. It was built in 1893, according to documentation provided by a Soo Line historian, and is the oldest railroad car in the Lee's collection.
In 1997, they bought the Palace car, their first Pullman. It was built in 1909 as a club dining car, used by the Northern Pacific Railroad until the 1960s, when it was given to a retiring railroad man who used it for storage until the roof gave way. It's full restoration took a year.
"After that, the newspaper there in Fergus came out and took some pictures," Lee said. "They put a picture (of the Palace Car) on the front page of the Journal. The owner (of another car) saw the paper and called us."
The Imperial Car, purchased in 2000, had been built in 1903 as a day coach, originally seating 80 passengers on the North Coast Limited between Minnesota and Washington state. Purchased from the Northern Pacific in the 1930s for use as a hunting shack, it later became a family home in the 1940s.
It is now the star of the "Whistle Stop Limited Railroad."
"The big cars are more popular," Jann Lee said. "They have 750 square feet of space -- that's as much as some apartments. They are geared for two (guests,) with a queen bed, but we've had families in there. We have blow-up beds, if people want them. We've had four or five girls throw slumber parties in there."
Still, there is room for expansion of the Whistle Stop rail line.
"We could definitely use at least one more car," Roger said, "especially in the summer. They get booked up several months in advance. Right now, we're toying with the idea of creating one from scratch." - Matt Bewley, The Fergus Falls Daily Journal
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Milwaukee Road Matt
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