Former McDonald’s Railcar to Become Newport Dining Car

A former McDonald's dining railcar, initially built in the 1940s by the Pullman Company, is being restored to join the Newport and Narragansett Bay Railway's excursion fleet in Newport, Rhode Island.

The project is a collaborative effort with the Chester Railway Museum, which helped facilitate the car's return to service. The railcar is currently located in Portsmouth, awaiting completion.

According to Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad Train Operations Manager Daniel Carlin, the coach served several purposes before it became a McDonald's dining room. 

"It was built in the 1940s by the Pullman Company, Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, so it never really ran on this coast much," said Carlin in a statement shared with NBC 10 News Providence. "Then it went to Amtrak, and Amtrak used it in regular service. Until it was bought by McDonald's to be put out in front of their restaurant, and it was used for a number of years as a dining section of the McDonald's restaurant."

The dining car was saved from being scrapped in 2018 and brought to Portsmouth. Today, the Newport & Narragansett Bay Railway Company is restoring the dining car to join its other excursion cars.

Restoration plans involve using spare parts and rigging from Bernie's Diner Depot car in Chicopee, Massachusetts, to reassemble the railcar's trucks and support systems.

Once restoration is complete, the railcar will be used for Newport lunch excursion trips, featuring a dining setup with tables, effectively returning it to passenger service as a dining car.

The group plans to have the railcar back on the tracks for Newport excursions sometime next year.