Mt. Hood Railroad "Hood River"

I saw the following post from Jerry LaBoda:

I have been wondering for quite some time about a car that is on Ed Ellis' (Iowa Pacific) Mt. Hood RR because it is such a close match to two former USAX hospital cars that were rebuilt for the ARR as buffet - bar lounge observation cars, carrying the numbers 9 and 10.  According to the Retired Passenger Car Roster that John Combs great ARR website, #10 was "parked in place at McKinley Park Station Hotel" starting in 1984.  Does anyone know if the car is still there???

The car on the MH (formerly numbered RS01 but now numbered 904) is a match to the shot of ARR #10 that is on John's site down to the stepped corners on the observation end along with the end windows...

ARR 10 http://alaskarails.org/fp/passenger/pass-retired/TS-diner-10.html
MH RS01 http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2216361
MH 904 http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3687690

Now I know that someone might assume that the car is a former Monon car but they did not have any cars that had a matching pattern to the side shown in the three shots above so I know it is not one of their cars.  Any idea which car this might be???  I would really like to nail down the history on this car... any help would be appreciated!!!

So I sent the question to Alaska Railroad historian Don Marenzi and received the following response:

Well, it could only be either #9 or #10, so that'll be easy to determine …

Not as easy as I would have guessed !!!

It is ARR #10.  The reason I had to do a bunch more research into it is due to the attached photograph that I took in the Purdy scrap yard in West Seattle, WA on 9/20/1988. Number 10 didn't look too good, nor long for this world on that date. That is ARR loco crane LC-14 on the right. Purdy of course scrapped a lot of ARR rolling stock.

At some date soon after my photo #10 must have been acquired by Bob Steele and was rebuilt for service on his "Spirit of Oregon" dinner train. The "SofO" operated out of Banks, Oregon on the Port of Tillamook Bay RR.

Bob Steele was associated with the Tillamook Railcar Co. so I'd assume that #10 was brought to Tillamook, Oregon for rebuilding.  Number 10 became Tavern Car "Banks" on the SofO train.  I'm not sure when the SofO started operating; it ceased running in Summer 1996.  I'm not sure when the car "Banks" started running on it either, but it appears in a photo there in April 1997.

The Mt. Hood RR leased the two locomotives and four of the five "SofO" cars, including the "Banks" for the 1997 season.  The operation was successful, so the Mt. Hood RR purchased the train in 1998.

ARR #10, the SofO "Banks" became Mt. Hood RR "Hood River" #RS-01.

My attached photograph of the "Hood River" was taken on 9/4/1998 at Hood River, OR.

The fact that the SofE "Banks" appears by April 1997 means it had to be ARR #10, despite it's condition in my 1988 scrap yard photo.  It could not be #9 because I photographed # 9 in Anchorage on August 24, 1997, as attached.  I was told #9 was no longer owned by the ARR then.

Due to the condition of #10 in 1988, I had to doubt my notes, but trying to find a photo of the SofO/MtH car before 8/97 was time consuming.  I found a bunch of grainy, distant, "I think it's that car" photos … kind of like Bigfoot … but finally found one.

So it's # 10.  Use the photos as you please.