Unfinished single level hot tub car
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Ft. Lupton, CO. Photo by Jody Moore

Notes: Very few cars in history have evoked the same level of controversy as the car built for the scuttled Marlboro Unlimited that was intended to carry 15,000 gallon hot tubs for passengers to really soak in the scenery. Up until Nov., 2003, I thought this car was only a memory. Well, guess what?

As far as I know, the spa car never turned a wheel. But that didn't stop critics from trashing the concept from every angle. Numerous allegations were made that the car was unstable at high speeds, the water sloshed around while moving, and on and on. Set against the counterpoint that there was already a comparable prototype operating in Japan, the car was one focal point of a train swirled in controversy almost from day one.

All of that is more or less irrelevant, though, as the car has languished since the Marlboro project ended, and has never run. Like many of the other cars explored in this section of the roster, this car is sans virtually everything useful mechanically, and is more or less just a shell.

CRM VP of Sales Tom Janaky told me recently that plans are to renovate the car with a stair-stepped theater type dining area that would afford a terrific view out of the back. (Think in terms of former BN theater seating full dome car Glacier View.) I have no idea what the timetable for that is, or whether the car will actually be made functional in that capacity.

In the mean time, the car continues to sit behind Colorado Railcar's shop, awaiting its release from the unenviable honor of being one of (perhaps unfoundedly) the most controversial cars in history.

Ft. Lupton, CO. Photo by Jody Moore

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