George,
The Victoria Station you remember in Bedford, Mass. may have been the one I went to. It was across the highway from the Burlington Mall. The Bedford and Burlington town lines are very close at Mall Road. According to the following website, the only one of the chain left in the US was the last one built. It's in Salem, MA and looks gorgeous with large windows opening to the waterfront:
http://www.victoriastationsalem.com/1006/Page.aspx
In the second video, on the restaurant's Videos page, the manager says the Salem restaurant was the 99th and last one because number 100 was never built. And, she continues, Salem was the only one that didn't have seating in boxcars "which was a good thing". To each her own :-). However, there is a wall of RR memorabilia visible in the background of the video.
Trolleys->Diners->Trolleys Again/Streamliner Moderne
I've got some serious weekend errands to devote myself to right now. (It's like a 100 degrees in Mass. again and I simply MUST make sorbet before I along with the strawberries wilt). Later, hopefully I can scan and post my photos of two Sterling Streamliner-styled diners. The front ends will look VERY familiar to RR fans. One is still in Salem, MA. So fans of Victoria Station, streamliner moderne styling, and diners can have a photo and food field day.
Also, I found a great picture of another trolley turned diner turned trolley again and will post the link. Getting back to the original thrust of this post, I now have this observation: while the number of retired RR cars and trolleys that were repurposed as diner-style restaurants is much smaller than the manufacturers of plastic or wood layout models would lead us to believe, the conversion (encasement) of some into "diners" has saved at least two for restoration as trolleys. So far, no evidence of a railroad car turned "diner" turned RR car again. Just joking. There's no need ... unless maybe it was super rare.
On the other hand, when real diners burn or are the victims of arson, which they seem to often be when empty and even when active, they either go to the scrap heap or sit rotting in a field somewhere. Sound familiar? Both hobbies have dedicated preservationists, but sadly, you can't save them all.
Sorbet becons.
Tomlinson Running Out of Patience With This Heat Railroad
