Sarasota restaurateur converts circus railcars into diner, archive
STAFF PHOTO / ELAINE SKYLAR LITHERLANDChef and historian Bob Horne has been restoring Jomar, John and Mable Ringling's private 1917 Pullman railcar, which currently sits adjoined to his restaurant Bob's Train.
from The Sarasota Herald Tribune
By Dale White
Published: Sunday, June 12, 2011
SARASOTA - Restaurateur Bob Horne thinks he owns "the best-kept secret in Sarasota."The 68-year-old antique rail car aficionado who also is a fan of Ringling Circus history is combining his passions at Bob's Train, a hard-to-find bar, restaurant and circus memorabilia archive. The business is located in four Pullman railcars that he is restoring — including the "Jomar," John and Mable Ringling's personal railcar.
"It was going to be cut up," Horne said of the once-abandoned railcar that, in its day, was the epitome of luxury travel for Sarasota's prominent circus family.
In 2004, a law firm that owned the Jomar (a blend of John and Mable's names) allowed Horne to take possession if he paid the costs of moving it from where it sat rusting behind a cement plant north of downtown.
Businessman Harvey Vengroff let Horne relocate the 1917 Pullman onto an unused railroad track in a former lumber yard behind his debt collection business at Third Street and School Avenue.
On the same track, Horne relocated a 1960 Pullman, a 1947 Pullman and a 1957 Pullman he bought from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that previously housed traveling performers.
He calls his railcar collection the Sarasota Suncoast Railroad.
In 2007, the former owner of Bob's Place, a popular restaurant on Central Avenue, got back into the lunch business by converting the 1960 Pullman into a bar and dining room.FactsINTERESTED?Bob's Train, a railcar restaurant in a former lumberyard at School Avenue and Third Street in Sarasota, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.Yet he is anxious to expose his fixer-upper of a business venture and make it a landmark of community pride, entertainment and heritage.read more at:http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110612/ARTICLE/110619832/2416/NEWS?Title=Sarasota-restaurateur-converts-circus-railcars-into-diner-archive
from The Sarasota Herald Tribune
By Dale White
Published: Sunday, June 12, 2011
SARASOTA - Restaurateur Bob Horne thinks he owns "the best-kept secret in Sarasota."The 68-year-old antique rail car aficionado who also is a fan of Ringling Circus history is combining his passions at Bob's Train, a hard-to-find bar, restaurant and circus memorabilia archive. The business is located in four Pullman railcars that he is restoring — including the "Jomar," John and Mable Ringling's personal railcar.
"It was going to be cut up," Horne said of the once-abandoned railcar that, in its day, was the epitome of luxury travel for Sarasota's prominent circus family.
In 2004, a law firm that owned the Jomar (a blend of John and Mable's names) allowed Horne to take possession if he paid the costs of moving it from where it sat rusting behind a cement plant north of downtown.
Businessman Harvey Vengroff let Horne relocate the 1917 Pullman onto an unused railroad track in a former lumber yard behind his debt collection business at Third Street and School Avenue.
On the same track, Horne relocated a 1960 Pullman, a 1947 Pullman and a 1957 Pullman he bought from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that previously housed traveling performers.
He calls his railcar collection the Sarasota Suncoast Railroad.
In 2007, the former owner of Bob's Place, a popular restaurant on Central Avenue, got back into the lunch business by converting the 1960 Pullman into a bar and dining room.FactsINTERESTED?Bob's Train, a railcar restaurant in a former lumberyard at School Avenue and Third Street in Sarasota, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.Yet he is anxious to expose his fixer-upper of a business venture and make it a landmark of community pride, entertainment and heritage.read more at:http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110612/ARTICLE/110619832/2416/NEWS?Title=Sarasota-restaurateur-converts-circus-railcars-into-diner-archive
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