Deanna Durbin and a Pullman car

[scottp]

Deanna Durbin (who appeared with Jack on a "Command Performance") is seen about 3/4 of the way down this page:

http://www.deannadurbindevotees.com/var ... ht=pullman

... with railroad officials at a publicity event (a "christening" I suppose) with a Pullman sleeping car lettered "Deanna" or, perhaps even, "Deanna Durbin."
The stars-and-stripes bunting suggests "1942 or so" but then again, we know she starred in "Lady on a Train" in 1945.
I ran this by some railroad history buffs, and they were of the opinion that this was a very temporary re-naming of a car (built before WW2.) No Pullman histories list a car of this name. And that it might well be a car from Southern Pacific's "Lark" which had DEANNA placed over the LARK emblem.
Anyone know of any show-biz-archive mentions of this event?

[Yhtapmys]

Anyone know of any show-biz-archive mentions of this event?

About five seconds on Google is all it took.

From the Evening Independent, St. Pete, Florida (must be a wire or syndicated story) Theater Gossip column, Monday, Sept. 3, 1945:

Expressing the hope that the car would be used to make traveling more comfortable for service men, Deanna Durbin today was the first screen star to see her name adorning the side of a Pullman.
Christening ceremonies took place in the Southern Pacific yards in downtown Los Angeles when Miss Durbin, at the invitation of Pullman company officials, cracked a bottle of champagne on the sleep club car and officially named it "Deanna."
Participating in the christening were George A. Kelly, vice-president of the Pullman company, and George B. Hanson, general passenger agent for the Southern Pacific. Both came from Chicago for the ceremony.
Within three hours after the unnamed Pullman rolled into Los Angeles the name "Deanna" had been affixed, the star of Universal's "Lady On a Train" had performed the christening and the car was ready for service.

Miss Durbin is still alive, isn't she?

Yhtapmys

[scottp]

I kept getting "Lady on the Train" matches (she sees a murder from her Pullman window) and for some reason I thought this renaming would turn out to be unconnected to the movie. (Silly me.)
She moved to France decades ago and was widowed fairly recently. What a different outcome from that of her movie rival, Judy Garland. She was smart to walk away when she did.
I recall reading an excerpt from a letter a webmaster had received from her-- concerning a list of sites featuring Deanna Durbin material, she wrote that it would not be of much use to her, "as I am not an internet habituee." I've seen most of her movies, and I find myself inserting that modern phrase into a circa 1940 scene (I see her writing in longhand, and reciting the words in a voiceover.)