i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance". and remember, you can't take it with you. ♪♪ oh, yeah. ♪♪ >> it's the greatest sports facility that anyone has ever conceived. >> he gives houston the astrodome... >> it's a home run! >> ...and circles his empire in style. >> hofheinz approached that railcar like he did everything else -- it had a "wow" effect. >> oh, my. look at this, robert! >> could it be this guy's ticket to easy street... >> [ sighs ] >> ...or... >> but, um... >> ...has that train left the station? >> you didn't know that? >> [ chuckling ] no, i didn't. ♪♪ [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby in south houston, texas, on my way to meet an heir who wrote me. he said he had an incredible and highly valuable inheritance linking him to a texas legend and, by the way, a baseball team that won its first world series in 2017. >> my name is robert harper. when my father died in 2012, i inherited a customized luxury railcar, and there's some really colorful texas history behind it, and i still don't know what the heck to do with it. >> hi, i'm jamie. >> robert harper. it's a pleasure to meet you. welcome to south houston. >> okay. robert leads me into a warehouse to show me his strange inheritance. what is it exactly? >> it's a full-size railcar -- 44 feet long, 12 feet wide. it weighs 50,000 pounds. it sat here for 41 years. it belonged to

judge roy hofheinz. judgewho,you ask? roy hofheinz, a boy wonder who had his own law firm at age 19, became a county judge, pioneered fm radio, and was elected mayor of houston in 1952. from the mayor's office, "the judge," as he was known, promises to transform houston from an oil-boom town into a big-time metropolis. a fellow entrepreneur named welcome wilson befriends his honor. >> he was a bigger-than-life person. he was flamboyant, tall, good-looking. >> but after two terms of knocking heads with the city council, hofheinz is ousted from office. so the fast-talkin', cigar-chompin' promoter begins channeling his boundless energy into something new -- major league baseball. >> i think the judge saw the

recognition you could get from other cities when you were part of that league. part of being a major-league city is having a major league baseball team. >> but hofheinz knows that houston's swampy summer weather could be a deal breaker. >> houston is gulf coast through and through. we are hot. we are humid. playing baseball outside is challenging. >> roy's solution -- think outside the box andinsidea dome. >> this will be the greatest concert hall in the world, it's the greatest convention hall in the world, and, by all means, it's the greatest sports facility or entertainment facility that anyone has ever conceived. >> in 1960, hofheinz's pitch helps houston land its bid for an mlb expansion team. they're named the colt .45s, but would later become the astros -- a nod to the city's nasa space center. >> the spanking-new astrodome is the new $31 million home of the

houston astros. >> yes, the astrodome -- the first domed stadium ever. >> it was the biggest air-conditioned space in the world. think about that. >> what kind of things did he put in there that were a "wow"? >> well, the scoreboard was one thing. >> the scoreboard is a $2 million item that's a show in itself. >> standing 18 stories high and covering 9 acres, the astrodome is also one of the first stadiums to offer luxury box seating. >> a place for relaxation and entertainment. ♪♪ standing room only. >> on april 9, 1965, the astrodome hosts its first major league baseball game with the hometown astros taking on mickey mantle and the new york yankees. >> the yankees' big guns. >> special opening night guests... >> also in attendance that night -- president lyndon johnson, ladybird johnson, and businessman welcome wilson, all watching from the judge's

private suite. >> mickey mantle, and he's back -- one of the big [indistinct] wynn backs up. >> we beat the new york yankees, for heaven sakes. >> it's a home run! >> mantle, he hit a home run, but we still beat 'em. >> was it the first indoor home run? >> yeah. >> the crowd must have been electric. >> absolutely. no doubt about that. >> in that crowd, far away from the judge's box, is 12-year-old robert harper, who's watching the game with his family. >> it was probably one of the best days of my life. i can't describe what the feeling was. i mean, it was so big and so bright that it was almost unimaginable. they called it "the eighth wonder of the world," and it truly was. ♪♪ >> but the dome is not without issues. after outfielders begin losing sight of fly balls in the glare coming off the dome's translucent roof panels, hofheinz paints over a large portion of the roof.

>> ...acrylic coating to cut down the glare. >> did it work? >> it worked. but then the grass started dying. >> ah. >> so and this shows you hofheinz's creativity. he went to monsanto chemical company and asked them to invent an artificial grass. they said, "we'll call it 'astroturf.'" of course, it became world famous. >> in 1968, looking to expand the astrodome experience, the judge spends $25 million to open a one-of-a-kind amusement park on 57 acres budding up to the stadium. it's name? you guessed it -- astroworld. >> astroworld was our theme park. it had the big rides, it had the roller coasters, but it also had a carnival feel to it. >> circling the park is the 610 limited railroad. and roy wants his own private railcar for himself and its vip

guests. >> he commissioned harper goff, who had won an academy award in hollywood for set design, and when he built this railcar, he spared no expense. >> goff's design recalls the glorious luxury railcars of the whistle-stop era. >> it's like when you see the presidents in the olden days. they had the platform where they could talk to the crowd. so it's got a viewing platform in the front. >> hofheinz approached that railcar like he did everything else -- it had a "wow" effect. >> he left his mark. >> he made an impression wherever he went. >> but how does robert harper, a guy with no personal connection to roy hofheinz, inherit his fancy astroworld railcar? well, that's when this "strange inheritance" tale switches tracks. >> we didn't let people see it. >> top secret? >> well, we were guarding it.

>> and i get my vip ticket to board this texas relic. look at this, robert! wow! i mean, this is extravagant. >> here's a "strange inheritance" quiz question. before painting the roof, what innovation did the astros first try to combat glare in the outfield -- move home plate to the other side of the stadium, produce clouds inside the dome, or play with different-colored baseballs? the answer after the break.

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only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ [ bird caws ] >> so, what did the astros first try to combat glare in the outfield? it's c. they experiment with baseballs dyed yellow, orange, and pink, but struck out. >> you're out! >> here, in south houston, texas, robert harper is about to give me a tour inside his strange inheritance -- this 44-foot-long vip railcar that used to chug around the amusement park outside the astrodome. the harper family ends up with the car after its owner, texas legend roy hofheinz, suffers a debilitating stroke in 1970 and is forced to sell off parts of his astro empire. >> the judge made a lot of money, but he also lost a lot of

money. he leveraged every project against each other. he had just become overextended. >> in the late '70s, hofheinz sells astroworld to the six flags corporation. at the time, robert's dad is just entering the commercial-real-estate business and buying up land here in south houston for multiuse industrial buildings. through a mutual friend, he gets word that judge hofheinz is looking for a storage building large enough to house his beloved railcar. >> they called up my dad and said, "do you have a place that you haven't built a building yet?" so they brought the railroad car and set it down, and he built it around it. >> now, why did he have to build the building around the railcar? >> because it will not fit through the doors. >> [ laughs ] hofheinz has plans to eventually put the railcar on public display somewhere in houston, but before he's able to pull that off, he dies in 1982.

for the next decade, roy's widow continues to pay $240 a month rent on the facility... until bankruptcy forces her to liquidate assets in a fire sale, including the astroworld train car. robert's dad buys it. what did he pay? >> he paid about what you'd pay for a good car. >> about 10 grand at the time? >> probably close. he got a good deal. >> you bring your friends over? >> no, we didn't let people see it. >> in fact, robert tells me that just a handful of folks ever get a glimpse of it. 20 years later, in 2012, when his father dies, robert inherits the fancy train car. big step up. >> [ laughs ] yeah, it is a big step. >> thank you. is roy hofheinz's personal railcar really all that? oh, my [chuckles] gosh. you be the judge.

like traveling back in time. unbelievable. look at this place! >> the judge did nothing but the best. >> i can see that. look at this beautiful couch. i mean, this is extravagant! it's all stained glass. >> oh, he loved stained glass. he has an office, wet bar. has 'frigeration. it's air conditioned. it has running water. has a pipe organ. >> what? do you think, in that office, some big deals might've been made? >> i think so. >> fancy schmancy! look at that sink! oh, my goodness. matches the wallpaper and marble. wow, put in the jacuzzi, and i'm taking it home. robert, it's really something. this railcar is definitely a posh time capsule, but robert tells me that, after storing it all these years, he thinks it's time to sell. >> i'm in love with it, but i

don't want to leave the burden on my daughter to get rid of it. >> big decision. you sure you won't regret getting rid of it? >> it's been in the family forever, but it needs to go somewhere because there's nobody else that could take care of it. >> any takers? >> nobody's known about it until you. [ laughs ] >> so, i figure i'll ask around. >> there is definitely a market for private railcars. you can purchase a vintage railcar and tack that train car on the back of an amtrak train and go basically wherever amtrak goes in the u.s. >> oh, i love it. what does it cost? >> here's another quiz question. before air force one, there was u.s. car no. 1. which president was it built for -- coolige, hoover, or fdr? the answer when we return.

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♪♪ >> so, which president was u.s. car no. 1 built for? it's fdr. it had heavy armor plating, bulletproof windows, and two secret escape hatches. >> robert harper is looking to off-load his strange inheritance -- this swanky vip railcar that once circled the astroworld amusement park next to the astrodome and belonged to stadium founder and team owner roy hofheinz. to help him explore his options, we meet with railroad-equipment appraiser davidson ward, who tells us that the most famous industrialists in america used to have their own private railcars. >> cornelius vanderbilt made all of his millions in the railroad industry. people like j.p. morgan had his own private railcar.

if you had a meeting in chicago in 1912 and you lived in new york, you wouldn't fly there. you would take a palatial railcar all the way from station to station. >> and some folks of means still do it. >> there is definitely a market for private railcars. >> you mean now? >> well, now, yeah, exactly. you can purchase a vintage railcar. you can upgrade the railcar to meet amtrak mechanical standards and tack that train car on the back of an amtrak train... and go basically wherever amtrak goes in the u.s. >> oh, i love it. nothing like seeing the country by rail. what does it cost? >> amtrak charges just under $3 per mile to go from a to b. >> how many of these are there? >> there are probably between 100 and 300 of these private railcars in different conditions in the united states. the people that do it, by and large, are passionate about railroad history and passionate about the history of the individual railcar that they own. >> such turnkey cars typically sell for $300,000 to $400,000,

and they don't have the cool houston history that robert's has. so the equipment appraiser is eager to kick the steel wheels on this strange inheritance. there she is. >> yeah, it's incredible. you've got pin-striping. got a great railing here. this car seems very unique. to have a car that is a wooden construction like this on a steel frame, really, it's pretty much one of a kind. but, um... >> uh-oh! >> when you originally contacted me, i knew it was a private railcar, so i thought, "maybe this is one of the private railcars used behind amtrak for service across the united states." >> so, what's the problem? find out next. oh, no. >> i know. >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com sarah, did you know geico could save you hundreds on car insurance and a whole lot more? hmm. so what are you waiting for?

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>> 65-year-old robert harper is just learning from railroad-equipment appraiser davidson ward that his strange inheritance is not exactly what he thought. >> one thing i'm noticing here -- this is not a standard-gauge railcar. >> really? >> this is a narrow-gauge railcar. ♪♪ >> you didn't know that? >> [ chuckling ] no, i didn't. as big as it is, i assumed it was standard. >> that means robert's luxury railcar could never be used to travel the country today as a number of those amtrak-certified personal luxury cars do. >> amtrak operates over the freight railroads, and all the train tracks are 4 feet, 8½ inches apart. now, this railcar was built to a 3-foot gauge, or a narrow gauge, meaning there's no way this could ever become an amtrak-certified railcar. >> oh, no. >> i know. >> wow. >> yeah. and that definitely is gonna have an impact on the value of

the equipment. ♪♪ >> davidson tells us that narrow-gauge railroads were historically used in the western u.s., many of them in mining and forestry operations. and to this day, they're still in use in places like san francisco, where all those trolley cars are narrow gauge. >> there are a couple preserved 3-foot-gauge railroads... [ train whistle blows ] ...the durango & silverton... the cumbres & toltec in colorado. and those are preserved today as active heritage railroads. >> if someone wanted to buy this right now and you were asked to give an appraised value, the minimum price that you think you could get for it... >> if you say, "hey, we got to sell this thing in a week," what's someone gonna pay for it? maybe we're looking at $30,000 to $50,000. >> oh. >> yeah. >> mm. >> yeah. >> but robert'snotlooking to sell it in a week, so davidson thinks that, with a little time, patience, and marketing, he can

find someone who values the car's rich houston history. >> the fact that this was the private railcar of judge hofheinz, i think the history is huge. there's more to it than just selling it to a private party without taking into consideration the history of it. >> good. >> robert's decision to sell might be coming at just the right time in houston. more than 50 years after roy hofheinz brought the team to town, the astros win their first-ever world series title. >> your 2017 world series champion astros! >> and the original home of the astros, that "eighth wonder of the world," it's getting a lot of attention, too. back in 2000, the astros moved from the astrodome to a new stadium, minute maid park. eight years later, the "dome" was shuttered and faced an uncertain future. but, today, new plans are emerging to reinvent the iconic

space. >> harris county owns the astrodome, and it's bought and paid for, so the leadership at the county level has said, "why not find a way to do something else with it? why not spend a little bit more money and allow it to be a contributing member of the community? it's already a beloved landmark." >> welcome wilson, judge hofheinz's old buddy and a board member of the astrodome conservancy group, says a modern relaunch is just around the corner. it just is amazing to me that so many people, even if they're not from this area, know his name and know about the astrodome story. will they in 10, 20 years? >> i think so. if we in the astrodome conservancy have our way, we think we can make a venue out of the astrodome yet. >> and his old friend's railcar? welcome thinks it deserves a place of honor in their

conservation efforts. >> i would hope that that would be a resting place for the railcar -- at the astrodome. >> so, more than 40 years after this train left the station... >> the spanking-new astrodome... >> ...robert hopes it can make a round trip back to where it all started. [ train whistle blows ] >> it'd be a nice place for the railcar to end because, to me, it's home where it deserves to be at home. it'd nice to bring out something that remembers the judge. ♪♪ >> taking a page out of roy hofheinz's playbook, executives at disneyland in california wanted a way to transport vip guests around their park. so, in 1974, they converted a narrow-gauge observation coach into a high-end parlour car complete with mahogany touches, stained glass windows, and red mohair seating. it was named lilly belle, after walt disney's wife, and carried japanese emperor hirohito on its

maiden trip. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪♪ ♪ >> from the fox studios in new york city, this is maria bartiromo's "wall street." maria: happy weekend, everyone. welcome to the program that analyzes the week that was and helps position you for the week ahead. i'm maria bartiromo. thanks for being here. keeping china in check, i sat town with former secretary of state mike pompeo as president biden makes his first speech on foreign policy this week. pompeo's message to the biden administration coming up. and then later, it is super bowl weekend. a record number of americans are expected to place online bets for the big game. i'll be speaking with the cofounder and ceo of draftkings coming up, jason rbi