Actually, the buffet car used to be a conference/presentation car. It was made from an old Amtrak buffet car.

Tacoma Rail picked up these cars from the AOE at a VERY low price to be used for their various passenger car needs. Basically, they want to be able to take a group of people (shippers, politicians, etc.) on tours of various parts of the railroad and didn't want to have to go begging to the BNSF or UP to get some cars. These cars were never intended to be used on any proposed "Train to the Mountain" service. They were such a good deal, I would doubt they even would have shown up as a budget line item in the first place.

The overall operations of Tacoma Rail are profitable, or at least are run at the cost of service basis they're legally required to run at. They would probably be quite content if they never had to run any passenger trains on the Mtn. Div., as the entire focus of the organization (with the exception of one part timer) is on freight operations.