OTHELLO (AP) - Curt and Kim Andrews tied the know then pulled away in their getaway car trailing the usual confetti and tin cans.

But in this case, the getaway was aboard a 71-foot-long 1910 Pullman rail car dragging teh railroad equivalent of tin cans - 55-gallon drums.

The Andrews ended their wedding day Saturday by traveling 40 miles form Othello to Moses Lake aboard the partly restored coach, stopping in Warden to pick up family for part of the ride.

"They're special," said Ruth Warmenhaven, a friend of the groom. "The average person would never think of doing anything like this."

"I don't think anybody in town is surprised by this," Andrews said. "It's gotten so the car is kind of an extension of me, people think of it when they hear my name."

When he bought the train

car in 1984, he joked that it was lucky he was single. "I'm married to this car," he said then. "A wife wouldn't like the competition."

That view has changed somewhat.

"It may take me a little longer to restore it now that i have other interests," he said with his arm around his new wife.

Andrews paid thousands for the rail car, and spend another $50,000 to have it mechanically refurbished so that it meets railraod standards to travel at 110 miles per hour behind Amtrak trains.

The car, called the Abraham Lincoln, was pulled Saturday by a Washington Central Railroad locomotive that was donated to the couple for the occasion.

Once it is fully restored, Andrews hopes to base the car in Spokane and lease it to individuals or businesses.

Andrews recently took the kitchen out of the car to restore it, and he's looking for railroad lights and bronze hardware to complete the project. The French walnut-lined interior includes two bedrooms, a dining room, an office and servants' quarters.

Although Andrews originally bought the car as a home, the couple doesn't plan to live there until the kitchen is completed.

The new Mrs. Andrews said she doesn't expect to compete with the car for her husband's attention, but "I knew all along if I marry him, I marry the car."

The couple stood on the rear observation deck, waving at the 300 wedding guests who hurled bird seed at them. A piercing whistle signaled it was time to go, and the car chugged north, dragging two 55-gallon drums behind it.

"Give her a kiss," suggested an onlooker as the train pulled away from teh crowd. Andrews happily obliged.