Friday, July 7, 2023

Freight Update

 Buzz has sent us a detailed report on recent Freight Car happenings:

I snapped a few photos of some Freight and other work Wednesday I thought I would share.

Progress on the barn 4 extension continued in the very hot weather with the welcome addition of insulation:



Now that the PRR Bobber Caboose is in the Steam shop having its brakes finished, Freight is working on the next car.


I missed Victor and Bob A. earlier Wed. working on the Pennsylvania 499320 externally braced boxcar. After cleaning and repainting the steel, we have new wood siding to put up.



Also saw Gregg W. and friend cleaning up after fresh paint was applied to our big hook.



Steady progress on the Milwaukee X-5001 business car/caboose includes this platform view of the restored bunk/observation section.




Finally, I have an appeal for funding.

Our UP 100,000 McKeen boxcar needs indoor space. The shrink-wrap applied in 2017 is finally giving up.




It was built in 1907 by Union Pacific while W.R. McKeen was Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery as UP-72850. We believe it to be the first all-steel boxcar ever built.

Please donate to UP-100,000 to have it put inside before we lose any more of it.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will the barn extension be a heated workspace on the track side or is the insulation for the lean to section side?

Patrick Cunningham, CISM, CDPSE, FAI said...

I think sometimes we lose track of the good work happening in other departments, so thank you for providing a place for us to see the many cool things that are happening outside of normal visiting locations. That big hook is going to look good. And what was the steam engine that looked to be getting a makeover in that barn?

Randall Hicks said...

That's true, of course, mainly because Frank and I are working in the Car Dept. and don't have time to go around the property taking pictures. As I've said several times before, someone who was unable to participate in actual restoration work could easily make a full-time blog by just going around and documenting all the work being done in the various departments.

Randall Hicks said...

And as for the other questions, the new barn extension's trackspace will be insulated. I'm not sure about the lean-zero. And the locomotive behind the big hook is CB&Q 637. The 6363 certainly looks stunning. I'd be afraid to do anything with it for fear of scratching the paint!

Anonymous said...

The boxcar looks like it has been heavily modified to make it some kind of company service car. Is the plan to return it to a boxcar car configuration, or leave it in its present configuration?

David Johnston