Gregg Wolfersheim sends us another update on the Green Bay car (GB&W 109, built as KGB&W 64). This is much better than letting me or Frank describe it, since he knows what he's talking about:
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| Some more of the north side of the 109 got some green applied around the oval toilet window. |
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| The east door is done with the hardware all shined up. Next is the west door. |
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| Some of the trim over the windows was never refinished. This is some of it. Jack is slowly stripping it layer by layer. So far it looks like 4 coats of paint were put over the varnish! Yellow, green and tan have been exposed. |
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| On the north side of the car, Jack is finishing the panel that was applied where the bay window was. He's been experimenting with various stains, and found a mix that is pretty close to the original wood and stain. Soon he will transform this area to more closely match the posts. |
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| In other news: The uncoupling mechanism is missing a part that connects the lock with the pull rod. I've set the rod up to about where it should be. Visible is a horizontal pin that I believe is the pivot point for the missing lever that connects everything. We're looking for information on this type of drawbar so we can make it complete and functional. It's a Simplex type. |
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| Here's the setup with the pull rod still in red. |
1 comment:
Warning- long message incoming!
Wow. That old wood coach is looking resplendent. Excited to see the continued progress on it!
Since the IRM blog doesn't really update anymore, I was wondering if there was a way to know what the Passenger Car Dept is focusing on these days. Not that I'm in any position to make plans just as an observer, but it would be very interesting to note what the plans are for the Museum's fleet of streamlined lightweight cars that don't really get out much sans the Nebraska Zephyr. In the vein of the Pullman Days event last year, imagine something streamliner-oriented in the next few years. Some interesting operating ideas could make this a very well patronized event, assuming restoration work progresses steadily in the next decade. I could imagine, beyond the bilevel train:
A recreation of the Milwaukee "Varsity"- MILW 33C newly restored or perhaps 118-C leading baggage 2050, coaches 542 and 649, and Buffeteria 126
Potentially a display consist of "IC" 515, 3345 and a repainted King Cotton
And who wouldn't want to step aboard an authentic full-length streamlined train? Although I don't know how feasible this could be in the mid-near future, just imagine:
CB&Q 9911A and 9976 leading a baggage car or two, followed by a sleeping section with the NP Slumbercoach and 8-6-3-1 sleeper in restored two-tone green with 10-6 sleepers Silver Ridge and Pacific Peak. Then the Birmingham diner, the Silver Pony dome mid-train and then the NZ trainset as the coach and observation section. Apart from the sleeping and coach sections being reversed from prototypical operations due to the NZ being articulated, what a sight that could be! A combined "Q+NP Zephyr" or, if the 9976 isn't repainted, the closest thing possible to BN's short lived passenger hauling days.
Of course, I don't expect anything like that to happen in the next ~3-5 years or so but I wonder if the Department has ever considered something like this. Since the Streamliners at Spencer event is probably never likely to return, the IRM is one of the best places in the country to celebrate postwar passenger train power and rolling stock. -Thomas
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