From their Facebook Page .... Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Cumberland, MD is welcoming to the family this circa-1906 wooden Pullman coach. Don't worry - 1309 still has our full and undivided attention, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to add a piece of history to our lineup!

https://www.facebook.com/Wmsrsteam/?hc_ ... S_TIMELINE

Congratulations on acquiring C&S 543, better than our static plans for it.

Mike Pannell

Wow, that is a long trip, wasn't expecting that. Did they use a set of truck axles on the rear of the car and a tongue on the front, and use the car itself as a frame? Lighter and lower to the ground, but that puts a lot of shearing stress on the wood frame when turning corners.

It has a steel frame not wood, steel was added in the 20s.

Mike

Glad to see it go to a good home with future use! I'll be biased and say I hope they paint it C&S

For anyone who is interested, here are six photos showing the condition of the interior of Colorado & Southern coach 543. It looks like the Boulder Valley Railway Historical Society (BVRHS) was successful in doing some restoration work in the car. The following photos were taken from the social media site: 'tumblr'. Congratulations to the WMSR team on this great acquisition.

http://68.media.tumblr.com/9039deb78479 ... 1_1280.jpg

http://68.media.tumblr.com/d239c9043b75 ... 1_1280.jpg

http://68.media.tumblr.com/291eeba78e5e ... 1_1280.jpg

http://68.media.tumblr.com/6d8672222452 ... 1_1280.jpg

http://68.media.tumblr.com/282b3830251c ... 1_1280.jpg

http://68.media.tumblr.com/4a46f259e099 ... 1_1280.jpg

Best,
-Andrew

Cool car.

Here is a delightful photo of C&S 543 as built with a wood underframe and stained glass windows.

Since we have been restoring a 1906 Pullman B&M cafe-coach at IRM I am familiar with a few of the features on the car. According to our records, C&S 543 was part of an order for 7 first class coaches nos 542 - 548, Lot 3367 Plan 2145-A. Without going out to the library, I know that we have the car's cross section drawing and drawings for the H&K seats type 97, fixed for bulkhead seats and pull-over for the interior. There are just a few other detail drawings in the library collection specifically for that order. Most likely we have the floor plan, possibly the body side elevation, the engineering description and the drawing list. If there are interior photos of the car (Pullman negatives 8551 - 8553) that would establish the wood side frames on the seats, also the original gas light fixtures and the interior stained glass on the upper windows (Pullman called that window type "Gothics"). I have made a slight modification to a drawing for the upper window in the lavatories (our library's version was fancier) to be identical to the curved stain glass in ours and had two of the three windows (we found the third opening on the interior later) made by a local professional stained glass artist. So that drawing is available if you need it. I note also that the original car had windows on the exterior ends and we have drawings for those too, as well as for some other standard features. So if something is ever needed just let us know.
Sincerely, Ted Anderson Pullman Library volunteer curator