PRR box car 96451 completed her overhaul yesterday. Since the car entered the car shop last September, all exterior wood work has been replaced with Honduras mahogany (for its rot resistance), the roof repaired, structural woodwork repaired, and rusted structural steelwork replaced.

The car has been painted and lettered in the PRR’s “Star Union Line” fast freight scheme.

The car was built by the Pressed Steel Car Company for the PRR in 1907 as one of 37,000 XL class box cars . It was acquired by the Strasburg Rail Road in 1929, and today is the only extant XL box car that we know of.

You can copy and paste this address to see a photo.

http://photos.msn.com/imageserver/image ... MLwflmYw$$

kelly@strasburgrailroad.com

I echo Bob Yarger's sentiments. You folks do some of the best restoration work in the business. If I had contract work that needed to be done, your outfit would be at the top of my list.

> PRR box car 96451 completed her overhaul
> yesterday. Since the car entered the car
> shop last September, all exterior wood work
> has been replaced with Honduras mahogany
> (for its rot resistance), the roof repaired,
> structural woodwork repaired, and rusted
> structural steelwork replaced.

> The car has been painted and lettered in the
> PRR’s “Star Union Line” fast freight scheme.

> The car was built by the Pressed Steel Car
> Company for the PRR in 1907 as one of 37,000
> XL class box cars . It was acquired by the
> Strasburg Rail Road in 1929, and today is
> the only extant XL box car that we know of.

> You can copy and paste this address to see a
> photo.

>
> http://photos.msn.com/imageserver/image ... MLwflmYw$$

The quality of freight car restoration turned out by Strasburg's shop in the last few years continues to amaze and astound me. Absolutely superb work.

Kelly, how does the mahogany exterior sheathing compare in cost to other woods, such as pine, fir or oak? The mahogany is better for long-term weather resistance, but at what price?

Was that same techinque used on the CV single-sheathed car?

hpincus@mindspring.com

I canÂ’t give you a direct comparison of the cost difference of mahogany vs other woods, but this car is a good example of our reasoning for using mahogany.

When this car was first restored to the Star Anchor Line paint job eight or ten years ago, it was resided in douglas fir. By last summer, that siding was already failing miserably, and was what prompted the decision to overhaul the car this last winter.

In this overhaul, the total cost of lumber amounted to 17% of the total cost of the job. Labor accounted for 81%, with hardware and paint making up the difference. If we had used doug fir again, and it cost 1/3 of the cost of the mahogany, it would have lowered the cost of the project by 11%, and we could fully expect to have to do the job yet again in another ten years. By using mahogany, we can fully expect this siding to last thirty years plus, with a repaint (estimating that a repaint would cost about 10% of what this overhaul just cost) every eight years.

By my rough calculations, going from the figures above, by 2033, using doug fir for siding on this car would cost us just about twice as much compared to using mahogany.

When you plan for the long term future rather than for the next quarter, it is false economy to use anything but the very best materials.

Strasburg Rail Road
kelly@strasburgrailroad.com

I was up there today and saw the car. Great job! Of course, everything Strasburg does is a class job.

> PRR box car 96451 completed her overhaul
> yesterday. Since the car entered the car
> shop last September, all exterior wood work
> has been replaced with Honduras mahogany
> (for its rot resistance), the roof repaired,
> structural woodwork repaired, and rusted
> structural steelwork replaced.

> The car has been painted and lettered in the
> PRR’s “Star Union Line” fast freight scheme.

> The car was built by the Pressed Steel Car
> Company for the PRR in 1907 as one of 37,000
> XL class box cars . It was acquired by the
> Strasburg Rail Road in 1929, and today is
> the only extant XL box car that we know of.

> You can copy and paste this address to see a
> photo.

>
> http://photos.msn.com/imageserver/image ... MLwflmYw$$