The Yakima Valley Rail and Steam Museum/Northern Pacific Railroad Museum in Toppenish, WA is restoring our 1907 NP 40' Boxcar. Because the car sat in the very wet part of Western Washington for many years, a majority of the wood sills, framework and siding will have to be replaced. We would like to save some of the pieces which are in better condition, especially those with original markings on them. Some of the original interior tongue and groove siding is also reusable.<br>My question relates to "weathering" of the new wood to make it match the old. The interior of these cars was not painted so the old wood has aged naturally. Does anyone have experience with trying to make new and old wood match? <br>Thanks for any input.<br>



dwshearer@aol.com

I don't have any direct experiance in weathering nor rebuilding boxcars. My experiance comes as a finish carpenter with some knowledge of woods. First the old wood vs the new wood will have a color difference. This comes from sun tanning or exposer to UV from the sun. Perhaps the new wood could be set out exposed to the sun this next summer till the correct hue is reached. Any other textures on the old wood would have to matched or applied mechanically such as with a wire brush or perhaps blasting with Agrashell (walnut shell) media. I am sure you will have to determine the look and method. Painting is easier if you are trying to match a weathered look. Most paints can be mixed down for the sheen and color matched to the original. There are some methods of adding tints to varnish that will help in matching the wood color on the interior. <br>

I recall reading that folks working to preserve the ghost town of Bodie, California have done some of this weathering. You might look for a website for Bodie, which I believe is a state park. The movie set people seem to do pretty well at weathering also. And keep in mind that railroad car departments routinely replaced wood on cars when it was damaged bad enough, so new wood isn't entirely out of place.<br>



ryarger1@nycap.rr.com