Not yet. Car is still awaiting movement to Kingston before anything happens. It won't be scrapped at its current location (MP 5.4). Movement should occur this summer, pending bridge repairs.


Ernie Hunt
CMRR

I would say that it belongs at Steamtown, but they seem to already have enough on the "back burner."

Please note that this thread started NEARLY NINE YEARS AGO, and that posts made back in the 2006 time frame indicated that the floor of this car was severely rotted.

The time for someone to have taken serious action to save this car was 15-20 years ago.

It's a shame, but we really have to let this one go.

Some background information about the name, please. Is it in the "Lion" series or the "Gardiner" series of cars?

Ha-ha. "Lion Gardiner" was the original (English) settler/baron of Gardiner's Island, located in Long Island Sound. It was a reasonably local name that was chosen back in the starting days of the Valley Railroad (1971) by Oliver Jensen, if I remember correctly. The car was being put into service for some special events at the time (see the beginning of this thread).

Howard P.

I don't see any reason to use the car's preservation history (or lack thereof) as a reason to not restore it now, what if this car was recently found on an abandoned spur "in the wild?" I bet the tone would be considerably different. Look at some of the responses on the "once was lost" thread. The car still looks repairable, but would need a dedicated sponsor, to say the least.

I was imagining a Budd diner in the same series: Red Lion!

Any updates on the Lion Gardiner? Still waiting for TLC or for being cut up?

Still in storage west of Kingston. When trackwork reaches it later this year, by spring or early summer, it will be brought back to Cornell Street and its ultimate fate will be decided.

EH

Update on the Lion Gardiner:

The CMRR is disposing of or moving all its equipment in storage west of Kingston. To date the two CNJ cars have been sold to the Everett Railroad, and we will be moving former EL 4322 to Phoenicia for restoration. This leaves the Lion Gardiner which currently is blocking our main and can't be brought into Kingston because of a restraining order on the car from the City of Kingston. We need it off the property by July 1st.

The Colebrookdale railroad has offered to take the car and keep it safe until it can be restored. The cost of shipping the car to the Colebrookdale RR is now being raised at this link:

https://fundly.com/save-the-lion-gardiner-1

I myself have pledged funds to the move and we are thankful that the Colebrookdale RR is willing to take on the car. We hope that it can be saved.

EH

PS - the car was primed last year and most of the windows were covered with plywood. Car was moved further up the line last year and can be viewed at this video at about 3:30 - its the fourth passenger car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUiPB1o82Cs

Lion Gardiner (1599-1663) was a military engineer and is credited with the construction of the original colonial fortifications of Old Saybrook, CT as well as possibly the nine-square city plan of New Haven, CT, both dating from the 1630s. Old Saybrook is of course the Valley RR's connection to the outside world, so the name is eminently local.

Gardiner's Island is still held by his descendents and is supposed to be the largest privately owned island in the US. It is located not in Long Island Sound exactly but rather just south of the Sound's eastern entrance, off the east end of Long Island, NY between Gardiner's Bay and Block Island Sound.

-Philip Marshall

Lion Gardiner departed Kingston today after 28 years in storage. It is headed west. We are happy it is being saved, but equally happy to have it leave the CMRR where it had become a liability. Many thanks to the IP for making this happen.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=226743

EH

PS this thread has been going for 13 years - hopefully longer when the LG starts its new life.