Hi David
Did you get my email about your side curtains that you had made, we would like a set for our car,which is also out in the open (and has drifting snow inside today) please contact me at michael.pannell@btinternet.com

Thanks
Mike Cheyenne

A few points if I may.

Blue tarps are not to be confused with a climate controlled garage. But many people do, and not just in he railroad preservation world. Blue tarps are the cheapest tarps available and at best will last a year. The more expensive green or more expensive still, silver tarps will last longer. But none of these do much to protect the item covered. They do trap moisture which speeds the rotting process. Using them as a tent will help ventilate the stored item but it is still not to be confused with real building.

And although many out there in the preservation business would like to have a real wooden car, the cost to move these behemoths is astronomical and usually require a house mover. So the potential new owner needs to have deep pockets or own the moving company. The fact that it is free will entice many an organization, until they get a price to move it.

And as the saying goes, been there, done that, have the scars!

Later!
Mr. Ed

Good points made, ours was FREE ! But the frame, mover permits etc ended up being, about $9500. We think it was a bargain but sadly most people thought it was historically worthless, we will have the last laugh however !

Mike
Car 57 project
Cheyenne

Wasn't it the home owner who put it on the property in the first place and if he/she didn't want it weren't they in contact with the railroad museum that wanted go get it? Also the RMNE has moved wooden cars they just hitch one end to a towing rig and use special "trucks" with tires instead of steel wheels on the other end.

The homeowner who placed the coach on the property in Lunenburg sold the property about 10 years ago. The current owner had been trying to remove the coach ever since he purchased it... even offering it to a nearby preservation railway/museum. It has never been fully explained to me what led to that agreement falling through and subsequent scrapping.

There is a big difference between a wood framed coach and a wood bodied coach, ours and i suspect the Lunenberg one are ALL wood and you would never want to sling wheels underneath and tow it ! I could understand perhaps towing a steel framed wood bodied vehicle, but with ours all the truss rods and other structural stuff underneath had been cut off and also a doorway cut into the side. As it turned out its as strong as an Ox but you have to err on the side of caution.
Mike Pannell
Cheyenne

The B&M wooden cars that lasted long enough to be preserved all had steel underframes. They started out with all wood frames, but in the late twenties, they got the retrofit.