I was recently sent this link for a restoration report for a 1878 boxcar restored by the Minnesota Historical Society for their Mill City Museum. http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/conservati ... _car.pdfIt is a really amazing view of how a museum (not a railroad museum) treats an object, in this case a boxcar. There efforts are all about preservation, and they use some very interesting approaches to artifact cleaning and preservation. What they do is state of the art, but, they are so far removed from any railroad background that the report may offend some of us.I think we can all learn something from the report.

The main difference that I see is the willingness to work with what is there in terms of both paint and deteriorated parts of the car instead of making an effort to return it to its "original" condition with an entirely new paint job and replacement of deteriorated materials. I would also be interested in a cost and labor tabulation for this project vs. a new paint job and replacement of materials. My guess is that the route the MN historical society chose used fewer hours of specialized labor and is less costly.Tom Cornillie

Was this one of the cars that the William Crooks pulled for a time when it was operable? If I recall, the Crooks cars were displayed for a while at St. Cloud, MN in a park before going to Duluth. One could debate forever whether Abatron-filled wood is more authentic than just replacing boards in-kind, but it's likely that this car is probably better off than 90 percent of the other cars in RR museums today, just because it's been stabilized and is under cover.

I must respectfully disagree with Randy who said that some railway preservationsists would find this museum's approach to be "offensive." They succeeded in making the car look like it did during 95% of its working life. This preservationist thanks them for their efforts, and for getting this marvelous restored artifact under cover.

I agree, there is much to be said for taking original fabric and just locking it away in air conditioned comfort. It is nice to show, and perhaps touch, something with kids and be able to tell them with a straight face that the object is the same as that in some ancient grainy photograph.How did a boxcar with link and pin couplers survive into the 1960's?