Wait till they try heating it in the winter, or cooling it in the summer...

This is precisely why SRI moved their offices down the basement. We had the offices in a C&O car. During the summer, even with the A/C cranked on fully, the car still got up into the 90's, and during the winter with the heat running constantly, the car was still cold.

Railcars do not make good offices, as I am sure these people will find out.

At the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum, we were able to make a quite serviceable office out of CSS&SB stretch coach 21.

http://www.davesrailpix.com/hicks/htm/hicks177.htm

These cars ran along the bottom tip of Lake Michigan, through the snow belt and some horrendous winter conditions, so there was never any doubt as to whether the car could be useable an office.

First, half of the inside length was partitioned into office and storage space by the installation of an insulated temporary bulkhead wall. A 50,000btu propane furnace situated in the storage area vents forced air heat into the office during bitter Wisconsin winters, and a 10,000 btu window ac unit cools it just fine during the summer. Nothing unique here, just the same kind of appliances that you'd find in a single-wide mobile home or construction trailer.

Storm windows, original to the car, were left on year-round for insulation and the floor was carpeted for comfort. Lounge and office furniture and equipment complete the transformation. A port-a-potty just outside the door provides for basic sanitation needs. The museum now has an official office in a house that was purchased next to the property, but coach 21 is still used for a shop office and workshop.

For those of you playing at home, the Judge Milton Brown was part of Pullman lot 3208, and built to plan 9012 in 1950. The car has "something for everyone" because when it was built it had 4 open sections, 8 roomettes, 3 double bedrooms and 1 compartment. This car was assigned to various GM&O routes, most notably the St. Louis-Chicago route.

Does anyone know how intact this car is on the inside? I kind of hate to see such a car "adapted." but it's better than letting it rot or eventually scrapping it.

I never saw the interior myself, but as I understood it from Mr. Veith and others, the car was very complete even as much as having linens and similar items left in place from the railroad. I am surprised that this is the approach he took with the car. Seems that there would have been plenty of MofW cars without interiors out there that would have been much better choices for this conversion.

David Farlow

To clarify some misconceptions... I am going to start from the begining.

"The Judge" was taken out of commision in 1970. The people who took ownership later gave it to Ed Veith. AFR did not go looking for the car. Ed gave the car to American Family Radio for West Tennessee about six years ago.

At some point in time (I am still researching) half of the car had been gutted. While in Ed's possession, he restored about 1/3 of the car. The gutted part will house the AFR studios and office. There will be 2 studios (not 3 as the above article mis-printed).

The restored section will be part of the Casey Jones Museum tour. The car will be maintained as closely as possible to it's origional look.

The main reason this car is important to Jackson is that Judge Milton Brown (the car's namesake) was an important man in the history of Jackson, Tennessee. He was involved in the founding of 2 of it's colleges as well as Vanderbilt in Nashville. Judge Milton Brown is burried in Jackson. He was also responsible for bringing the railroad to Madison County (helpful for the Casey Jones legend).

If you want to follow the progress of the car you can go to the radio station website. It is http://wigh.afr.net.

I have taken pictures just today of the interior of the car. I hope to have some of them posted soon.

In case you are wondering ... I am the station technician for AFR for West Tennessee and the unofficial historian for the "Judge". Also, thanks to "wilkinsd" for the info you posted about the "Judge". I will add it to my notes.

God Bless
-William