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| A long time coming, NWP #5591 https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25978 |
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| Author: | Ted Miles [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | A long time coming, NWP #5591 |
Folks, The Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources at Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont, California has been given a narrow gauge baggage caboose by the California state Railroad Museum which continues to clean house afer losing a major part of their storage area. The caboose was built in 1902 and was retired about 1930 when the Point Reyes branch of the Northwestern Pacific RR went to standard gauge. The car was originally restored by the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in San Francisco. As far as I know it was never displayed while it was in Sacramento. I am glad to have had a chance to walk through it at long last. It was a long time coming! Rendy Hees is the Society curator and I hope I am not stealing his thunder, he will no doubt have something to say about the future work needed on the car. He commented to me that the, "quality of restoration work has improved since 1969". i note that the shipyard workers put a plywood floor into the car and so on. Things we would not do today. As always donations for the Society car collection are always appreciated; i just sent in my membership. how about one from you? Ted Miles |
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| Author: | Randy Hees [ Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A long time coming, NWP #5591 |
Thanks for the plug Ted. The car, a gift from the California State Railroad Museum arrived at Ardenwood on Monday August 25th. We had been storing it nearby in a warehouse pending progress on our building. (The building is in plan check) Unfortunately it had suffered cupola damage while being moved from Sacramento… so it sported a sunroof when it landed. We used it as a restoration demonstration project over Labor Day Weekend during our annual Railfair. By Monday the cupola was back, but waiting for new window sash and will need a new canvas roof. The rest of the car, restored by the Bethlehem Ship yard under the supervision of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society in the late 1960’s presents a problem… That early restoration used plywood in place of car siding, weldments in place of castings for railings and cutting levers. The draft gear was truly scary… the couplers used were too short so they cut the coupler stirrup and created a kludge which couldn’t be pushed and could only be pulled with great care. Platform tension rods are missing. The plywood floor has so far prevented us from tightening the platform bolts (which of course are all loose resulting in sagging platforms.) The interior arraignment seems odd, and probably more in line with a movie set than a working caboose. They completed the restoration with a color “Redwood” herald which was never carried by any of the NWP cars. Even with all the problems listed the car appears restored and presentable to the public. We are currently finishing the cupola and reworking the draft gear. In the mean time we are writing a restoration report to guide further work. To a large extent as we restore the car we will be tearing out someone else’s restoration work. So far we have found a great deal about the car… It was probably built by the North Pacific Coast in the 1890’s likely painted bright chrome orange… Then owned and operated by the North Shore RR who painted it bright vermillion red with aluminum leaf lettering. The NWP took over the North Shore in 1907, first painting the car mineral red, then a strange orange/tan similar to the color it is currently painted. Automatic couplers, air brakes and safety equipment were installed by the NWP. |
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