Posts on this forum often start out with the words: "Hey, does anybody know how to. . ."<p>When a museum considers returning a locomotive to operational condition or making a world-class exhibit out of its diverse collection of rusty passenger cars, those "stuck" doing the hands-on work quickly find that the experts at Home Depot aren't well versed in railway preservation.<p>Forums such as this one are a good place to turn for help. . .as we saw recently in the big discussion about how to get rid of rust.<p>Hopefully, discussions like that will never go away because the advice is great and swapping a few yarns is fun. But I wonder if we can do better. Perhaps somebody already has and I just haven't found it yet.<p>When somebody stops by this and other forums with a preservation question--anything from checking staybolts to looking for the original specifications for their cars--it would be nice if we could refer them to a co-operating group of web sites who have taken it upon themselves to post preservation articles and bibliographies in an orderly fashion so that the information needed for projects can be found quickly and easily.<p>Any ideas on how we can do this?<br>



collections@srmduluth.org

I've tried something along these lines with the Tutorial section of SteamCentral, but haven't seen much interest yet. I'll be happy to host "how-to" pages directly related to steam locomotives. Try contacting the Railway Passenger Car Alliance (www.rpca.com) about something for cars.<p>JAC<br>



SteamCentral Tutorials

A couple of comments on this subject.<p>Want to, haven't gotten around to it, have a resource database for preservation in the links pages. Have many appropriate links currently scattered thru the links pages, but would like to consolidate them on a single dedicated page.<p>We have posted some articles that give insights into various techniques, such as the PE 498 article and refurbishing rusted car bodies for example. But, the step by step "how tos" or tutorials on specific preservation tasks is an excellent idea. I hope John's steam tutorials catch on and expand. RyPN would be happy to dedicate a how to section for other relevant subjects.<p>Changing the subject slightly. I, as an aerospace engineer, feel that aerospace leads the world in building structures that are long lived and don't corrode. And, in fact, I am appalled by what I have seen on vintage rail equipment. I would have thought they knew better even back then. Regardless, although the materials differ significantly, there are some simple methods used in aerospace that I think could be applied to railroad equipment with long term benefit. Like to discuss this with interested persons.<p>But, I digress. A how to manual or cookbook for preservation tasks, coupled with a resource database, would be excellent utilization of the new found power of the internet. Let's go for it.



Railway Preservation News
hkading@rypn.og

While I agree that a forum to discuss technical issues and compare notes would be of great value, and I am always calling or emailing certain people in my network about technical issues, I don't think it serves to create a cookbook of recipes for every task on everybody's operation. <p>Equipment and conditions vary widely, as do resources and operating circumstances. A babbitt hub liner might do real well on your straight level track, but it wouldn't last long on his mountain switchback line. Built up silicon bronze would last longer. It is these differences and varied approaches that are invented because necessity is a mutha and "here is what I have to work with" that makes for a very interesting and useful exchange. <p>I sense RyPN doing what L&RP did - getting away from nuts and bolts (Jack on boilers) and into "preservation ethic" preaching to the choir. Yeah, we do need both kinds of information, but when L&RP changed into a forum for academic curatorial debate and stopped providing useful information, I dropped my subscription.<p>The benefit of this interchange is we can write here about wehatever we want to know about. Should we seperate nuts and bolts from this forum and start another just for that? I don't know - it doesn't seem like this one is too big yet to cover both, and many of us heavily involved in projects have our own networks as well. Maybe a place to begin is a yellow pages of email addresses grouped according to field of endeavor somehwere on this site so we can moore efficiently network with each other. <p>Dave <br>



lathro19@idt.net

Dave:<p>Maybe I missed the point of what you were saying, wouldn't be the first time, or the last.<p>To summarize what I was trying to say last night:<p>1. Would like to have a links list of preservation resources, basically companies, groups, places that provide preservation materials and/or services.<p>2. Would like to create another section on the home page, like the articles and briefs sections, dedicated solely to how to do this or that.<p>And that's it.<p>Am not planning on doing any preaching to the choir, and don't even pretend to know enough to do so (except maybe on dissimilar metal corrosion and coatings). The Interchange will remain the one and only discussion board on RyPN.<p>Your point about different situations and different resources is well taken. Perhaps cookbook was a poor word. But I feel a series to "how to" articles would be very useful. And, a particular article may not fit your specific need, but may give you a starting point and a contact.



Railway Preservation News
hkading@rypn.org

Well, since I am the guilty party who started this thread, I'll jump and offer my humble opinion about what would help.<p>First, a preservation page starting point, either on this site or another, that groups known links by category with an annotation for each link.<p>Second, a point of view that acknowledges that there is a lot of stuff in the museum world that needs to be preserved, restored, or safely archived. In addition to the operational restoration of steam locomotives, there are passenger and freight cars, baggage carts, switches, lanterns, and a thousand different items that go in libraries.<p>Third, as people find non-railroading sites with techniques and tips which we can use, they need to be added to the links list. There is no need for railroad preservationists to re-invented what mainstream libraries have already discovered or the technques that work for aerospace, automotive, technology and other museums.<p>Fourth, at some point, we need more articles which are written in the same simple, step by step method as, for example, those Time-Life home repair books.<p>Fifth, we need to distinguish between materials which are case studies (how I fixed up old #444) and articles which tell the reader how to fix up whatever they have. Case studies often assume the reader is a veteran and don't go into the details about how/why each step was performed.<p>Sixth, a distinction must be made between such disciplines as restoration, preservation, replacement, etc. As we know, a preservationist usually considers that those doing restoration are basically destroying the artifact, car, or locomotive. We can ignore mainstream standards, but should provide advice about each approach.<p>Links are good. An organized series of "how to do it" articles on this site would be nice.<p>How's that for a dogmatic-sounding start?<br>



collections@srmduluth.org