This was posted in Flimsies:

http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/2011/ ... -pullmans/

The general site for the business:

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com/index.htm

Egads, where did they find these?

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com/vikingcar.htm

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com/palacecar.htm

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.c ... ialcar.htm

A pedestrian piece by comparison:

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com/caboose.htm

The restoration approach here:

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.c ... ialcar.htm

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.c ... acecar.htm

http://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.c ... aboose.htm

Looks like some of us have something else to keep an eye on. . .

Wow, what great looking cars!

This one brings up some real questions... Does anyone know who this person is? Are they a known personality in railway preservation, or is this somebody totally outside of the community. Not that it matters either way, just curious.

Lots of questions here, like how he found the cars, how he gained the knowledge to do the work, and how long it took.

However, the biggest and most obvious question is this: How does a person who owns a B&B pull off work that appears, if the photos are any indication, to be quite well done. There's a "before" photo of a car with blue sky where the roof should be, and the after photo seems to be quite impressive. Granted, that's quite a judgement call based on a few snapshots, but at least as first glance it looks quite nice.

I'm sure we can all think of a local museum that would mount a huge fundraising campaign and take years to do this work. How did this guy pull this off? Maybe he's a .com millionaire, I don't know?

In any case, obviously there are some very significant differences between this and a restoration for service. Removing the trucks and couplers and making the cars into "planters" eliminates all kind of hassles. No big worries about the underframe being ripped in half as you pull the hill, no concern about rotten draft gear pockets, and no worries about the COT&S on what is essentially a building. The same goes for structural condition of the sides. If it's evenly supported on a foundation, the structure does not need nearly the same strength that would be required in train service.

So, it's quite possible the whole thing is done with Home Depot parts and any future attempt to move these cars would result in a pile of kindling. But there may be more to it than that, and the work could be quite could.

Anyone know the real story?

That's kind of what I figure... making the cars into a bed'n breakfast is the easy out. You restore the things that are intact, BS your way past what isn't.

I've seen the same kind of work in the Barney & Smith built Glen Flora in Stevens Point, WI, a ca. 1902 sleeper turned into a restaurant. What pieces of the original car remain are nicely restored. Those that aren't... well, they're just not there. It is, after all a restaurant dining room, not a railroad car. The whole concept must be quite liberating... refinish what is mostly intact... drywall over the rest. Not disparaging the work these people have done, but it's not railway preservation.

I just spent a week up in the Brainerd Lakes area. If I'd known about this place, I might have considered spending a night or two there, or at least gone to visit. New York Mills, Minnesota is around 80 miles west of Brainerd on the ex-NP main line to Fargo and points west.

Thanks!