Tillamook in 1990.
Inside the blimp hanger they were rebuilding railway cars for service elsewhere.
Someone said these were ex-Alaska cruise ship consist.
Trying to figure out those nearly obliterated markings.

I was working as a passenger car mechanic on those very cars a few years ago. The car in question is from the Holland America Cruise ship company. The car is part of the Princess rail/cruise tour on the McKinley explorer passenger train. The train picks up passengers from the cruise ship terminal in Whitter, Alaska and then takes them to the Denali national park and return.

I believe we only have 4 of those older cars left. The rest are McKinley explorer cars. I remember having a conversation about how we wanted to get away from the triple axle cars because of the extra cost in wheel replacement. Some of the older cars were heavily modified ex CNW commuter cars which are easily identified by the large door in the middle. That car in the photo looks a lot like it was built from Rader rail car in Colorado. I also worked for Rader rail car when we were building the ill fated Marlborough train in the mid 90's. Many believed all those cars were scrapped but many were sold and I even saw two not too long ago sitting on private property.

Here is a comment from Tom Rader himself https://www.alaskarails.org/fp/princess ... index.html

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1352822

Tom F.
Thanks for that. You've given me a lot to think about.

You are welcome. If you have not visited that old blimp hanger in Tillamook bay, Oregon it is worth the visit and is now a museum. Also here is some video of the older cars shot by yours truly if you are interested. We gutted one of those older cars with the bench seats and tables shortly before I left and I am sure it was repainted to the McKinley scheme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF785DIlCjY

The car in the picture is an ex-Milwaukee Road Super Dome car, possibly #56. It was built for Milwaukee Road by Pullman Standard in the 1950s, it is not a Rader Railcar product.

http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/MILWf/

There were two blimp hangers at Tillamook. The one with the railcar shop burned to the ground. The surviving hanger now house an air museum and the Oregon Coast Scenic RR.

Someone had the bright idea to store 135,000 bales of dry straw in the hangar...
https://www.tillamookheadlightherald.co ... b217c.html

John T
davew833
NS3322
Tom F

Big thanks...so much good information.
A bit overwhelming actually. New file started...A lot to study.

When I visited in 1990, both hangers were still there.
My country cousin's say that much hay, in a wooden barn...is an invitation to disaster.

Your input has been invaluable in showing the major impact the Tillamook operation had, on multiple North America rail-tourist operations.

Seven of the 17 wartime, wooden Blimp hangers still exist. They were built of wood because of the allocation of steel to other war-time needs.

The one at Tillamook, two each at Moffett Field (Mountain View, CA), former Naval Air Station Tustin, CA, and at Lakehurst, NJ. These are now about 77 years old.

The three 1930 era steel hangars for the rigid-framed air ships Macron and Akron still exist at Lakehurst, Moffett Field, and the former Goodyear construction one at Akron, Ohio. A similar steel-framed hanger was a 1941 construction built near Elizabeth City, North Carolina; it is reported to still exist.

Good info Brian, thanks.
Yes, the hanger south of Elizabeth City does still exist. If you google "Elizabeth City" click "map" and scroll down from a couple of miles south you can clearly see it. We "discovered" it while sailing nearby several years ago.
Ned

For rail preservation related content, the Akron hanger is next to the Canton segment of the CVSR and there are photos on-line of the regular train, as well as NKP 765 and Ohio Central 1293 passing it. Bear in mind that the Akron and Macon were built in there one at a time, so that is how big they were, to fill the entire building.

The Tillamook hangers were well serviced by rail. The line continued right inside. Even had its own door, as you can see in some of the photo's.

Rail provided the multitude of supplies needed for an operation like this.
Lifting gas, fuel, spare parts. Personal from all across America.
Plus the Port was nearby.
The railroad would have been vital in keeping the base operating.

I was told they sometimes used a small loco to move the blimps in and out. Not sure about that, but the tracks are still there in the floor.

Visited again a few years later, with some flying friends from Langley BC. Took this shot as a souvenir for them. When you look at yellow Piper Cub on the left, the enormous scale of the place really shows.

Also of interest are the ached roof trusses. Thousands of wooden sticks, all bolted together.

Outside the hanger were several of these former SP commuter cars.
Was Hebo built from one of these.?

BTW. The switcher id on the very right.....#4414.

Found on the internet:

Page with construction photos of the Tillamook Blimp hangars:
http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/tillamook_blimps.html

The website of the museum:
http://www.tillamookair.com/

Another photo of the hangar under construction and showing the three tacks for the railway cranes used for construction.
http://www.offbeatoregon.com/assets-2011/o1105d-tillamook-blimp-hangar/tillamook-naval-air-station-dirigible-hangar-b-1800.jpg

Old smokey loved the pics! Sometimes the places we work on these old rail cars is just as interesting as the rail cars. I will have to dig up some pics I took when I was working on the American Orient Express cars in Denver, Colorado. We were overhauling the cars in a old foundry where they previous made bomb casings for World War 2, complete with the huge ladles they used to pour liquid steel. Interesting enough my grandfather was the foreman there when it was active in the 40's. We painted several cars in there and it made some pretty interesting photos when you had these freshly painted, luxury, rail cars sitting in this 1920's era, run down, dusty, dirty, foundry. All is gone now including the train which is unfortunate but at least we have the photos to tell the stories.

Also while we are talking about the Oregon coast and these blimp hangers. Many people do not know a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of Astoria and shelled the Oregon coastline. There is a excellent book on the subject called "Panic at Fort Stevens".