After seeing the photos that accompanied the Skytop posts from a week or so ago, my biggest concern was that there was no evidence of a second car (the Arrow Creek). Either it was not there any more or somehow the photographer had framed the shots in just such a way that it was not visible. Of course, if it wasn't there any more that could only mean 2 things. Either it was cut-up on site recently when the rest of the ferry was gutted, or it had been lifted off the deck and transported somewhere off-site. Since yesterday was the first nice weekend day we've had up here this month, I decided to take a road trip that included a visit to the dock. I was last there about a year and a half ago before any work had started on this latest phase of the Lansdowne saga.

Luckily, when I first caught a glimps of the cars from the highway (about a quarter mile from the dock) I could already see that both cars were in fact still in place. That was a relief. I don't know how those photos were taken, but it seemed to me that it would be darned difficult to photograph the Gold Creek (the one closest to the dock) and not get the Arrow Creek in the background, but somehow that was what had happened.

The dissapointing thing is, however, that the cars are indeed COMPLETEY gutted. That is to say, when they were first converted for this "adaptive re-use", the interiors were bulldozed in every sense of the word. It appears that they had been stripped down to the frames, as there is not even any evidence of any of the original interior wall panels - wainscotting, pier panels, etc, other than possibly the rear lounge portions. Plus, the really neat feature of both cars is that the original developers followed the "How to destroy your beautiful RR car by converting it into a restaurant" manual to the letter by cutting the requisite gigantic hole in what was the bedroom side of the Gold Creek, and what was the aisle side of the Arrow Creek. These "holes" run from just above the side sills to just below the roof line, and are easily 50' long. So, effectively, one complete side of each car, just short of the Skytop lounge portion, is gone. There is a section that was added between the cars to join them, so that as they sit, they comprise in effect, one big room about 35' wide. What a fiasco!

The biggest problem I see with saving the cars if this project were to go belly-up is that, because of the distance from the dock, it would take 2 very large (at least in the 150-200 ton range) cranes to lift the cars back on to awaiting dolly wheels on the dock. Cranes of this size would be required due to the distance they would need to cantiliver out from the dock in order to reach the cars. (Note that they were probably originally just rolled into place with a switch engine on their own wheels). Not to mention, the loss of structural integrity with 3/4 of an entire side missing may make a crane lift risky. And, of course, they would not be able to be moved on their own wheels in their current state. They would have to be moved by highway somewhere for repairs. Surprisingly, considering the environment the cars have been in, they are not otherwise that bad rust-wise. The side sills are not that rusty, and the side sheets are not bad either. However, I don't know how long they have been sitting with the windows out, and they doubtless have been sucking lots of water into those floors for at least a few years.

Cars have been brought back from the dead that have been in at least as bad a shape as these, and these are such unique cars that it would be a real loss if they were scrapped, but it's going to take some big $$$ just to get them off that boat to a place where entire new sides could be built so that they could move on their own wheels. And then at best I believe they could only be "restored" as full lounge cars. Nice lounge cars to be sure, but realistically they could never be restored to their original sleeper lounge configuration.



domeliner@hotmail.com

Thanks for the detailed report - I've seen these cars on the ferry numerous times in the harbor and wondered about more information. Here's one for you MILW fans, though - even in the current condition, wouldn't they make a fantastic inside museum exhibit/theatre? If they can cut apart a DC-3 for the National Air & Space Museum - then what about this? I'm thinking like a ride simulator - you sit in the Skytop observation car end and you have a projection view of the MILW main, or even the Cascades (oops, sorry, MILW guys), looking at the track winding behind you--or any scenic run. Think of the California RR museum Pullman exhibit crossed with a locomotive simulator and maybe a little bit of IMAX thrown in... Seriously, can you think of a BETTER car to do that in?

randygustafson@stoneconsulting.com