Does any one have tips on how to watertight passenger coaches? I have several coaches sitting outside and no money but I'd like to stabilize them from further rot.

Are you talking about wood coaches or metal?

There is not much you can do without money.
The cheap, short term solution, is to cover the coaches with tarps. These can be gotten at any Home Depot like store. Sometimes cement contractors will have some used tarps that you can get.

Some things that can be done can be used on both wood and metal types. For small leak points, starting at the roof, use a good silicone caulk. The paintable kind would be best, as you can paint the caulk to match the roof later. Around windows, if you don't have good gasket material, again, use caulk. Around doors, rope putty, gasket material, or any door insulating product from a Home Depot type store.

Holes in wood coaches can be closed with good carpenter techniques. Some basic joinery will be involved here.

Holes in metal coaches can have patches welded, then body puty added. Sanding and painting follow.

Money and a few handy friends are required.

The other solution, get rid of the coaches to someone who has the resoarces to preserve them.

jim1522@aol.com

> Does any one have tips on how to watertight
> passenger coaches? I have several coaches
> sitting outside and no money but I'd like to
> stabilize them from further rot.

I do not think there is a magic bullet. All of the stuff you need to do is pretty much common sense and involves some money, and some work, or a lot of both. At IRM we have found that inexpensive tarps from a discount outlet are pretty much a waste of money - and try finding one 20 feet wide by 80 or 90 feet long. They are not cheap but we have used heavy duty tarps sewn to order - of the type used by long distance truckers to cover flatbed loads. Some of these have held up over five years but must be totally and carefully secured, considering the wind and weather they will endure. Use of tarps pretty much requires a bare roof on the cars so vents and other hardware need to be removed first.

Otherwise it is pretty much sealing and painting. I am not too sold on silicone caulks and have good success using butyl rubber caulk for sealing small cracks. But the area needs to be really clean for any caulk to stick, or it will just pull out - and the prep is time consuming. I would hesitate to use any tar or asphalt product hoping it would 'bridge over' and cover a leak. It is very difficult to remove and clean up later for a permanent fix, and it really expands and contracts with temperature leading to cracks and more leaks in short order, especially when applied over a fairly rigid roof, like a metal one.

Good luck on your efforts.

Bob Kutella


68trolley@comcast.net

There is a tape and glop product out there to seal over cracks, and elastomeric coatings to paint seal relatively intact roof membranes. Roofs are not the only areas to watch - I'd take some time to assure that areas around the windows were sealed too. Canvas diaphragms will rot, but there are some coatings which will penetrate and help preserve the cloth. If it is possible to provide some ventilation through the car water which does get in can get out, and by equalizing temperatures inside and out, less chance of condensation building up inside the framing.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> I do not think there is a magic bullet. All
> of the stuff you need to do is pretty much
> common sense and involves some money, and
> some work, or a lot of both. At IRM we have
> found that inexpensive tarps from a discount
> outlet are pretty much a waste of money -
> and try finding one 20 feet wide by 80 or 90
> feet long. They are not cheap but we have
> used heavy duty tarps sewn to order - of the
> type used by long distance truckers to cover
> flatbed loads. Some of these have held up
> over five years but must be totally and
> carefully secured, considering the wind and
> weather they will endure. Use of tarps
> pretty much requires a bare roof on the cars
> so vents and other hardware need to be
> removed first.

> Otherwise it is pretty much sealing and
> painting. I am not too sold on silicone
> caulks and have good success using butyl
> rubber caulk for sealing small cracks. But
> the area needs to be really clean for any
> caulk to stick, or it will just pull out -
> and the prep is time consuming. I would
> hesitate to use any tar or asphalt product
> hoping it would 'bridge over' and cover a
> leak. It is very difficult to remove and
> clean up later for a permanent fix, and it
> really expands and contracts with
> temperature leading to cracks and more leaks
> in short order, especially when applied over
> a fairly rigid roof, like a metal one.

> Good luck on your efforts.

> Bob Kutella

We've had pretty good luck with the rubber membrane roof and keeping a close eye on caulk points, joints, etc. If you have a wood car outdoors, figure that you'll spend a lot of time keeping an eye on it. The biggest thing is to check for leaks constantly; the quicker the fix, the better the chance it won't do serious damage. Some have had luck with shrink wrapping (i.e. like motor boats) but I have also seen some horror stories from the unanticipated mildew that not having air flowing through the car can cause.

Our car has survived two winter's now with a membrane roof and good paint, but figure having to paint the car every three years to keep up with the weather. Ideally, indoor storage is best, but very few have it or can afford it.

TJ Gaffney


Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

> We've had pretty good luck with the rubber
> membrane roof and keeping a close eye on
> caulk points, joints, etc. If you have a
> wood car outdoors, figure that you'll spend
> a lot of time keeping an eye on it. The
> biggest thing is to check for leaks
> constantly; the quicker the fix, the better
> the chance it won't do serious damage. Some
> have had luck with shrink wrapping (i.e.
> like motor boats) but I have also seen some
> horror stories from the unanticipated mildew
> that not having air flowing through the car
> can cause.

> Our car has survived two winter's now with a
> membrane roof and good paint, but figure
> having to paint the car every three years to
> keep up with the weather. Ideally, indoor
> storage is best, but very few have it or can
> afford it.

> TJ Gaffney
We just put a rubber membrane roooof on a wooden roof/steel sided Barney & Smith Soo LIne coach.
Seems to be doing alright with all the snow and ice this winter. Biggest headache was sealing at the window bottoms. We opted to reinstall window trim that was removed in a 1920's modernization by the railroad and put in plexiglass covers to protect the stained glass windows. Used a rubber butyl caulk to seal the bottom edge but left the tops just screwed down for ventilation(overhang protected the top edge). Just follow the directions and make sure if they say no asphalt products or caulk you don't have ANY asphalt products (like tar paper) left or cover with rosin paper. The new rubber membrane material does a good imitation of the old canvas/tar/sand
original material. Another alternative would be the roofing goods that are called ice guard with tarred edges (best for caboose roofs)

colfaxrr@wwt.net