I can certainly appreciate the points Eric raises. I also much prefer museums with attitudes like Les's. I guess a lot of it depends on whether the museum caters to the general public or more to knowledgeable railroad enthusiasts. We're fortunate that our local railroad is very 'railfan friendly'.

mike211@yknet.ca

> By someone with too much time on his hands..

Actually, no. There are nine such sculptures around the city, although this one has a 'railroad' theme to it. The artist(s) created them as part of an historic preservation effort for the downtown district of Billings. Proceeds from the purchasing sponsors helped with the NP depot restoration, amongst other things..


hi_plain@yahoo.com

With all the discussion as to the oldest revenue car (see the discussion below) we have a box car in our collection, which was in service for 81 years, from 1880 to 1961. It was built by the Carter Brothers for the Origonian Railroad. They ended narrow gauge operations about 1893 and the car was apparently stored.

In 1899 it was transferred to the South Pacific Coast. They used it until it was leased to the Nevada & California (subsidiary of the SP) in 1904. The N&C purchased the car in 1907.

The car was rebuilt about 1920, and again just after WWII. It was taken out of service in 1961 when SP abandoned narrow gauge operations.

We believe this may be a record for length of service for a revenue railroad freight carÂ… Any challenges?

Additionally we have in our collection a 1874 (September) boxcar built for the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad. We believe this is the oldest preserved narrow gauge freight car in the US.



Carter Brothers Builders
hees@ix.netcom.com