Our society has been restoring our ex-BCG&A #802 caboose for several years and we are hoping to start work on the interior this upcoming year. Our plan is to restore the interior as to how it would have looked in service, along with a small display showing the history of both the caboose and the BCG&A. We've acquired some documents, both originals and copies, for use in the display (such as Bill or Ladings, Overcharge Distribution Statements, etc.) and I'm trying to find the best method to preserve/display these. For individual 8-1/2 X 11 documents, I plan on using copies and storing the originals in acid-free clear top loaders with a cardboard backing for protection, but I have some 8-1/2 X 11 X 1/2 thick forms that I have no idea how to go about protecting and displaying. I guess what I'm looking for are any web sites or publications that could give us some tips on basic document and artifact preservation, and also ideas on how to put together a display. Since we are primarily a model railroad group, we don't have too much experience in this field, but a number of our members have become more and more interested in "full scale" preservation.

Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society
davelecount@juno.com

Hi Dave-
I deal with archival materials everyday, and use a couple of different sources. There are flat acid-free archival boxes for the use you are talking through Gaylord. Their website is www.gaylord.com. For smaller archivally correct materials, we use firms such as Light Impressions, etc. If you give me address, i would be happy to send you a couple of our older catalogs to get you started.

Is #802 one of the cabooses that was built on the frame of one of the log cars that went up in the huge fire in the Boyne City yard at the turn of the Century? Does anybody now what happened to the other equipment that was preserved with your caboose when the railroad museum was still goin in Boyne City?

TJG
> Our society has been restoring our
> ex-BCG&A #802 caboose for several years
> and we are hoping to start work on the
> interior this upcoming year. Our plan is to
> restore the interior as to how it would have
> looked in service, along with a small
> display showing the history of both the
> caboose and the BCG&A. We've acquired
> some documents, both originals and copies,
> for use in the display (such as Bill or
> Ladings, Overcharge Distribution Statements,
> etc.) and I'm trying to find the best method
> to preserve/display these. For individual
> 8-1/2 X 11 documents, I plan on using copies
> and storing the originals in acid-free clear
> top loaders with a cardboard backing for
> protection, but I have some 8-1/2 X 11 X 1/2
> thick forms that I have no idea how to go
> about protecting and displaying. I guess
> what I'm looking for are any web sites or
> publications that could give us some tips on
> basic document and artifact preservation,
> and also ideas on how to put together a
> display. Since we are primarily a model
> railroad group, we don't have too much
> experience in this field, but a number of
> our members have become more and more
> interested in "full scale"
> preservation.


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Thanks for the web sites and the catalog offer. I'll email you my mailing address when I get done with this.

Yes, #802 is indeed one of the cabooses rebuilt after the fires. Our information shows that the body was built in 1912 but the trucks were cast in 1897. We're hoping next summer to go through the BCG&A archives and see what information we can dig up.

As for the rest of the collection, the gentleman who purchased the caboose when the museum collection was auctioned off thought that the passenger car went somewhere in the northern part of the lower peninsula. As for the snowplow, it's now at Mid-Continent in Wisconsin.


davelecount@juno.com