What about putting up clear plexiglass or lexan panels for the winter or even permanently?

Wow, VMT has two "visible" E units. Somebody tell Preston Cook!

Seriously, it would be great to get the WAB unit back to the midwest, maybe at Monticello? And having the other in RF&P delivery paint with the bow wave and gold striping would make a nice exhibit for VMT.

Walt Lankenau

The real Anheuser-Busch beer car. And a refrigerator, to boot!

http://wapedia.mobi/thumb/4176501/en/ma ... external=1

(Off Topic but relevant to the discussion)

Walt, there is still some hope that a museum will do a "visible" EMD covered wagon, it has been discussed a number of times in several places, but unfortunately nothing has materialized yet. EMD produced glass sided E-units for the 1939-1940 Worlds Fair and the "visible" F-units with removable panels in the early postwar years, as well as the open sided GP35 for the 1964 Worlds Fair. So there is adequate historical justification for such a display.

There seems to be great resistance in preservation to displaying locomotives as cutaways or visible displays, even when the alteration is easily reversible or even a mid-point in a restoration. This is unfortunate because it is a commercial opportunity being lost, a chance to have a display that is something very different from those at most other railroad museums.

PC

I'd vote for a C&O 2-8-4 cut away. Tell the story of C&O, Lima, superpower, steam, etc. Please folks, there is a dozen of them preserved and the wow factor would be tremendous.

Now, which one and where to put it?

Joshua

Go mine the thread I had going on that very subject about 2 years ago and feel the heat of the flaming.

The NYC Museum in Elkhart has plexiglass panels on the side of their E8.

Nice job, with the elevated viewing platform and having just the upper panels changed which keeps the more vulnerable plexiglass up a little higher where it is less likely to be damaged. I was not aware that they had done this to their unit. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

PC

Joshua -

Keep away from North Judson!!!!!!!!!!

Les

A cut a way locomotive is a neat idea. A similar project was done with a rather rare corvette several years ago, the restorer was able to keep the car fully drivable while doing the display. I think a steam engine would be the wrong piece of equipment to do this to although I faintly remember a museum a few years ago with one the had cut outs on the cylinders and other parts of the loco, just not the whole thing. With proper signage this would be a good way to educate the non rail fan.

http://www.thel88corvette.com/L88_cutaway.html

One nice feature of doing a "visible" locomotive modification on a covered wagon is that it can just be done on one side (preferably the side that is in shadow most of the day), the other side can be preserved conventionally. And if it is done carefully it can be completely reversible. The EMD glass side E-units, the "visible" F-units, and the cutaway GP35 were all refitted as conventional locomotives and sold to customers when their time on display ended.

PC

The wreckage is still there. I nabbed some pics of it Sunday and posted them to my Flickr account for anyone that is interested. This link should take you to the set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44509753@N ... 159254360/
I would be interested in the history of this boxcar so I can put the correct information on the set. I hears some of it but do not want to put up any incorrect information. Web searches have not brought me anything useful so far.

Someone said that "there are plenty of wooden boxcars around the country", more or less not mourning the loss of this particular car. In Mike D's recent post with Flickr photos, he indicates that the wrecked car was Norfolk & Western. My question is, how many other N&W wood boxcars still exist?

Les

While the loss of the car is indeed sad, it would make a great "diorama" display with that wrecking crane, or even another museum's crane.

Don't chop up the remains too fast!

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario

Les,

There is one more in Roanoke, we have a USRA single-sheathed car converted to a MOW car at 9th St. One of our other MOW cars started life as a wood sheathed car and was converted to steel in the 1930's. There used to be several wooden N&W boxcars in a scrapyard in Pulaski, the last time I was by there was about 2 years ago. Not sure whether they are still there.

Steve,

Besides no where to really do a diorama style display, the other problem is moving the wreckage with any level of "intactness" from the middle of NS's yard (remember this happened off site from VMT on NS property) to VMT property. Maybe enough wood will make it down to VMT to build a nice bonfire, Bev could then hold a "wake" for the boxcar.