My "objectionable noise" experience with heavyweights was in a 12-wheel coach on an excursion with the 611 between Alexandria and Charlottesville. Ride was great, no problems on curves, but the brakes! Every time they came on we had a lot of rumbling, grinding vibration in the car, as if running on a gravel road if you could have gravel road made of steel. I think the car my wife and I were in may have had cast-iron brake shoes, and that may have been the cause of this--and part of the reason for the development of disc brakes and composite brake shoes.

Still had a ball though, both watching and listening to the 611 (I especially recall the sound climbing out of Manassas on the return trip), and the fun of watching a set of air brake gauges in the vestibule, seeing the needles move in response to the actions of the engineer. . .

100% correct -- Golden Age was Bill's company. While the GOLD reporting mark may not have ever been "official" it was what he used. Then again this was in an era where there was no UMLER or AEI tags.

I think the smooth ride Jerry refers to had as much to do with the quality of the track as the car. Put that car on the L&N/SCL track of the day and I'd bet it was nowhere near as smooth. And usually the heavier the car the better the ride.

The typical Southern HW that would have drawn a Crescent or Piedmont assignment (generally 1032 to 1046 series) would have had comp shoes. I've seen most of them and haven't found one on iron shoes yet. Southern was a BIG proponent of the comp shoes on passenger stuff, although I do recall some of the clerestory HW coaches still had iron.

ETA

I'm guessing the noise and vibration underneath the heavyweight was due to worn brake rigging and not whether it was cast-iron or composition shoes. This is particularly noticeable with worn brake heads and brake beams.

Probably circa 1990. It was on a Salisbury to Lynchburg trip with the 1218 in May 1990 that had that UP dome. They were selling raffle tickets for 15 minute timeslots in the dome so that everyone could spend some time there.
Kevin

From Don Strack's UP passenger roster: http://utahrails.net/pass/pass-index.php

Union Pacific 44 seat leg rest coaches #5455, #5461 & #5467

UP #5455
Constructed in 12-1953 by AC&F in Lot #3812
Retired in 10/1968, sold to GTW in 1969 as #4802, transferred to SEMTA in 1978 as #4802, sold to Golden Age Railway Equipment (GOLD) in 1983 as #4802, to Mad River & Nickel Plate Hist. Soc. #4802, to Cuyahoga Valley & Hardin Southern #4802, to Lake Central Railtours #4802, to Tennessee Central RY Mus. #4802

UP #5461
Constructed in 6-1954 by AC&F in Lot #4095
Retired in 10/1968, sold to GTW in 1969 as #4804, transferred to SEMTA in 1978 as #4804, sold to Golden Age Railway Equipment (GOLD) in 1983 as #4804, to Mad River & Nickel Plate Hist. Soc. #4804, to Ringling Brothers (RBBX) #40016

UP #5467
Constructed in 7-1954 by AC&F in Lot #4095
Retired in 10/1968, sold to GTW in 1969 as #4806, transferred to SEMTA in 1978 as #4806, sold to Golden Age Railway Equipment (GOLD) in 1983 as #4806 "City of Huron," to Mad River & Nickel Plate Hist. Soc. #4806, to Cuyahoga Valley & Hardin Southern #4806, to Tennessee Central RY Mus. #4806

Notes on the Golden Age Cars:

1. I don't know if the name "City of Huron" was applied to the #4806 (UP #5467) by SEMTA or GOLD

2. Bill Fuehring's Golden Age Railway Equipment also owned 2 other UP coaches, #4803 (UP #5460) and #4805 (UP #5464), both constructed in AC&F Lot #4095 and both had the same ownership history as the 3 cars above before going to Ringling Brothers as #40015 and #40017

3. The only Golden Age cars I had listed in the old SOU/NS Steam Program fleet were the #4802 and #4806--looks like I'll be adding #4804 to that list. Does anyone know if the #4803 and #4805 also saw use on SOU/NS excursions?

4. Bill Fuehring's other ex-UP car was 37 seat café lounge UP #4001/Amtrak #8398 (I don't know what the GOLD number was). It's now part of the Western New York RY Hist. Soc. collection as the #4001 "Lake Erie."

_________________
Posting from the Rocky Mountains,