For all of the posting in this thread, does anyone know if the owner has talked about gifting the car to NWRM? or another 501(c)3?

Then he can work on it there and tax-deductible donations can be made to the project through the new hone.

Jim, it is my impression, based on brief discussions, that he would like to restore it to operation as a dining car. I also think he would be totally OK with that being done in a stationary indoor setting at the LeMay Museum. That is, however, only my opinion. I do know that everything he has ever said has been about preserving the car and it's history. As you suggest, there's no intent to build a PV land yacht.

Brian, as others have posted, NWRM is aware of the situation. I do not have permission from either party to comment further than that. (When he and I talked, the subject of what was and was not for public release was never broached, so I'm simply deferring to what he's made public in the paper and on Kickstarter. Comments elsewhere in the thread would seem to indicate that NWRM's response is something to the effect of "We don't make comments in a situation where it could potentially affect negotiations", a totally logical stance.)

Looks like he gathered enough pledges ($17,000+) on Kickstarter to move the car to the automobile museum in Tacoma, WA.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/63 ... oad-dining

Our congratulations to Dave Burns and his KickStarter campaign. Fundraising for historic railway preservation efforts is difficult at the best of times, but his partnership with the Lemay Foundation looks like it just might work.

The Northwest Railway Museum was at least one of his contingency plans. However Dave really wanted to keep the dining car in Tacoma, and we would have moved it to our climate-controlled exhibit building in Snoqualmie, about 50 miles away. We also would have required unconditional ownership in order to fulfill our public trust obligations; Dave is hoping to retain ownership of the car.

The car really is an impressive relic of the early 20th Century, but it has not survived unscathed. Fundamentally, it is a wooden car and there are many challenges involved in repairing and maintaining this type of construction.

One of the complications of Dave's project is that the truss rods and queen posts were cut off the car when it was converted for use as a roadside diner. The car was partially modified by Pullman with a steel center sill, but when the car was in service the structure still required the truss rod. If we had acquired the car, our rehabilitation effort would have included at least partial removal of the exterior cladding to allow inspection - and repair if, necessary - to the wood side sill and associated wood truss. Consequently, we conservatively estimate the cost of the project to be at least $400,000.

The Northwest Railway Museum has performed major work on a number of wooden rail cars. The 1898-built chapel car Messenger of Peace was substantially completed last year and costs climbed to more than $400,000. That project required 62 feet of replacement side sill; that type of work is both unnerving and expensive. It took 24 months and utilized both skilled volunteers and a full time crew of 3.5 workers to complete the project. The only major work left to do is fabrication of replacement pews for the sanctuary.

Again, we wish Dave Burns and the Lemay Foundation all the best. They have a major fundraising effort ahead of them followed by a fairly complex rehabilitation. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and the car will be on exhibit in downtown Tacoma in just a few short years.

Richard R. Anderson
Executive Director
Northwest Railway Museum

Richard,

Thanks for the additional info. My discussions with Dave led me to believe that the NWRM was his first choice should he not be able to keep the car. As I posted earlier, your facility and wood car restoration expertise would certainly be a great fit.



Is there a plan to eventually move it to a downtown Tacoma location, or is that a "goal" without a firm final plan? The Kickstarter mentions that it would have a permanent place in the LeMay collection at Marymount (in Spanaway, which may still technically be Tacoma.)

There are actually two LeMay Museums, as quite a few folks who bought Groupon deals found out the hard way when they thought they were buying tickets for the fancy new museum and in fact got tickets to the restoration facility instead. The "LeMay Family Collection at Marymount" is located in Spanaway, a suburb of Tacoma. It is the original facility, and still holds a large part of the collection. The shiny new "LeMay Museum - America's Car Museum" is located in downtown Tacoma, next to the Tacoma Dome.

The Marymount location is where the car is being moved to, at least for the restoration work. I'm not sure if that's intended to be truly permanent, or if there is an additional plan once work has been completed.

Bob - thanks for the kind words!

My information is based on several conversations with him, and not any sort of plan that I have seen. While I have not seen any plans, I understand that Glenn Guerra wrote an assessment of the car and made some recommendations about six years ago. I do not have any insider information about the role of the Lemay Foundation, other than it is their building that the car will be stored in.

We wish Dave the very best with his project.

Richard R. Anderson
Executive Director
Northwest Railway Museum

Conversations with him and info posted on the Kickstarter page gave me the same impression. "We'll give you permanent indoor storage for this car" is the only thing that has been stated. I do not know what, if any, additional involvement they'll have.

I am of the impression that he'd like to work out a mutually beneficial agreement, maybe serving dinner in the car on special occasions and possibly hiring it out as a meeting/event space. But that's mostly speculation on my part, not a firm plan.

The car was moved out on Monday, April 21st.

You can see a few iPhone shots of the load out here:

http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/sho ... s-new-home

Thanks, Bob, for posting the link and photos!

Including an unexpected one. There is a fire hydrant in the area that needs to relocated. This is taking longer than expected and has delayed the project.

That was fortunate for the Dining Car, as otherwise it would have been the item holding up work and that could have put a lot more pressure on to get it moved out of the way. It might have been possible to shift it sideways as a short term measure, but I'm glad it didn't come to that.