....is mother nature. Water, heat, rust are decimating the ranks of unrestored (and restored) railway equipment at an alarming rate, especially those pieces not under cover. I have recently seen steel cars of 1920s vintage with unbelievable amounts of rust and contained water inside walls that looked fine on the exterior but became structurally unstable from devestating rot from the inside. I predict that most of our collections will be left unsalvagable (in the next 20 years) from the elements. The key is to at least have a covered building and at a higher level, climate control in place. Without climate control, the restored piece will eventually rot from the inside out. I know none of this is news to y'all, but it seems to be the greatest threat facing our museums in the near future. Don't take this stuff for granted; without proper resources and facilities, the best collections today could become candidates consigned for the scrap yard tomorrow. Just because the old stuff looks great on the outside doesn't preclude cancer from metasticizing on the inside. Steve A.

No doubt about it, many RR museums are facing the inexorable chemistry of the Age of Iron Oxidation.
If your museum doesn't have a working plan in effect now or in the next 5 years, you can bid the collection: "Rust in Peace."

> ....is mother nature. Water, heat, rust are
> decimating the ranks of unrestored (and
> restored) railway equipment at an alarming
> rate, especially those pieces not under
> cover. I have recently seen steel cars of
> 1920s vintage with unbelievable amounts of
> rust and contained water inside walls that
> looked fine on the exterior but became
> structurally unstable from devestating rot
> from the inside. I predict that most of our
> collections will be left unsalvagable (in
> the next 20 years) from the elements. The
> key is to at least have a covered building
> and at a higher level, climate control in
> place. Without climate control, the restored
> piece will eventually rot from the inside
> out. I know none of this is news to y'all,
> but it seems to be the greatest threat
> facing our museums in the near future. Don't
> take this stuff for granted; without proper
> resources and facilities, the best
> collections today could become candidates
> consigned for the scrap yard tomorrow. Just
> because the old stuff looks great on the
> outside doesn't preclude cancer from
> metasticizing on the inside. Steve A.

Why do so few museums place tarps over their equipment? This seems the best way to reduce exposure to atmospheric elements when erecting a structure is not an option. This is especially true of passenger cars where leaky (or non existent) windows readily admit water into the sides. Is the cost of tarps so great that we would rather forgo their use in favor of allowing our equipment to deteriorate beyond recovery?

Shown below is Illinois Central dining car 3996, built by Pullman in 1917 for the Panama Limited. It is shown here in its present state, languishing in storage at the Illinois Railway Museum. While it is not threatened with immediate destruction from the scrapper's torch, precipitation entering through its smashed windows is slowly rusting its body and warping its wood interior, slowly bringing about the demise of this important artifact.

I do not show this to single out the IRM, as this is a far too common sight at many museums nationwide.



rrhistorian@hotmail.com

I know a museum director who swore tarps were the kiss of death for protecting heavyweight passenger cars. He claimed with unquestionable authotity it trapped moisture in the roof rather than keeping rain off. We tried to explain there was a way to rig tarps and still let the roof breath to get rid of trapped moisture. He didn't want to hear the alternative solution.
Well, I guess he later saw the light (or got over his NIH syndrome) because I recently saw one of his neglected passenger cars covered with a tarp.

Yes, tarps can help until a permanent roof is built. Tom is right.

> Why do so few museums place tarps over their
> equipment? This seems the best way to reduce
> exposure to atmospheric elements when
> erecting a structure is not an option. This
> is especially true of passenger cars where
> leaky (or non existent) windows readily
> admit water into the sides. Is the cost of
> tarps so great that we would rather forgo
> their use in favor of allowing our equipment
> to deteriorate beyond recovery?

> Shown below is Illinois Central dining car
> 3996, built by Pullman in 1917 for the
> Panama Limited. It is shown here in its
> present state, languishing in storage at the
> Illinois Railway Museum. While it is not
> threatened with immediate destruction from
> the scrapper's torch, precipitation entering
> through its smashed windows is slowly
> rusting its body and warping its wood
> interior, slowly bringing about the demise
> of this important artifact.

> I do not show this to single out the IRM, as
> this is a far too common sight at many
> museums nationwide.

We are still working on permission to build our buildking, but in the mean time, we have 3 of our cars tarped, one, restored, is only tarped durring our winter rain season, the others are tarped year round. We make sure the ends are open, and climb inside occasionally to check.

John Smatlak's Railway Preservation Resources site:
http://www.railwaypreservation.com/page3.html

has some wonderful information on tarping railroad cars. It was presented by John at the ARM convention in Riverside some years ago.

Randy Hees

http://spcrr.org
hees@ix.netcom.com

Steve,

you are so right. For the reasons you state, the Western Railway Museum is designing a new car barn with sprinklers to get most of our rolling stock under cover. Most of it will be out of the weather soon. It will also display a steam passenger train to show the other kind of passenger carrying equipment that was available to travelers.

Also, we had three of our steel car bodies in for painting and roof sealing. We want to have a body to restore some day.

Other of the wooden car bodies are tarped until such time that they can get under cover.

ted_miles@nps.gov

> Why do so few museums place tarps over their
> equipment? This seems the best way to reduce
> exposure to atmospheric elements when
> erecting a structure is not an option. This
> is especially true of passenger cars where
> leaky (or non existent) windows readily
> admit water into the sides. Is the cost of
> tarps so great that we would rather forgo
> their use in favor of allowing our equipment
> to deteriorate beyond recovery?

> Shown below is Illinois Central dining car
> 3996, built by Pullman in 1917 for the
> Panama Limited. It is shown here in its
> present state, languishing in storage at the
> Illinois Railway Museum. While it is not
> threatened with immediate destruction from
> the scrapper's torch, precipitation entering
> through its smashed windows is slowly
> rusting its body and warping its wood
> interior, slowly bringing about the demise
> of this important artifact.

> I do not show this to single out the IRM, as
> this is a far too common sight at many
> museums nationwide.

If the local building officials give their blessing, we plan to add two new carbarns this year, with 3200 feet of additional covered storage. Considering that we already have over two miles of track indoors--which I'm fairly sure is far, far more than any other museum--I think we're going pretty good.


Kevinmccabe@Avenew.com

Sounds like the biggest threat isn't weather but poorly managed museums. Lots of good stuff mentioned in this thread shows good management can provide protection from weather.

dave

> If the local building officials give their
> blessing, we plan to add two new carbarns
> this year, with 3200 feet of additional
> covered storage. Considering that we already
> have over two miles of track indoors--which
> I'm fairly sure is far, far more than any
> other museum--I think we're going pretty
> good.

We have one of our wood bodied freight cars tarped until it can be restored and it has held up pretty well. One problem with tarps that I heard of at another rail museum is that the "public" would eventually steal them! They unfortunately didn't have enclosed access and were fairly close to a public highway and after the tarps were in place for a few weeks, they would disappear. Something else to consider.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

midlandblb@cs.com