I thought readers would be interested in these photos and notes of the progress of restoration of coach B27 from the Odense, Nørre Broby, and Faaborg railway on the island of Fyn. This coach is a typical restoration from a found body in a summer cabin. The body was donated by the owners in 1987, and of course had no running gear, but the body had been protected by a roof cover and was in excellent condition. Restoration started immediately, but stopped and started with the typical pattern we are all familiar with.

Restoration really made progress under the leadership of our young rolling stock manager, Jesper Kjær Jørgensen, who is a university student at the Technical University of Denmark. Jesper has enthusiasm and commitment, and has lead many projects with drive and determination. The coach is approaching completion and will probably see service in 2019.

The running gear was salvaged from a baggage wagon of approximately the same dimensions.

The coach interior has a number of common Danish/Scandinavian features. Note the lever operated ventilation. In the third class, this is a black iron handle. In the second class (this coach has third and second, but no first), this lever is a bronze handle with polished edges. Note the luxury touches in second class, such as velvet on the luggage rack, and the pressed linoleum wall cover (which was custom reproduced for this restoration).

UPDATE: so I am told the velvet on the luggage rack is a creative license because we are delayed in receiving the correct netting that attaches to the rack. It is not the correct configuration.

A particular challenge was how to light the coach. The coach was in service to the end with AGA gas light fixtures. Replacement hardware was actually found, but a decision was made that obtaining safety certification and continuing safe operation with volunteer labor was prohibitive, and at risk of future revocation. Some of you may think we are nuts, running wooden coaches with gas lighting. We actually do run some wooden coaches with functional kerosene lamps.

The chosen solution was to electrify with LED bulbs, which also means the power requirements of the coach are easily met with a battery. The LED bulbs are hidden beneath a cosmetic net, that simulates the look of a gas wick. A rheostat was fitted to the old gas regulator, so that passengers may regulate the light intensity.

In the platform ends are kerosene lamps that illuminate both inside and outside by their placement at a window on the platform. These have also been fitted with LED.

The coach is steam heated, and we maintain steam heat as our primary heat source. Some coaches are fitted with individual stoves or boilers.

Just amazing . Like what you folks did with the lights.

Steven -

Extremely nice restoration! I noticed that B27 is a 4 wheel coach. Was this the "standard" for Denmark, rather than 8 wheel cars?


Les

Beautiful work. I really like the "dual purpose" platform lights- inside and out. Very clever.
Ned

This was the standard for much of Europe before WWI. Denmark was unusual in that further 4 wheelers were constructed through 1922. These were called "rystevogne" in Danish, meaning "shaking wagons". 4 wheel cars saw so much use because 1) more resources were devoted to line maintenance, so the ride quality was reasonable, 2) the 4 wheel cars are obviously cheaper, but also 3) the 4 wheel wagons make it easier to adjust the train length for demand and different classes of traffic. The 4 wheel wagons are also easier to manage with manual labor. For example, we occasionally push cars short distances in the yard. Also, a lot of services that would have been interurbans in USA were steam hauled trains in Denmark.

Prior to WWI, 8 wheel cars were luxury vehicles for international and long distance traffic (dining cars, sleeping cars, parlor cars, etc.).

p.s. if you think about it, the 4 wheel car has a lower tare to gross weight ratio. It has less weight in car hardware relative to the load. If the track is perfect, the 4 wheel car is most efficient. But as labor costs go up, it is less efficient. Think about more couplings to maintain, more brake connections to maintain, more couplings to make in train makeup.

However, 4 wheel cars are still common in freight traffic and carry a significant portion of traffic.

Steven -

Appreciate the explanation. Thanks much!

Les

p.p.s. We still to this day have very high minimum standards for track, and that includes private freight sidings. These standards are actually damaging to our attempts to grow freight traffic, because the cost to install a private siding is very high. My contacts at DB Cargo have many stories about lost business because the customer's siding no longer met the track standards. And the national infrastructure operator is abandoning more track because of the cost of standby maintenance.

We don't have any track like that in rural USA where the train sways side to side. The advantage of the 8 wheel car is that it can tolerate this track.

And a great example of the trains we run with our coaches can be found here!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42880

The same concept of LEDs powered by a battery is proposed (or in place) for the kerosene lamps in the recently restored coach on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic.