After seeing an ad on FB marketplace i went to a site near Douglas Wyoming and found half a 1880s ish passenger car. Clearly the internal details were spectacular with wood window blinds and ornate carvings everywhere, but what was it ? it was in the right area for CNW, CBQ and C&S. On one of the clerestory windows was the number 2674 which could have been a Lot number or car number. further research and sanding showed bright yellow paint as the first applied color and this leaned towards CNW. After appealing on FB (yes Facebook again) we came up with 1882 CNW CAR 2674 a twelve wheel smoking coach built by the Ohio Falls Car Company and listed as destroyed in 1926. It was Lemon Yellow with ultramarine blue letter boards and gold and red pinstriping, interior is mahogany.
It is so incredible inside that an urgent appeal is out to recover the remains before they are bulldozed and get them out of danger even if we subsequently dont restore it as part High Plains Railroad Preservation fleet.

Mike Pannell
Cheyenne

Go Fund me campaign is here
https://gf.me/u/x9j7c9

For those experts here, when presented with a parts source like this, what items would you prioritize stripping from the car?

Steven -

I don't see it as a parts source. What I would envision would be a restoration (IF it was deemed possible), then put it up on an appropriate truck, rebuild the end platform, and with the other end set so the car was level, put it up against a mirrored wall. On the outside, it would appear in its full length, and to folks allowed up on the platform, the interior would also appear to be full length. Of course you'd have to find a museum that had an appropriate indoor hall to display it, but I think it could be done. Too much there to just let it go for parts. My two cents only of course.

Les

As imminent as any owner says it is...... he wanted it parted out as barn wood, i said lets not !

Mike -

Good for you! Hope that the 1/2 car can be moved and eventually restored. Are there many cars left from the Ohio Falls Car Company?

Les

There's a small coach at Mammoth Cave National Park that's an Ohio Falls car, complete with Ohio Falls trucks.

Eric

Ohio Falls was located at Jeffersonville, Indiana and in 1899 became part of AC&F. This was the Jeffersonville plant of AC&F.

I know of one other 19th century car built by Ohio Falls still in existence. Southern California Ry Museum has the body of Santa Fe branch-line combine #2419, renumbered 1902 from combine #524 rebuilt 1891 from 1st-class coach #44 built in 1879. This car was part of series 43-47. This car was retired in 1914 and the body sold.

Here is a maybe: Northwest Railway Museum reports it has former Northern Pacific Railway #889, a chair car, built by Ohio Falls Car Co in 1881 Museum says "Possibly used on first NP transcontinental train." Purchased 1960 from NP. However, a compiled all-time roster of Northern Passenger Cars (Preliminary Edition July 1993) says that this car was built by Barney & Smith in 1881. Car was in MW service after 1926 and then sold to the museum in 1958 (compiled roster) or 1960 (museum website). I recall seeing this car back in 1976 and I noted that some of the interior decorations around the window piers was similar to the ex-Santa Fe car at Orange Empire (now Southern California).

the photos may be fooling me, but it sure looks like way more than 1/2 of a car. I have seen worse cases brought back, it sure looks "ripe" for a full restoration/reconstruction. I hope you are able to save it. For something as scarce as this, parting out would seem like a sad second choice (but better than loosing it all).

David -

You may well be right about it being more than just 1/2 the car. Two ways to know for sure; either blueprint/diagram or a photo. Any chance that either might exist?

Les

I agree that this probably is almost all of the car. It's a gem and a trove of historical information. Any disassembly should be done very carefully with more photographs than would ever seem necessary.

The internal trusswork in the walls will allow you to interpolate an overall length for the between-bulkheads measurement.... which I'm cure you already know. Whether that's half or most of the carbody, it's great - and if simply cleaned and stabilized would be an interesting way to interpret early adaptive reuse and what happens after decades of it.

Best wishes.

This is a collection of Ohio Falls Car Company and AC&F photos, I don't see your specific car but some that might be similar (it won't let me copy and paste). I note that the six-axle coaches have trucks with an unusual design that looks like includes some sort of yaw damper, there is a NC&StL coach that looks similar to yours with six axles. Ohio Falls also made shorter four-axle coaches as well in your time period:
https://www.lakestatesarchive.org/Ohio- ... rs-Photos/

Also some photos here:
http://rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThu ... x?id=64056

Its exactly half of a 38 window 61 foot car, we have original drawings for it and the CNW car register page and it appears in Whites American railroad passenger car Vol 1 pages 98 and 99 it ran on 6 wheel trucks and was built in 1882, interior was maple (blinds) and mahogany, exterior was lemon yellow with ultramarine blue letter boards and gold and red lining. we are currently getting quotes on moving options and a Go Fund Me is in place.
i have removed and restored one window blind and one clerestory window.


Mike

I don't see any yaw dampers. That's a modern invention as far as car trucks go. The older six wheel trucks are a pretty standard side bearing design. I assume you're probably referring to the arches outside the side frames - they are the side bearings, nothing more.

A couple of other interesting things in those photos - Fox pressed trucks on the LVRR milk cars (I doubt they lasted long)??? And the very poor quality of the cast steel frame on the newer six wheel truck looks like their pattern maker or the foundry was having a very bad day (hope they didn't use that pic for advertising).