Here at the Heber Valley Railroad we are in the process of putting UP Chair Car #5340 back into service. Unfortunately, the elements have not been kind to this 59 year old car and with the water damage the lower interior hardboard panels have bowed and buckled (read: "need to be replaced"). The panels are longer than the 8 footers that I can find through local sources (NO ONE WANTS TO EVEN SPEAK SPECIAL ORDER!) Masonite (International Paper) shows on their website that longer panels are available but a phone call to them resulted in "we no longer distribute to the consumer market because of the foreign imports -- check with your local home center")

Do any of you have a source of the 12 to 16 foot 1/4" tempered panels?

thanks in advance.

doc

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

Try Georgia Pacific's Hardboard division. I dealt with them for oversize panels for a car restoration, and they were very helpful, even having the stuff cut to size. Use the net to track down the plant where your sizes are manufactured to find who to talk to. I must admit, though, that they were hard to contact, but a sales associate at a local Lowe's store (a Home Depot Competitor) managed to make contact with persistance through their GaPac sales rep.

Hope this helps,
Mike

> Here at the Heber Valley Railroad we are in
> the process of putting UP Chair Car #5340
> back into service. Unfortunately, the
> elements have not been kind to this 59 year
> old car and with the water damage the lower
> interior hardboard panels have bowed and
> buckled (read: "need to be
> replaced"). The panels are longer than
> the 8 footers that I can find through local
> sources (NO ONE WANTS TO EVEN SPEAK SPECIAL
> ORDER!) Masonite (International Paper) shows
> on their website that longer panels are
> available but a phone call to them resulted
> in "we no longer distribute to the
> consumer market because of the foreign
> imports -- check with your local home
> center")

> Do any of you have a source of the 12 to 16
> foot 1/4" tempered panels?

> thanks in advance.

> doc


Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
newriver400@cs.com