News from my father-in-law in Lynchburg, VA:

"I saw a short bit on the local news tonight reporting that city council had appropriated $18K to remove the passenger car from the Riverside Park train (presumably to scrap it). If there is more in the paper tomorrow I will let you know."

I will follow up with details as soon as I have them. Anyone who needs heavyweight caoch fittings such as seat brackets might want to start warming up the phones ASAP.

Any word or photos concerning the repainted Kanawha?

How about the Virginian caboose?

When I was down there, about 5 years ago, the coach needed scrapping. She was in severe, severe, decay.

Question from the left coast:

Is this a six-axle or four-axle? If the former, we should think about the
trucks and assorted draft gear. As was stated in another post, they're not making new stuff like this.

Well here is the best I can do on pictures or links on the Lynchburg Equipment at this time more to come I hope.

The Caboose is VGN 64 and has the following related web pages on its current condition and preservation.
http://www.club-e-stores.com/Caboose/ca ... chburg.htm
And this one:
http://www.club-e-stores.com/Caboose/ca ... hburg2.htm
Be sure to use the links on the bottoms of these pages as they will lead to more of the preservation and more pictures.

The Locomotive C&O 2760, following pictures as posted on Railpictures.com:
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=89604
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=86907

I hope to have more to add to this but this was my knee jerk reaction to this request, I'll do some digging to see about more recent pictures. And to see what’s going on with the Heavyweight Coach. Last I heard a Group in Nearby Roanoke VA may be trying to save the truck sets out from under the car if it was ever scraped. More to come, Steve

I should have provided more context.

For two year snow my father in law has been providing regular updates on the Lynchburg Kiwanis uphill battle to stabilize the train display and restore it to some state of dignity. Now that the complete Interchange archive is online you can search for "Lynchburg" and read the whole story from the last two years. But here is a nutshell:

1. The Kiwanis hired Chris McBride to do a cosmetic repainting of the locomotive and tender. He was able to do some basic prep work and get solid coats of primer and finish on before funds ran out for a time.

2. The Kiwanis also undertook to rebuild the Virginian caboose. On disassembly the caboose was discovered to be so far gone that the work amounts to building a new caboose on the existing frame.

3. The SR coach is a six-axle heavyweight. It is so far gone that scrapping is a perfectly reasonable decision. I posted last night simply to encourage those who might need the most easily removed fittings to contact the Kiwanis immediately and make their interest known. A donation to the project in exchange for salavage rights might be a deal they would entertain. (Note that this is pure speculation on my part--I speak totally without authority here).

Warren will keep us up to date on developments as he has time and as news is avialable.

I visited the site and walked through the coach about 3 1/2 years ago, before Chris was hired to work on the Kanawha. At that time, the car was pretty far gone. It had extensive rust in the roof, side sheets, and side sills, and the floor was gone in a number of places. (It had been in a state of benign neglect for over 40 years). On the other hand, it was one of the most original heavyweight coaches I have ever seen. I don't believe it was ever air conditioned, and looked as if the last updating had been done in the late 1930's. The reclining seats were a prewar design, and it had the original luggage racks and light fixtures. If there is anyone restoring, or thinking of restoring, a 1920's vintage Pullman built coach, this car is a treasure trove of original fittings and parts. Even though the body is toast, I'd like to see parts of it survive in other cars.

UPDATE:

The city council's decision is briefly described in an article today in the Lynchburg News and Advance:

http://www.newsadvance.com/

See the end of the article "Council talks stiff speeding fines".

It sounds as though sale of recoverable fittings is part of the City/Kiwanis plan. I would still advise anyone interested to make contacts now--the more so after reading Gary Gray's report in this thread.

It sounds like this car is a good candidate for Archeological Demolition, which is process of scrapping that salvages as many parts/artifacts as possible while documenting car construction. The Canadian Museum of Rail Transport has a page explaining the process at http://www.crowsnest.bc.ca/soospokane/curzonstory10.html

There are many parts that should be salvaged from this car, everything from electrical components, washroom parts, the complete brake system, draft gear, lighting fixtures, trucks, and perhaps even the frame itself. Likewise, if it is not possible to achieve a complete Archeological Demolition, then the car should at least be measured and documented to something approximating Historic American Engineering Record standards.

The Archeological Demolition or documentation would produce an unique archive of information about this car and heavyweight car construction in general that would attract future researchers. The parts would be invaluable in assting the restoration of other cars as well. Finally, there may be funding available to accomplish the documentation and salvage. If anybody is interested in this project and has the time to oversee such a project on site in Lynchburg (unfortunately I am stuck where I am) I would be happy to assist in developing a documentation plan.

Tom Cornillie

Count me in on any project Tom. Is there any possibility the N&W combine being restored at Spencer or the ORM coaches/ observations could use these parts?

TJG

It is my understanding that all of the cars you mentioned were/are complete - just heavily deteriorated. But, there are numerous other cars that are incomplete to some degree but in otherwise fair to good condition.

The special thing about the ORM cars is that they haven't been altered since leaving PRR service - which means that a well documented restoration process would yield a tremendous amount of information about the life of both cars and help open up funding opporunites for the restoration process itself.

Tom Cornillie

We are restoring a 1904 PRR N6B and last winter stripped it down to what you now have, a bare chassis. We sent it out in September to be sandblasted and painted. It came back blasted and primed in October but not painted. DEP got wind of them painting and told them to stop. It is just sitting under some tarps until springtime when we have to find help to paint it. I am too old to climb under the thing to spray it. Meantime, I am working on our N5C, putting the last of the windows in so we can get it dry inside. Plans are to work on the N6B during the warm weather and then go inside the N5C in the winter.

Good luck on your restoration. It looks like you at least have a crew working on it. We have two men in our restoration department and the other guy is working on our GE 100 ton diesel.

Later!
Mr. Ed