Hi Rob,
If you go to the park for your paint analysis visit, I'm sure that Singh will
give you the "cooks tour" of the car. I do have a shot or two that I can post
for the group.
Given that the car was under a roof one would have thought that it would be in
fair shape. Not so! To make the car sound again and road worthy, we had to
completely gut the car down to the steel walls and the steel underpan on the
floor. 90% of the roof is new with most ribs replaced and almost all of the t&g
sheathing. A new roof covering of a fully adhered rubber material guaranteed
for 25 years was installed. A fair amount of side sheathing was replaced and a
lot of work remains to be done on the end platform. Trucks and running gear are
in good shape with the wheels being almost new. Brakes, of course, will need a
re-build and the car will get a COT&S service. Much work remains before the car
will see service, but a project of this magnitude does take time to be done
right.
The interior of the car suffered a fire at one time in the kitchen area and
most of the interior partitions had been removed or re-located without much
skill being applied. About the only thing really worth saving was the china
cabinet. This was used as a bar back cabinet by the restaurant people and was
relatively untouched. Interior wall panelling was in rough shape. Indeed, when
we removed the wall panelling we found quite a few dead rats and other vermin.
We are fortunate that almost all of the CPR Superintendent's cars were
preserved and there are some fine examples at Cranbrook and Champion Park near
Calgary. Spending all this money to re-created yet another duplicate car would
have suited the purists but not had much practical value. After much soul
searching and many serious discussions it was decided to re-build the car as a
tail end car for the Royal Hudson train set. In this configuration it will have
a lounge at the end, a washroom about where the original was next to the
stateroom, a dining room and a kitchen for preparing light meals.This will
require some exterior modifications, but they will be in keeping with the
overall look of the car We hope that a ride in the car will give our guests a
chance to re-live the golden years of train travel in style.
Grant Ferguson,
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Kirkham
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2006 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] gold leaf lettering etc
Very fascinating story Grant - thanks for passing it along. Is business car
No.8 at WCRA? I ate in the restaurant years ago, and had wondered and
worried where it might have ended up. Are there any photos of the work in
progress?
Rob Kirkham
----- Original Message -----
