Passenger Car Department

In the last BLOG entry for this car we identified it as an 8-1-2 Pullman car.  Many fans, members, and even serious students of railroad history may be uncertain of what that means.

                                                YOU ASKED FOR IT!!!

Plan 3979 A

For our car, the way to decode 8-1-2 is to refer to the plan and we find it means 8 OPEN SECTIONS, 1 DRAWING ROOM, and 2 COMPARTMENTS.  Entering the car from the left we first find the Men's Facilities - a lavatory and smoking room which has a door leading to a modest one hole hopper.

Then there are eight open sections.  An open section was the workhorse of overnight rail travel for decades.  There are two facing cushioned bench seats for daytime travel.  At night those two benches would be made into a lower berth, and an upper berth would be dropped from storage above, below the car roof.  Coarse curtains would be drawn providing the very minimum in privacy.  For your exercise you would enter the upper berth via a portable shared ladder.  You better have earplugs since there was no way to prevent the other sounds from your neighbors, their snores and snorts, passing traffic in the aisles from being heard and noticed.

This was by far the most commonplace and affordable method of experiencing overnight rail travel in a Pullman car.  Nowadays, you might be familiar with them only from the classic Hollywood films, many of which staged such scenes for both drama and comic relief.

Next in line as we move through the car was the one drawing room which was the most deluxe accommodation in our car.  Noticeably, it was close to the center of the car which provided the most comfortable ride, and the quietest, being as far removed from the trucks as was feasible.  And - it included a private lavatory!

Next are the two compartments, similar in furnishings to the drawing room, but on a smaller scale, less lavish, smaller floor space.

Finally there is the separate women's lavatory, about what you might expect as similar to the men's but with dressing table and mirror.

There you have it.  With enough resources we hope to repaint and repair the exterior to bring it a very presentable display in our barns.  And with enough dollar support (Fund RMCLOU) and hard spent volunteer hours, the interior can be refurbished, open for display, or occasionally operating in our trains.

Do you have your PULLMAN TICKET?

As a fan of the Great Northern I am always happy to report and to see work being done on this car.  Here is some history and some new images of current work sent in by Roger Kramer.

The John J. Mc Loughlin is a heavyweight sleeper car car built by Pullman to plan 3979A as an 8-1-2 configuration in 1929.  This was part of an order for 28 cars to inaugurate the flagship train EMPIRE BUILDER, and may be the only preserved example of new heavyweight equipment built for that service.  It is very significant to railroad history.

The car received mechanical air conditioning with an auxiliary brine tank in 1936, with the brine tank removed in 1947.  When new streamlined lightweight equipment for the Empire Builder followed WW II, the car was sold to the Illinois Central in 1948, and the IC leased it back to the Pullman Company.  It was withdrawn from service in 1962 and joined the IRM collection in 1998.

The Pullman Company Car Construction records indicate it was originally painted Pullman Standard Green and it carried the EMPIRE BUILDER name on the letterboards.  That is the scheme to be used in our restoration.

On the IC it was repainted into the Panama Limited brown and orange and in March 1956 it included a major shopping and repainting following an accident, spending 24 days in the shops.

According to Pullman records, at various times the car saw service on the Pennsylvania RR, the Texas and Pacific, Western Pacific, and Chicago and Eastern Illinois.

Setting Up

Mark Hoffman is setting up scaffolding, with help from Roger Kramer (photographer).

East End

The work is ongoing to needle chip all the old layers of paint from the east end and vestibules.

BRRAP

The needle chipper makes good progress in the capable hands of Mark

Cornering

With some of the flat sheeting done, Mark moves on to some of the corner work.

The plan, as mentioned above, is to have this car repainted and carrying the EMPIRE BUILDER lettering.  Of course this could be done in a year or two, with a few (more than one) hundred thousand dollars.  We would send the car to a contractor to do all this repair and repainting in his shop.  But that money is not on hand, so as with many projects, we rely on the IRM volunteers to squeeze every penny of value from the limited funds available.  And progress is being made.

So even though not a lot of money is being spent right now, we could use more for paint, supplies, materials, parts and tools that are needed; and here is the inevitable commercial message.  Please support the work with a donation to the restricted fund RMCLOU.  It will not be wasted.

Here are some pictures of current work ongoing with our passenger cars.  Most think of our volunteers coming out to help on one of the two weekend days, but almost any day of the week you will see a few hardy souls 'sneaking' in a day on their favorite project.  Thanks to Roger Kramer for the report.

IC 3345

Illinois Central 3345 is a lightweight grill coach built by American Car and Foundry in 1948.  It arrived at IRM in 1999 and has seen regular restoration efforts and improvements.  Roger Kramer is inside the car, in front of the last LARGE glass window to be replaced.

LAST Window

Andy Townsend, project leader, and Roger are outside the very last window needing to be replaced.  When this one is in, all windows on the car will have been reinstalled.  This is a round porthole style which will receive prism glass as a privacy feature for the men's lavatory.  But first, sheet metal needs to be repaired on the exterior.

First Cuts

Andy is making do using two sawhorses in the back of Barn 3 to lay out and begin cutting new aluminum.  This is the work area that suffices for now as the Passenger Department Workshop.

Shaping

Then Andy carefully nibbles and grinds the sheet to shape.

L and N Diner

Gerry Boguse was out working inside one of our diners, L&N 2726, the ex GALT HOUSE.  This car is another product from American Car & Foundry, but a heavyweight design built in 1930 and arriving at IRM in 1987.

What are the plans??  That depends a lot on support for these projects.  A large amount of work is accomplished with very little money spent.  But wouldn't the 3345 look good in modern IC chocolate brown and orange if funds for paint and other supplies can be found?  And there are plans and prospects to hopefully return the 2726 to train service and perhaps offer some form of food service while riding the IRM mainline.

So donations are needed and will be very much appreciated for these projects - fund R3345 for the IC car, fund R2726 for the diner.

This time we will look at DL&W 556, one of three open platform Lackawanna coaches we have.  There is not much illumination in these so pardon the pics - and thank goodness for digital images where some enhancements are easily made.  The cars were built by Pullman in 1914, seat 78, and are classic railroad roof steel coaches.  They were acquired by IRM in 1972, and have long served as the backbone of our our weekend passenger service.  But they are getting timeworn and long overdue for repairs and rehab.

DLW 556

This car has been out of service for some time.  Mike Baksic and Ray Moorman have replaced steel and decking on one of the platforms, while others led by Mark Hoffman are concentrating on the interior.

DLW 556

The seats and light globes have been removed and a LOT of peeling paint is being painstakingly cleaned from the sidewalls and ceiling.  The schedule hopes for the car to be repainted and ready to go back into service in 2013, and that may be optimistic as more issues are uncovered.  But with more volunteer help it could easily meet or exceed that date.

The other two cars in the set are numbered 561 and 567.

The Passenger Car Department is alive and well at IRM with a lot of projects ongoing and a lot of work being done.  Hope you enjoyed these short looks behind the scenes.

We are again fortunate to have some images from Roger Kramer, this time to give you a peek inside the DOVER STRAIT.  To start out, here is repeat of a roster shot photo taken with the car newly painted and lettered.

Roster Shot

The DOVER STRAIT is heavyweight passenger car riding on six wheel trucks manufactured by Pullman in 1924 to a six double bedroom-buffet-lounge floor plan.  The above picture was taken shortly after completion of its exterior restoration and lettering.  For those not familiar with the work, go to the category listing on the right hand side of these BLOGS and click on the small plus sign in a box to expand the Passenger Car Department CATEGORY, then click on the DOVER category to see the entire log of entries for this car.

Lounge Photo

As you enter the car you are greeted by a framed NYC poster.  Bob Hunter is the Project Manager and he has been assisted by Gene Mackowiak.  Other assistance has come for special tasks from the Freight Car Department, the Steam Department (yes), and the Wednesday Special Projects Group.  After largely completing the exterior work, efforts have been focused on the interior, and it is getting close to completion.

Lounge

The car will be stunning as can be seen from this recent photo of the lounge - repainted, trim installed, and lighting working.  Of course, you will expect a request for donations. In this case funds are needed to acquire and install the carpeting, table lamps, furniture, other furnishings, and finishing touches.  The fund is RDOVER.