It is great to see the work that Bob Hunter and Gene Macowiak started in the 1990’s. Great work done in finishing the two bedrooms and the buffet dividers. Poking forward to seeing the car this summer.
Hello Kirk Hello, Yes the Dover is now in great shape. There are a couple of little projects to accomplish when the weather changes. I am pushing hard to use the car in our Pullman train this year. When? Probably labor day weekend and for railfan weekend. It might be operated earlier before just to ride and repair any small defects it has acquired since its last outing. Thanks Roger
I’m really impressed with the wonderful job your volunteers are doing to restore this historic passenger car. Once the restoration is complete, does IRM plan on running this car on the mainline or is this going to be a static display?
Hello Jim We will be operating the Dover this year depending upon its mechanical condition. I hope to use the car in display venue as well as in operations. Labor Day and Railfan weekend of 2021 will be its operational début. Be sure to stop by and view the car in Barn 3 where it will be on display. Thanks Roger
Hello Max The answer is Yes, the Dover will be used along with our other Pullman cars only in special event operations. When not in use it will be displayed in Barn 3 along with our other displayable equipment . Thanks Roger
Hi Ethan The 428 has been worked on recently but the focus now is on the maintenance and repair on the 1630 and the Shay. This Spring we will again work on the engine. Thanks Roger
Hey, as this concerns passenger cars, but what is the current status of the CBQ dome coach Silver Pony? It was last updated on in 2016, and is not listed in your online roster.
Also, any chance you will operate a longer streamliner sometime at the IRM using later equipment, I'd love to see the Nebraska Zephyr in a consist with other streamlined passenger cars and a brace of E units.
Just wondering!
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's interior, since I think the interior was in rather poor shape, and of course the trucks need to be refurbished if it's going to be used regularly. The current focus seems to be on fixing up the MILW coaches and getting them up and running [as well as working on the heavyweights: Dover Strait, John McLaughlin, etc. ], but once that's wrapped up, they could look into it.
IRM has run "longer streamliners" once in a while, usually for Diesel Days, but it's been a somewhat rare occurrence, and they have run an A-B-A set of E9s at some point as well. I believe one of the things holding them back from running the lightweight cars more often is they need some sort of generator support system to help keep the cars charged up and powered-, a museum member can better explain this if they read it.
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be coupled between the Burlington E unit and the first car they would not look very good, and passengers could not walk through from them to the rest of the train.