Passenger Car Department

The exterior painting for our food bar coach, IC 3345, is drawing to a close.   Thanks again to everyone who participated in this project.   We are still not completely finished with the exterior but the vast majority of work is done.  These latest efforts revolve around the painting of the vestibule and exterior doors on both ends and the prepping and painting of the trucks and other underbody parts.   We removed most of the old paint, sanded the surface and then primed and finished coated both the walls and ceiling of the vestibule and did the same to the entrance door on the opposite end.  It was very time consuming taking three to four weeks to complete.  These pictures will show you what was involved in getting  the results we are striving for. Our main project in October was the repainting of the vestibule.  It took many manhours to prep mask and paint the walls and ceiling.  We got it done!    WOW!  With a lot of planning and volunteer hours we finally completed this painting project.   Yet to be completed is the installation of both metal buffers and the purchase of canvass curtains that are attached to the buffers.  The buffers are stored in another location so they will be moved to be worked on this fall and winter.  Estimated cost for each canvass is $1000 each.   If you would like to help us with this particular facet of the project please send your donation either electronically or by mail and mark it IC 3345.                  Thanks  Roger

The BLE 25 is another example of our commitment to beatifying our passenger coach fleet.   As you might recall some of our operating fleet received little attention before Paul Cronin took over as curator.   Our volunteers have been slowly rectifying this the last couple of years.  This project  began last fall when a small crew begin polishing the sides of the car.  It resumed in late April and early May of this year.  We have scraped, sanded, primed and painted all the wood windows of our BLE combine.  We recently established our new shop in barn 10.  Please consider joining the coach department  team and volunteering in this new facility.  Our new shop is always open to visitors as well as members.    Thanks   Roger