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SMOKEY CAR MOVE

1K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Jerry Barnes 
#1 ·
Hi all,
An interesting morning. Our rail preservation group aquired this wood car and we moved it this morning to our storage yard site.
I am not up to speed on this car, but briefly; It was built sometime between 1888-1891 either as a combine or coach by and for the Pennsy railroad then sold to the Dardanelle & Russellville RR. Anyone with helpful additional information please speak up.

The car was apparently retired in 1934 and was later remodeled by 20th Century Fox for their Jesse James movie into a 4 door combine, they also completely sided it over. In 1972 it went to Short Line Enterprises of Los Angeles.
Hawkeye Transportation of Redding, CA bought the car in 1980 and set it in their yard where the first picture here finds it. Hawkeye Transportation has donated it to the Shasta-Cascade Rail Preservation Society and been waiting patiently for several years until we could afford to move it.

Today was the Day.

As you can see it is still a weee bit smokey here in Northern California. The good news is that all the fires are now contained. Now if they can just get them put out!

We had removed the trucks last month and set the car on cribbing. The trucks are the first step in rebuilding. Finding the right size Oak timbers ought to be fun.




Here both cranes are rigged and the car is being swung to the lowboy. The car as built weighed 42,000 lbs less trucks, (64,000 with trucks)but is a little lighter now as it is pretty well stripped inside.



We had to keep the car on the lower part of the trailer deck in order to meet height requirements and that left us with a 14 foot overhang. That overhang was a little nerve racking because the cars main wood beams are so badly deteriorated.




Coming off the truck and onto the cribbing at the storage yard tracks.




Setting her on the cribbing on the track until we can get the trucks rebuilt.


Thanks for your time.
Rick Marty
 
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#2 ·
It's nice to know that this old car is being preserved. The studios sure didn't give a hoot about their equipment. Thanks also to Short Line Enterprises for the foresight in saving this car, and all of the equipment they saved, to begin with. I spent many happy hours with that group in Alta Loma, CA when they were based there before the move to Jamestown. Good luck with the restoration.
 
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