The car is in sad shape, but it looks as if an attempt is being made to preserve the car. Too bad the Frisco didn't buy its light weight cars from Budd.
COR-TEN, you gotta love it! A condition resulting in what passenger car lovers loosely call A Case Of Pullmanite. Actually, it's too bad Pullman Standard used this stuff; the bane of those of us in the construction industry who had to suffer with the results of its deterioration on surrounding finishes and structures.
At the risk of angering some of the Museum of Transport supporters, I always thought they just didn't care about this car and neglected it for years. Buck
I was at the Museum four or five years ago, back when I was working on the TRRA book, and the car looked terrible then. Obviously nobody has done anything much with it during that time. I realize there is a lot of work that has to go into restoring something like this (the Illinois Railway Museum here locally has a BIG backlog of scrap heap candidates), but this car really needs some help, soon. GS
Always sad to see this kind of deterioration. Makes me a bit more understanding about the sidings thru here that have had cars tied down in them for well, a looong time. I was told as it was so dry here it was a good place to store cars. HHHMMM, now I know why we sit in sidings so long.
Like so many museums the money and man power has likely not been there resulting in neglect of significant pieces of equipment and for some it is really sad to see. I can only hope that this car yet can be restored to its original beauty... it is a historically significant piece of Frisco that deserves to be taken care of and I really do hope that it will yet be able to start receiving the care that it needs. So many historically significant cars are in bad shape and sometimes its the museum management that is at fault in regards to such things. I don't know that this is the case here but I know of a well known excursion car on the east end of the country that contributed significantly to the coffers of the museum which now sits neglected and ignored by the higher ups. The idea that they have let the car sit and rot, not unlike the Normandy but I yet hope that both will be able to see both funding and workers who can make a difference, I would really be grieved if these significant pieces of equipment end up meeting a worse fate. They don't deserve such!!! Would a letter writing campaign work (as in snail mail, tree killer products) for the Normandy? I really don't know but it truly is something that might need to consider. Such a campaign has, at least for now, saved one very significant piece of the NC&StL history... it might be a try here as well!!!
