The joys of wooden car upkeep

As I suppose anyone who has ever worked on them knows, having a wood railroad car means that you are engaged in a constant battle to keep it from returning to the earth from whence it came.

There is always a feeling of accomplishment once a car is initially restored, though the sad fact is (barring of course putting the car in a climate controlled building) that a restoration is never really complete, it is an ongoing process.

Since I got D&RGW 04953 in 2002, I have repainted it 3 times (2002,2005 and 2011) with numerous touch ups and re-caulkings in between. While I like the car to look good, my main goal is to keep it watertight and at least slow down the rot. The rolled asphalt shingle roof, installed in 2002, has held up well but is nearing the end of its useful life.

Last week saw another battle fought and, for the moment, won.

For what it is worth here are some photos of the fun and games....


In 2005, I put some plywood along the sides of the car where the siding was rotted away from sitting in the dirt at Monarch for years. This was a "quick and easy" fix before the car went to the Georgetown Loop. One of the plywood sections had itself rotted, so another fix was in order. I cut the siding up a bit above the rot and patched in new pieces. Here it is midway through the repair. The light gray paint on the sidesill is from the first time I painted the car in 2002.


Siding patch in place. Not quite a match, but better looking than the plywood. I had hoped to buy some of the siding from recently dismantled D&RGW 04999 at the CRM, but they had already committed it to other projects.


While working on the siding, I made the mistake of looking up and noticed that the roofing was splitting apart at the edge in several places.


After repairing the siding, I repainted the entire side of the car (the other side and both ends were doing fine, but this side needed help). Repainting means relettering, so out came the stencils. I cheated this time and used spray paint to do the lettering. On the plus side "OFFICE" is now straight and in the right place.


After some roof repair (a new layer of rolled asphalt over the badly split sections and a coat of sealant for the entire roof) 04953 is ready to face the elements for a few more minutes. Note the piece of plywood on the left end of the car. It is covering rotten siding and a rotted section of side sill. Thus far the plywood is still solid and watertight, so it will stay for a few years until the entire car needs a new paint job.

Jason Midyette