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Narrow Gauge Dead Goat Saloon
Progress Report #1, Passenger Car Design
Posted By: Bob Keller <
bobkeller@inetarena.com>
Date: Friday, 25 May 2001, at 9:47 p.m.
#01, Progress Report, Proposed New Cars for the C&TS RR
As many of you know, I’ve been contemplating the design and construction of luxurious new passenger cars for
the C&TS RR. My basic motivation is that the railroad has not developed a patronage level that guarantees its
long term preservation, and I think there are things that can be done to improve the situation. The three basic
problems that stifle the railroad’s patronage growth are: (1) The towns of Chama and Antonito do not compare to
Durango and Silverton as to tourist accommodations, historical interest, and charm. (2) There is no magnificent
alternate attraction, such as Mesa Verde National Park, near the railroad. (3) The passenger cars presently in use
on the railroad, with their cramped school-bus seating, do not provide a genuinely joyous and pleasurable ride.
There is essentially nothing we can do about the first two problems, but we certainly can do something about the
third. That is what my current project is all about. I am designing a car that will be FAR SUPERIOR to the
present cars (and the D&S cars) in passenger comforts, and much lighter per passenger. When the design is
complete, I intend to undertake a program to obtain financing for the construction of, first, one prototype, and then,
a train of ten cars. I’m building 1:20 models of the car structure and finished version for display at the Narrow
Gauge Convention in Salt Lake City. I will also give a clinic on the design.
Here are some of the basic design concepts that I’m working with: The south walls of the cars will consist
entirely of large view windows, and the seating along the south wall will be pairs of airline-quality seats mounted
on swivels. The north walls of the cars will be built to resemble (not be models of) the various kinds of cars used
on the San Juan. The north-side seating will be a single row of comfortable, flop over seats.
For weight control, I plan to use steel for everything below the floor (trucks, sills, bolsters, draft gear, etc.) and
aluminum or Fiberglas for everything above. The trucks will have roller bearings, and truck mounted brakes, but a
traditional appearance. I would guess, right now, that there would be many digitally controlled flame cut parts.
After posting a very brief announcement of this project on The Goat, I got some very useful suggestions from
“buckhead”,
pfdx@aol.com, about literature that would be helpful. Some of this arrived today, or was found at the
Multnomah County Library (Portland, Oregon). The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 49, Part 238
(Passenger Equipment Safety Standards) and 239, came in from Simmons Boardman. (Good WebSite), and “The
Pocket List of Railway Officials - full of equipment supplier advertising - was at the library. (The Reference
Section let me check out an out-of-date copy.)
Well, the really good news is that the CFR does not apply to the C&TS RR. Here are some excerpts:
238.3
(a).... this part applies to all:
(1) Railroads that operate intercity or commuter passenger train service on standard
gage track.
(c) This part does not apply to :
(3) Tourist, scenic, historic, or excursion operations,.....
I had hoped that this would be the situation, but - being very wary of government - did not expect such explicit
waivers. So, my intent at this time is to respect the general notions set forth in these regulations, making some
effort to adjust them to the size and weight of the narrow gauge cars. Two of these are: A car must remain intact
lying on its side or roof after a wreck, with no invasive damage into the passenger compartment. Cars must have a
“collision post” each side of the end doors, sufficiently strong to prevent telescoping. These things can be done
with aluminum, with careful design, in the same way that aircraft can be made quite sturdy.
The current status of the project is that I have many drawings provided by Bruce Maxwell, from his father’s work,
which I am using to explore the north elevations of the cars. I have my initial version of a drawing on AutoCAD
2000, which has a floor plan, south and north elevations, and an end view. This proved out yesterday, printed out
from my floppy, to 1:20 scale by a local blueprint house.
An interesting adjunct to the project is the design of the models to be displayed at Salt Lake City. It is simply a
different undertaking than the design of the cars themselves. The model materials I have to work with do not
conform exactly to the shapes I’ll be using in the real cars. Some things that I don’t want to model from scratch,
like couplers, trucks, and brake systems, are simply not available. (I am getting some fine help from Hartford
Products, Inc. and Fall River Productions.) I admit to being an absolute whore about model building. I never
model parts that cannot be seen, and I never build from scratch anything I can purchase from someone who already
did.
I wouldn’t mind some encouragement with this project. If you find it of interest, please post a comment or two.
Cheers,
Bob Keller
abc
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Messages In This Thread
NEW: Progress Report #1, Passenger Car Design (views: 54)
Bob Keller -- Friday, 25 May 2001, at 9:47 p.m.
NEW: Re: Progress Report #1, Passenger Car Design (views: 34)
Oil Czar -- Friday, 25 May 2001, at 11:10 p.m.
NEW: Re: Progress Report #1, Passenger Car Design (views: 29)
Soapy Smith -- Saturday, 26 May 2001, at 6:08 a.m.
NEW: White Pass Cars (views: 35)
Bob Keller -- Saturday, 26 May 2001, at 8:50 a.m.
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