Haich
I have a copy of the L&RP that features the story of #49 and have read it several times, particularly studying how the cupola was assembled and lifted onto the roof.
I have seen 49 in person and crawled around under the car studying how the dead lever bracket was attached to the frame, interesting.
Thank you and the team for going the extra mile (miles) to do the necessary research to restore the car to as close to original as possible including seat cushions, stovepipe, color and all the other details.
The photos of the car on the ground at the museum look exactly as C&S 1008 looked when we acquired her in 1991. At the time I was fortunate to be introduced to Randy Hees of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Bolder City, Nevada who taught me the professional attitude and goals of a museum quality restoration. My brother Bob and I have strived to maintain these goals in our restoration work. Keeping the work as close as possible to the original in all aspects is what makes the result a “Museum Quality” restoration and noting any deviation and the reason for making that decision with future historians in mind.
In researching the the various parts of 1008 we found that the only C&S caboose with her original parts was 1006 in Silver Plume, CO. Bob and I have spent several days crawling around under the car with camera and tape measure making sketches and discovering which parts we would be able to reproduce and which would be impossible for our limited budget to support. While having new patterns made and castings poured for the journal boxes and pedestals would be the absolute correct way it was decided an alternate solution would have to be found. As it turned out the Colorado Railroad Museum came to the rescue by making a set of pedestals and journals (former CB&Q) available.
The point is, the work to accurately rebuild 49 was very important in the research and restoration of at least one other historic car - Thank you to the restoration teams who have made historically accurate restorations so students in the future will be able to understand the the mechanics and engineering of railroading in the 1800’s.
Richard Farmer
