Re: Denver South Park & Pacific 191

Jeff,

Yikes!!! Tens of thousands of dollars for a cab and tender frame? I personally built the cab for Eureka and its tender frame. It did not cost anywhere near that amount. I have to admit though, it was over 30 years ago and the wood was not quite as expensive as now. . Do any of your employees or volunteers have wood working talents and does the museum shop have the planers, jointers and routers to make the components? If it can be done in house you will, as I am sure you know, save a boatload of money. If you don't have the equipment available, I'll tell you how I pulled making Eureka's cab off.

First of all, I had a copy of the Baldwin blueprints. There is nothing like having those available. No guess work. Then, I priced the walnut wood locally and found it to be astronomically expensive.....especially the 12 quarter stuff. So I went to plan B. Years ago I used to make muzzle loading rifles, and would get my stock blanks from a guy in Tennessee. I called my supplier up, but he said he just retired. He asked me what I wanted the 12 quarter walnut for and I told him I was restoring an old locomotive built in 1875. He said I should contact Midwest Walnut in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I did. Initially they said they only sold walnut in that size in 1,000 board foot lots, and it was still very expensive. Then they asked me what I wanted the walnut for. I told them and to my utter astonishment their representative said he was building a live steam model of a 4-4-0 himself. We talked about it for awhile, and then he said, "what the hell, I will give you what you need at our cost!" So, now I had the walnut I needed at a very reasonable price.

The next big problem was making the large components to the cab. I had some wood working skills from making gun stocks, but what I did not have was the equipment to plane and mill the large cab pieces. At that time, getting the necessary equipment was to expensive for me. I thought about what I was going to do......and then one day noticed that at my alma mater, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, offered an extension class in advanced wood working. I figured it was time for me to go back to school. and signed up for the class.

I'll never forget when our instructor queried the class about what projects they wanted to make. Each of the students answered.....I want to build a jewelry box, or a small desk or a table and stuff like that. It then came to me, and I said I want to build a cab for a steam locomotive. My instructor said, "Oh, a live steam model?" I said "nope....a full size locomotive built in 1875." You could hear a pin drop. My instructor thought I was nuts, and my classmates were astonished. Nevertheless, over the semester, I made all the major parts for the cab at that UNLV class. The smaller stuff I did in my shop at home, and got the cab built.

Now, I tell this story because I guess it shows what a cheap S.O.B. I can be. But it also demonstrates, that some things do not have to be as expensive as they first appear if a project gets a little thinking out of the box. Anyhow, that's how I did it and saved a LOT of money.

Dan