work on the short reefer will take place during the friends work session e.
the project is nearing completion. with any luck some of the work to be done this year will be getting the icing platforms fabricated and installed along with the running boards and saddles.
we started with basically a wooden box. for the most part all of the metal parts on the car had been scrapped by the d&rgw. we have had to fabricate the majority of the metal parts on the car. some of the parts were available from other scrapped out cars but most of those available parts had to be modified to fit on the #55. we have tried to use as many "historically correct" parts on the car (materials the d&rgw would have used) as possible. this process takes time but is well worth the effort.
we have been fortunate to get consultation over years from some of the grand junction carmen that used to be quite active with the friends. their knowledge of how the d&rgw did rebuilds and repairs has enabled us to "do things the way the d&rgw did" when possible.
just my two cents.
matt j.