EndlessLifeofHistoricTrains?

By:JoshMiller

Think what they would say if you were able to go back in time and tell the buildersoftherailcarsyouareridingon,suchasRalphBudd,PullmanorLowey, that over 70 years in the future, people would be still using the same train cars they built for fun, scenic railroad excursions? They would probably tell you “they’ll never last that long,” and would probably add some profanity in there somewhere. It is a true testament to the hard working, mostly volunteer, maintenance crews who keep ours and many of the heritage railroads operating as well as we do.

Our past few years have had plenty of mechanical problems on the railroad. At no fault of our own, the people who built our historic equipment simply never designed them to be used as long as we are attempting (and for the most part have succeeded) to use them for. Or did they?

All across the country, railroad museums and tourist railroads like us restore and operate their historic railroad equipment. Some of the equipment has held up better than others, but for the most part, the heritage railroad industry has some really great restoration work accomplished, and the historic railroad equipment keeps rollin’ on.

This summer, members of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum will finish some very significant rehabilitation and restoration projects - back to working order: Steam Locomotive #28 is pulling passengers again, and the Silver Club Dome Car is in service. Meanwhile, fresh paint has been applied to the W24 and Rainier Club cars, and the NP #2435 Engine will be cosmetically restored. Hopefully projects like these, among many others across the country, will continue into the foreseeable future.