Restoring a truss

Pullman builder's photo, courtesy of the
California State Railroad Museum library.

Parlor car 1799 is a Pullman Company product  constructed almost entirely of wood, and completed in 1901.  The car was built for extra fare (first class, similar to business class today) service on the Northern Pacific Railway's Lake Superior Limited serving between Minneapolis/St Paul and Duluth.  Later, the car was transferred to Washington State where it operated on the North Coast Limited between Seattle and Spokane.  The car was retired in 1940 and sold for use as a cottage on Whidbey Island.  It was donated to the Northwest Railway Museum and moved to Snoqualmie in 2018.  

The cottage era doors 

were removed earlier this 

year.

During the cottage era when it resided on Whidbey Island, two entry doors were cut into the carbody in the center of the car, one on each side.  The key objective of the rehabilitation and restoration is to return to the car to its period of significance when it operated on the Northern Pacific Railway.  So the doorways had to be removed and the missing components in the truss restored.  

Floyd cuts a truss component to

length for use on the 1799.

Floyd V. took the lead on this part of the project and fabricated in kind replacement sections of compression truss from southern yellow pine.  Next, the truss plank was replaced in kind using two large planks of Douglas fir.  Then the inter truss blocking was replaced with Douglas fir planks, though they were originally yellow poplar heartwood, which is not currently available to the Museum.  New sections were attached to old with lap slices, wood screws, and marine epoxy.  A replacement window sash set will be fabricated and installed later; new exterior cladding will be applied soon.

The cottage-era doorway is no more; a window will be placed in the opening.

Rehabilitation and restoration of parlor car 1799 is continuing inside the Northwest Railway Museum's Conservation and Restoration Workshop. Funding for this phase of the parlor car project has been provided by individual contributions, the Washington State Historical Society Heritage Capital program, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and by the Nysether Family Foundation.

Your support is welcome, and will be used to complete this major effort!.  Please click here to be directed to the Museum's contribution page.

New wood is seen in the compression

truss on parlor car 1799.

This 1909 cab builder's diagram illustrates

the carbody structure in a modern wood car

that is normally invisible to passengers.

Restoring a truss - part one

Parlor car 1799 was built by Pullman in 1901.  After 38 years of service for the Northern Pacific Railway, the car found a second use as a seaside cottage.  That new adaptive use removed the distinctive truss rods, queen posts, and needle beams from the wooden car's underbody that supported the car while in service.  These components were vital for the car frame to span from one truck to the next, but no longer required once the car was set on a foundation.  So naturally for the car to return to its appearance and function as a railroad parlor car, the trusses required restoration.

The parlor car was moved from Whidbey Island on Puget Sound to the Northwest Railway Museum using a temporary steel frame.  This adjustable device had been used to move countless homes and served the same purpose for the parlor car.  Once unloaded at the Museum, the car was supported with wood and steel car stands, but to allow the car to return to its former glory as a Pullman parlor car, the truss had to be replaced.

The Museum was fortunate to have retained the needle beam and queen posts from a former Canadian Pacific officials car.  These hardware components were standardized by the Master Car Builders, the forerunner of today's Association of American Railroads.  So the queen posts and needle beams manufactured in the Hochelaga Shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal were visually and functionally nearly identical to the components manufactured by the car builder in Pullman, Illinois.

The rehabilitation and restoration of parlor car 1799 to its appearance and function during the early 20th Century is being supported in part by a grant from the Heritage Capital Projects program of the Washington State Historical Society.  Many staff costs are used to meet the obligatory cost share and are funded by the Museum's operating budget, which has been seriously compromised by the closure necessitated by the pandemic.  Your support helps this project continue through to completion, and ensure the museum continues to serve its educational purposes.  

Please consider a contribution to GiveBig 2021.  Your support will help this project overcome the pandemic.