THE PULLMAN
PROJECT
Car Construction Record Shopping and Repair
History
Copyright 2001 – 2010 Thomas C. Madden
STAR LAKE
was shopped 11 times during its service life. Four of these deserve a closer
look.
- The car was rebuilt
at Pullman’s Calumet
Shops from late April to late May 1935. (MR = Major Rebuild) Most Santa
Fe-assigned Pullmans had steam ejector air
conditioning installed at the Santa Fe’s
Topeka Shops, but all the 3585B/3585E cars
received theirs during their Calumet
rebuilds.
- STAR
LAKE was repainted at Pullman’s Richmond
(California)
Shops in February 1938 (MSB = Minor Sand Blast, which indicated
pre-painting preparation.)
- The car was damaged
in an accident and was repaired and repainted in February 1946. (SE =
Special Enamel, A = Accident.) [The accident occurred at Chito, NM
on 12/13/45 when M.A.I.N.* 48104 was rear-ended by #24. Three other Pullmans were also
damaged: 12-1 ROCKLIN, Tourist Car 1395 and Troop Sleeper 7148.]
- Another accident sent
the car to the shops in July 1948. (S = Special, A = Accident.)
*: Military Authorization Identification Number,
i.e. a troop train.
Four special shopping orders
were issued for STAR
LAKE over the years. The
check marks show if they were carried out, but they are not correlated with any
particular shoppings.
Dimensional and weight
information was tracked. This shows that air conditioning and reconfiguring
added almost seven tons to the car in its May 1935 shopping. This added weight is
mostly at one end, as shown by the unequal weights carried by the trucks at the
"M. End" (men’s lavatory end, where the vestibule was removed)
and "Opp. End" (opposite end). STAR LAKE’s 2411 trucks could
handle this weight, but cars with 1910 or 2410 trucks typically had their
trucks beefed up to 1910A or 2410A when air conditioning was installed. This
required heavier spring packages and thicker drop equalizers.
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Tom Madden
pullmanboss (at) yahoo (dot) com