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