Seaboard92
Engineer
Well as I'm sure many of you know about the troubles at the Indiana Transportation Museum and how they have till July 12th to get all 100 pieces of equipment off the city owned property before it gets repossessed. So I decided why not buy one of their cars.
Initially I was going to buy the Burlington Silver Salon which is a Budd built combine and convert the baggage room into a dance room, and bar. While converting the coach section into a 30 seat lounge. While I was preparing the extraction plan for it someone offered 40k for the car and it was turned down demanding 50k.
So instead of giving up after I had already contacted a museum/tourist railway about operating my car there by leasing it to them I decided to pivot and get one of their 1937 Budd built coaches for the Santa Fe El Capitan. The cars all have HEP, HVAC, Roller Bearings, and most are current on CO&TS. However most have been victims of vandalism and are missing some to all Windows.
Windows aren't a deal breaker for me because I can install one in 45 minutes however FRA Type II glass is a pane to get due to so few manufacturers and the price. But not an overall deal breaker. I can piggy back on a friend's order and should get a slightly lower price.
So with that being done I went on finding a trucking company who will take it off the land locked track to the Indiana Railroad. Easy quick 1,500. To ship it to Nashville where I intend to use it will cost me another 1,500 to ship via CSX which is the only railroad in that market. Again not a super large issue but I am soliciting truck prices for the entire distance.
After that I talked to my friends at New River Joe and Chris, and the owner of the only park car in non certified PV service to learn about how to structure the deal. They recommended that I charge the railroad $1,200 a month for use of the car but that is contingent on them giving me running repairs for free, and free storage with power.
I have started making the formal arrangements with TCRM today to move the car. And if things move as planned it will enter service in my birthday August 11th without a new interior. The interior retrofit would occur during the off season.
Then tonight I find out ITM no longer has any interest in selling the Budd cars because they think they can get them out. While most of us monitoring the situation are not confident that they are able to do that. Most of us believe hell has a better chance in freezing over than them getting their act together.
So to do a recap of things July 2 the car would have cost $500 as a low bid, day 2 $45 dollars per ton (roughly 2,500-3,500 depending on weight), and July 4 they no longer want to sell. What does July 5 hold no clue but I'll keep trudging onward.
I'm sending two mechanical contractors to the cars on Saturday to inspect them and to negotiate for me because I am unable to make the trip up. They are going also to inspect cars for themselves and are doing me a favor inspecting stuff for me. By having boots on the ground I'll also know what I want to bid for the cars after the city repossess them which will be a win win for me.
In other PV news I have located four former NYC coaches in central Florida with a Ex Burlington baggage car, a LIRR commuter car, and a heavyweight C&O office car that I'm also eyeing. Either way this will be the year I attempt to buy a car because I have a solid business plan for one as well as a tourist operation gearing to start in the southeast that a county government study on it said would attract 30,000 passengers.
So I do have a strong need for a car (multiple cars). Currently for our tourist train we have four cars lined up to be in our consist. And are actively looking for more.
So be it a car from ITM or one of the cars from Central Florida it is very likely I'm getting a car this year. Please feel free to ask questions, and to follow the ups and the downs.
Today has been more of a down since they decided they won't sell. However I'm not overtly concerned because I have plenty of other options and roughly 25,000 I can spend on it between my partners and myself.
Which leads us to the two naming choices. My partner wants to call it Beaver Creek. His reasoning is my love of the Beaver State, and his love of wildlife. And my trifecta of names the Columbia Heights which incorporates the Columbia River, the city I grew up in Columbia, SC, and the city my partner is from the District.
Right now it's a white knuckle ride with plenty of ups and downs. So buckle in, and please keep all limbs inside the car at all times.
Initially I was going to buy the Burlington Silver Salon which is a Budd built combine and convert the baggage room into a dance room, and bar. While converting the coach section into a 30 seat lounge. While I was preparing the extraction plan for it someone offered 40k for the car and it was turned down demanding 50k.
So instead of giving up after I had already contacted a museum/tourist railway about operating my car there by leasing it to them I decided to pivot and get one of their 1937 Budd built coaches for the Santa Fe El Capitan. The cars all have HEP, HVAC, Roller Bearings, and most are current on CO&TS. However most have been victims of vandalism and are missing some to all Windows.
Windows aren't a deal breaker for me because I can install one in 45 minutes however FRA Type II glass is a pane to get due to so few manufacturers and the price. But not an overall deal breaker. I can piggy back on a friend's order and should get a slightly lower price.
So with that being done I went on finding a trucking company who will take it off the land locked track to the Indiana Railroad. Easy quick 1,500. To ship it to Nashville where I intend to use it will cost me another 1,500 to ship via CSX which is the only railroad in that market. Again not a super large issue but I am soliciting truck prices for the entire distance.
After that I talked to my friends at New River Joe and Chris, and the owner of the only park car in non certified PV service to learn about how to structure the deal. They recommended that I charge the railroad $1,200 a month for use of the car but that is contingent on them giving me running repairs for free, and free storage with power.
I have started making the formal arrangements with TCRM today to move the car. And if things move as planned it will enter service in my birthday August 11th without a new interior. The interior retrofit would occur during the off season.
Then tonight I find out ITM no longer has any interest in selling the Budd cars because they think they can get them out. While most of us monitoring the situation are not confident that they are able to do that. Most of us believe hell has a better chance in freezing over than them getting their act together.
So to do a recap of things July 2 the car would have cost $500 as a low bid, day 2 $45 dollars per ton (roughly 2,500-3,500 depending on weight), and July 4 they no longer want to sell. What does July 5 hold no clue but I'll keep trudging onward.
I'm sending two mechanical contractors to the cars on Saturday to inspect them and to negotiate for me because I am unable to make the trip up. They are going also to inspect cars for themselves and are doing me a favor inspecting stuff for me. By having boots on the ground I'll also know what I want to bid for the cars after the city repossess them which will be a win win for me.
In other PV news I have located four former NYC coaches in central Florida with a Ex Burlington baggage car, a LIRR commuter car, and a heavyweight C&O office car that I'm also eyeing. Either way this will be the year I attempt to buy a car because I have a solid business plan for one as well as a tourist operation gearing to start in the southeast that a county government study on it said would attract 30,000 passengers.
So I do have a strong need for a car (multiple cars). Currently for our tourist train we have four cars lined up to be in our consist. And are actively looking for more.
So be it a car from ITM or one of the cars from Central Florida it is very likely I'm getting a car this year. Please feel free to ask questions, and to follow the ups and the downs.
Today has been more of a down since they decided they won't sell. However I'm not overtly concerned because I have plenty of other options and roughly 25,000 I can spend on it between my partners and myself.
Which leads us to the two naming choices. My partner wants to call it Beaver Creek. His reasoning is my love of the Beaver State, and his love of wildlife. And my trifecta of names the Columbia Heights which incorporates the Columbia River, the city I grew up in Columbia, SC, and the city my partner is from the District.
Right now it's a white knuckle ride with plenty of ups and downs. So buckle in, and please keep all limbs inside the car at all times.