In June 1998 I bought Rio Grande car # 4025 (Fairmont Ser. No. 243414)
with the idea it would become my hot weather car. After some consideration
I decided to make it a dual gauge car capable of running on both standard
and narrow gauge track. I used the rough plans given me by Pat "Smitty" Smith.
The restoration and narrow work began June 1, 1999. The motor was rebuilt by
Onan, the transmission repaired by Dudley Newman. Smitty cut down the
axles. I did all the tear down, rebuild, and wiring. About 36 hours of various
machine, welding and sheet metal shop time went into the under carriage
modifications and general repairs. A paint shop took parts of two days for the
spray work. On June 3, 2000, lacking only seats and some sound proofing
material, I declared the project complete. Here are photos showing the work
as it progressed.
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June 1998. Photo one shows 4025 in Chuck Harrison's back yard in
Las Vegas. Chuck and Sal Jacobs partnered up to buy 35 cars at a
1992 auction in Denver.
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December 1999. After tear down, the motor is out for overhaul
at Onan and the sand blasting is complete.
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December 1999. These photos show the narrow axles being assembled. |
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February 2000. The fabrication of the under carriage parts, using
3/16" square tubing, is complete and the axles are mounted. The body
has been shot with primer and is awaiting machine work on the solid brake
rod. Note how the
wheels stick up into the car body requiring wheel fenders. The final
color Omaha Orange paint came from NAPA.
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April 2000. The control panel was not repainted so the
original color could be seen as well as the original wiring used for a guide.
The railroad modifications to the wiring make sense but do not match "the book."
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April 2000. The roof was bent and had several antenna and radio
mounting holes. A local welding shop did a terrific job taking
4 hours to fill a dozen holes and straighten the roof.
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June 2000. After looking at the manuals I decided to go with one
white light forward and one white light on the rear.
Good shop help is hard to find. We let him pose here with the completed
car.
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The only control panel change (besides new switches)
is the added horn button below the oil gauge.
My throttle is just a piece of aluminum stock used to make a new throttle
when a railroad worker broke the original. A friend gave me a Fairmont
throttle to replace it. However, I've decided to keep for now the fabricated
throttle as somehow more authentic than the original part.
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In this low angle front view you can see how the narrow wheels are
inside the car body. A second set of axles is ready to bolt on in place
of these. The brake assemblies move to the outside hangers when
the car runs as a standard gauge car.
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The brake rod on the original car is a hollow tube with solid ends
welded on. For this narrow modification, a piece of solid one inch
round stock (with much machining) replaced the original part.
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June 2000. The Fairmont muffler has been replaced with a look alike
spark arrestor from Richter. The part number is SASR24H1-8. The chrome
gas cap is new. NAPA part number 703-1220 is a perfect replacement for
the original.
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For red aspect lights when running backward, I used truck trailer marker
lights that have a bright output, are easy to replace, and blend in with the
original look of the car.
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To see this car on the rails, go back to the main page and check out the
Cumbres & Toltec and White Pass & Yukon Route reports. This car was sold in
September 2002 to Ron Ivaldi of Fremont, CA. He's running it both
as a standard and narrow gauge car. If you're interested in doing a narrow car, send me e-mail and I'll reply with
a few of the problems to expect.
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