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Muni returns cable car No. 1 to service
So it’s a replica, not a preserved car.
So, cooler heads prevailed, not those with the super-heated brains of preservationists…
Let me include here, only those that claim, with a suicide bomber’s determination, that no modern but similar looking “stuff” can be used in the restoration.
EG. EMD F locomotives (this is a story told to me and I trust the raconteur) used car body side sheets that were an open faced sandwich of plywood and metal; water invading between the layers caused the metal to rust out.
During restoration a purist wanted to restore using the sandwich. A replicator said we don’t need the wood for a museum piece…
The kerfuffle was a 7.5 on the Richter…right there in Old Sacramento…
My Great-Uncle George Follett, and my Uncle Norbert Feyling, both worked at the cable car barn for many years. In fact George was one of the last “true” blacksmiths of the barn, and had a big hand in rebuilding the cable car system back in '82-84. If I remember correctly, Norbert is now a Supervisor at the barn, prior to that he was an electrician.
Francis, the story that you heard about EMD carbody panels is correct. Both E and F units were built with carbody panels that had a core of plywood which was encased with formed steel panels on both sides and the edges. If memory serves, they were about 1/2 to 3/4s of an inch thick. If properly painted inside and out, they survived fairly well. In later years, as maintenance declined, some panels rusted out due to water infiltration. The panels could be easily changed as they were held in place with the visible exterior batten strips.
When the later FP45s and F45s were introduced, they had similar panels except the plywood core was replaced with a honeycomb structure that was made from an industrial strength cardboard. It did not work as well. Water quickly penetrated the panels which rusted. EMD had to replace the panels on most units under warranty. The replacements were thicker single sheets of steel with spacer blocks welded around the perimeter to make up the thickness dimension.