History

  Delivered by the Budd Company as AT&SF 52-seat coach 3079 the car was one of 30 (3072-3101) ordered by the Santa Fe Railway in February of 1937. Built in lot 977 the cars were delivered from July through October of the same year. All were placed in service on the Scout. Coach 3079 was among the 29 cars sold to NJDOT in 1969 and it was reconfigured to seat 84 commuters.

  NJ Transit donated the coach to the United Railways Historical Societies of New Jersey. Mr. John McMath bought the car in 1991. Mr. McMath configured the car for personal use and renamed it Coco Grove. He stripped out the coach interior and installed 4 bedrooms, kitchen, small dining area and a solarium lounge at the vestibule end. In 1996 the car met the requirements for Amtrak service and has continued to be mechanically certified. The car is the oldest Amtrak certified and operable Budd built car in the country.

  Mr. McMath donated the car to the Arizona Railway Museum April 28, 2005 at 10:20 AM on track 18 at Washington DC Union Station. Bart & Jane Barton accepted the keys and accompanied the car as far as Tucson. The car was delivered to the museum by the Union Pacific on Monday May 9, 2005.

Project Description

Upgrade car to a level which would make it useable as a charter or lease car for passengers. Car is mechanically complete and Amtrak certified.

 Interior

Wash all walls and ceilings with TSP to prep for painting.

Complete moldings in all rooms.

Replace fish bowl window in kitchen.

Paint lounge and hallway. Ceiling = Sky Silver ( white ); walls = New Penny ( copper )

Remove carpet in lounge and hall; re-install with sound block and good carpet pad.

Remove, paint strip, clean and re-install radiator covers in lounge and hallway; attach to floor.

Paint dining area ceiling Sky Silver

Veneer dining room walls with mahogany; stain with cherry

Paint kitchen ceiling; kitchen hall; A end entry; public toilet =  Sky Silver

Install new door locks / latches on connecting bathroom doors.

Bedroom ceilings painted Sky Silver; walls copper; dresser fronts copper.

Install shelves in kitchen cabinets

Acquire pillows, sheets, blankets, bath towels, hand towels, face cloths.

Install handles on mirror cabinets in bedrooms

Clean safety rails in hallway

Acquire lounge furniture – couches, swivel chairs, drink stands

Acquire canyon photographs to decorate car.

Rebuild seating in dining area

Rebuild pantry area with doors

Install new sink in public bathroom

Build new panel for inside wall in public bathroom

Repair / replace exhaust fan in public bathroom

Exterior

Wash car body and roof with pink soap.

Remove current lettering from car body; replace with Santa Fe and Diablo Canyon name.

Wash trucks

Paint trucks silver / aluminum

Check storage boxes for content

Change oil in generator

Check water in batteries – generator start and back up.

Adjust brake beams for shoe lap over.

Acquire and install short shoes

Change plumbing to allow gray water to go to ground.

Replace broken windows – renew gaskets as required.

Make hand brake more user friendly.

Wash and paint strip ends of car body.

More tasks will be discovered during the process and changes may be made as more members make input to the project.

July 23, 2006

The floor in the dining area has been replaced with Pergo wood flooring. The seats and backs for the dining room booths have been reupholstered. The seats of the chairs in the lounge have had new foam installed and the seat upholstery cleaned. Jim Wallin serviced the generator including an oil change and new fuel and air filters.

May 18, 2006

All items found at the annual inspection have been corrected. Jerry McGonigle, Richard Poyer and Matt Imbrogno repaired the truck frame and installed the brake cylinder test port. The dining room floor is being replaced and new table legs installed.

April 2, 2006

Handbrake has been re-assembled and installed on car. The specialty stepped washer for the handle was fabricated by W.C. Machine. Dave Luca washed all the windows including paint removal on some and using a polishing compound on others to remove crud stains. Under car equipment has been cleaned and painted. Sourced stainless steel expanded metal for the A/C condenser grill, Andy Szabo had the new one built by Phoenix Metalcraft, Bart and Dave Luca installed the new grill. Acquired air gauge for brake pipe / brake cylinder to install in lounge, Janet Dittmer paint stripped and cleaned. PC-1 inspection is due in April. Pat Egan was scheduled on March 13 and 14 so inspection would be completed prior to the move to Tumbleweed. Inspection found some items for correction, the worst being a crack on both sides of the intermediate truck transom.

January 26, 2006

The exterior of the car including the trucks has been washed with pink soap by Russ Lassuy and Bart Barton. The car sides below the window belt received a second hand wash cleaning with mag wheel cleaner and a white scotch bright pad. Jane Barton and Craig shields have framed and hung the Santa Fe calendars in the hallway between windows. Sand paintings have been hung in the window pier panels on both sides of lounge. New pleated shades are installed in the lounge on side and end windows. New stainless steel racks fabricated by Phoenix Metalcraft are in place in the kitchen. New, 2 inch, short brake shoes have been installed on all wheels along with new spring steel shoe keys. Richard Poyer and Gerry McGonigle worked on the brake rigging on wheel six. They were able to remove the wobble which caused the brake shoes to wear over the wheel edge. The hand brake has been taken apart for proper lubrication and to incorporate a more elegant application of the handle handhold. The air conditioning condenser protection grill has been removed for replacement. The lower bar has rusted through in a number of places. Plan to replace with stainless steel frame. The ends of the car and trucks have been painted.

November 12, 2005

Interior work is just about complete. All the broken windows on the east side of the car have been replaced. All interior painting has been completed. Photos have been mounted in the dining room and bedrooms C & D. Artwork for the window pier panels in the hallway will be old Santa Fe calendars. These are ready to be framed when our woodworker can go back to work. Windows on the west side of the car have been treated with window film to decrease the heat gain. New window shade material has been purchased for the lounge. The 3 blinds in the lounge that were good have been relocated to bedrooms B, C & D replacing the badly warped sets in those rooms. Broken inside window pane in bedroom C has been replaced and the bathroom pane has been removed and taken to Chandler Glassworks. Exterior cleaning and painting will start after Thanksgiving.

October 19, 2005

The majority of the interior work has been completed. A major effort over the last couple months with help from a lot of members has made this process go quickly. We will start on the exterior cleaning of the car around the first week of October. The first trip for the car will be on the excursion to San Diego.