[Milsurplus] Military radio on the railroad

[Bruce Gentry]

Nick England wrote:
> Presidential train communications car
> http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-ST-54-43-61.aspx
>
> Google "Presidential train communications car" for more
>
> cheers,
> Nick
>   
In the early 1990's, I had pictures of a Presidential radio 
communications car, and looked seriously into reconstructing it. I was 
chief mechanical officer for a regional railroad club, so finding a 
suitable gutted coach was not a problem, nor particularly expensive. The 
main thing that stopped me was sudden upheavals in the railroad industry 
that would have made a place to keep it unpredictable. Almost overnight 
the industry became extremely hostile to railroad clubs, museums, 
excursions, and collections. At that time, I had much of the radio 
equipment to populate the racks and many enthusiastic friends sincerily 
wanting to make it happen.  The intention was for it to be both an 
active railroad mobile station and a head end power car to light and 
heat/cool the passenger coaches in the consist. Between the hostile 
industry and exploding drama in the club, I quashed the idea and am glad 
I did. Maybe someone else can pick up the project, but the first step 
would be to find friendly trackage you know will be available for 
decades to come. A coach for static display is not horribly expensive, 
but to make and keep it runnable is now very expensive even with 
dedicated and qualified volunteers to do the work.

    Bruce Gentry,    KA2IVY