COLLECTION NAME:
NNRy Equipment and Building Roster
Record
Title:
RIP
Category:
Structures
Description:
RIP stands for Repair In Place
Disposition:
In Service
Building Category:
Shops
Building Number:
20
Building Location:
East Ely Yard
Building Description:
Rolling stock, especially ore cars, needed constant maintenance to ensure the safe operation of trains. Ore cars from the mine would often be loaded beyond the recommended tonnage, and often when ore froze in the cars in winter sledgehammers or even dynamite would be used to empty the cars so they could return to the mine for another load. Therefore, the railroad had a crew of car repairmen that worked year round. Several small shops were constructed near the repair tracks but the actual repair of the cars took place in the open air regardless of the weather. Nearly forty years after the railroad was constructed a shop building for the car repairmen was completed in 1945. The resulting structure dominates the East Ely Yard and is one of the most recognizable structures on the property. The track that is inside are nearly four decades older than the building itself.
Inside the building, a traveling crane with a 15-ton capacity traverses the length of the shop. The shop buildings outside, including the carpenters, blacksmith and air brake shops, all serviced this building. RIP does not stand for rest-in-peace but instead stands for Repair-in-Place. Today the museum refers to this building as the Restoration-in-Progress building as restoration projects are often completed here along with the storage of the wooden passenger cars and cabooses.
Inside the building, a traveling crane with a 15-ton capacity traverses the length of the shop. The shop buildings outside, including the carpenters, blacksmith and air brake shops, all serviced this building. RIP does not stand for rest-in-peace but instead stands for Repair-in-Place. Today the museum refers to this building as the Restoration-in-Progress building as restoration projects are often completed here along with the storage of the wooden passenger cars and cabooses.
Historic Use:
Shop for freight car repairs.
Current Use:
Storage of wooden coaches and restoration shop.
Construction Date:
circa 1945
Construction Method:
Measuring 50 by 320 feet, the building has two main tracks and a shorter third track. Consisting of one large open room, the building has 60-light steel sash windows with 20-light center pivot panels. The metal structure rests on a concrete block perimeter foundation and has a dirt floor. There are four large, movable ventilators placed along the roof’s ridgeline.
RIP
