You are here: Home / Green Design / Architecture / A Train Attraction: Reused Rail Cars and Cabooses

A Train Attraction: Reused Rail Cars and Cabooses

February 21, 2011 by 4 Comments

Portland Sleeper Car

In 1810, Thomas Leiper introduced North America to his new invention, a railroad that ran between Crum Creek and Ridley Creek in Pennsylvania.  This was all part of the Industrial Revolution, which changed the world.  Two-hundred years later, the world is searching for ways to renew, reuse, recycle and rebuild all elements that came to be in that machine-driven, incredible age of invention, including railroad cars.

Museums, city parks and visitor centers are all using old railroad cars, especially cabooses, as civic booths to house tickets or information, plus as entrances to social areas.

Other alternatives to the reuse of railroad cars is, exactly that, the re-use of the cars.  Businesses like GMI Company

Toronto, Canada's Restaurant Facade

are renovating train cars and putting them back into use in Buffalo, Chicago, and Philadelphia for about $1 million which is one-third the cost of a new car.  The process is time consuming and not all of the materials can be re-used but these companies are doing their best to use what they already have.

Another more artistic approach to the refurbishment of train cars is to turn them into their own attractions.  In 2010 in London, England, the old railroad yard of Deptford was changed into a new public square, known as the Deptford Project by Alison Brooks Architects.  They, along with designer Morag Myerscough, transformed a 1960 carriage car into a café that serves sustainably harvested coffee and locally sourced foods.  The exterior of the car is a billboard decorated with graffiti that shows historical facts.

In Strasburg, Pennsylvania, the Lancaster County’s Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant is a family attraction to experience the history of trains and the heritage of the Amish community.  The train motel has:

  • 46 sleeping cars
  • Dining cars
  • On-site family activities including a children’s park of Thomas the Train

Another train attraction is in Toronto, Canada where a restaurant’s entire structure, minus the roof, is made up of old railroad cars.  The façade is the only caboose used.

Deptford Project Cafe Interior

The final alternative, discussed here, that you may choose to rehabilitate your railroad car into is a residence for you and your family.  An example, and one that happens to be for sale, is a 1949 Sleeper car in Portland, Oregon, that has been renovated into a home.  It contains 807 square feet, 10 ft. ceilings, incinerator toilet, and no property tax.Green architecture is not only about the newest technology, it is also about reusing what already exists.  Be creative and you can change any traditional item into a new revolutionized concept!

Sources: Re-nest, Ecoble, WebUrbanist, Cool Hunting

Patients Often Misdiagnosed.(cluster headaches often misdiagnosed)

Pain & Central Nervous System Week January 13, 2001 2001 JAN 13 – (NewsRx.com) — by Michael Greer, staff medical writer — Patients who suffer from cluster headaches often go misdiagnosed for years, suffering from increased medical costs and inappropriate medications, neurologists report. in our site deviated septum surgery

Writing in the journal Headache, J.A. Klapper and colleagues at the Colorado Neurology and Headache Center in Denver described the results of their Internet-based survey of cluster headache patients.

“Previous cluster headache surveys have been at specialty centers,” explained Klapper et al. “These patients might be different from cluster headache sufferers in the general population.” While almost nine out of 10 of the survey respondents could be diagnosed with cluster headaches by International Headache Society criteria, this diagnosis was not made correctly for an average of more than six years and four doctors, the researchers reported (“The misdiagnosis of cluster headache: A nonclinic, population-based, Internet survey,” Headache, 2000;40(9):730-735). site deviated septum surgery

Unnecessary – and expensive – magnetic resonance or computed tomography scans were performed on more than 70% of the respondents, study data showed. Many respondents had been prescribed ineffective medication while being denied access to medicine such as sumatriptan that could have relieved their symptoms.

In addition, 4% of patients responding to the researchers’ survey even reported having unnecessary sinus or deviated septum surgery in an attempt to reduce their headache pain.

“The most alarming finding was the delay in diagnosing cluster headache in this population – an average of 6.6 years,” wrote Klapper et al. “Using International Headache Society criteria for cluster headache, 87% of the respondents should have been correctly diagnosed by the first physician seen.” The corresponding author for this report is J.A. Klapper, Colorado Neurology and Headache Center, 1155 E. 18th Avenue, Denver, CO 80218, USA.

Key points reported in this study include:

* Patients who suffer from cluster headaches often go misdiagnosed for years, suffering from increased medical costs and inappropriate medications * According to a Web-based survey of cluster headache patients, the average time until the correct diagnosis is made is over six years, and requires on average four doctors * Many patients underwent expensive and unnecessary imaging procedures, were prescribed ineffective medication, and in some cases even underwent unnecessary surgery



Filed Under: Architecture, Energy Efficiency, Green Design, Green Technology, Materials, Transportation, Urbanism Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
About Jennifer Shockley

Jennifer is originally from Colorado and has recently moved back from Michigan. She is finishing up her Master’s degree in Architecture. She is currently focusing on urban planning and sustainable design and hopes to gain employment at a design firm specializing in these areas. Jennifer also has writing experience serving as an editor for her school newspaper and college magazine. Jennifer has two cats named Prada and Dior-aptly named after her shoe obsession. You can follow Jennifer on twitter @jenshock81.

Comments

  1. Crystal says:
    February 23, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Here in La Junta we have a few transformed railroad cars. One is used as the drive up portion for a local bank and another is at the local McDonald’s where they use it to host children’s birthday parties! I love this article!

    Reply
  2. Torontonian says:
    March 11, 2011 at 5:41 am

    That Toronto restaurant is gone and was gone long before this article was posted.

    –a Torontonian

    Reply
    • Susie Kim-Carberry says:
      March 14, 2011 at 1:37 pm

      That is too bad that it is no longer there. But hope this inspires other businesses and restaurateurs to think outside the box and use reclaimed materials including boxcars. We still love this post!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention A Train Attraction: Reused Rail Cars and Cabooses – Green Building Elements -- Topsy.com says:
    February 21, 2011 at 5:49 am

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Green Economy Post and Doug Fisher, GreenBuildingElement. GreenBuildingElement said: GB Elements | A Train Attraction: Reused Rail Cars and Cabooses: The world is searching for ways… http://bit.ly/ewhIhR #green #design [...]

    Reply

Speak Your Mind

*