Posted on by Chris Hauf

Paint work underway on GN Ranch Car ‘Hidden Lake’

With a lot of new steel installed along the roof line and throughout the kitchen side of the body, Howard Wise has recently turned his skills from metal work to painting and lettering; starting the four color Great Northern paint scheme on the kitchen end of the car as a first step to continuing the work down this side of the car and eventually across the whole car. Learn more about the process and how you can help with a donation.

Over the past several years, a dedicated team has been working inside and out to restore our Great Northern Railway Ranch Car ‘Hidden Lake’ which was donated to our Niles Canyon in February 2019. On the exterior, this effort has been led by master craftsman, Howard Wise, who is also the driving force behind the restoration of Southern Pacific #9010. With a lot of new steel installed along the roof line and throughout the kitchen side of the body, Howard has recently turned his skills from metal work to painting and lettering; starting the four color Great Northern paint scheme on the kitchen end of the car as a first step to continuing the work down this side of the car and eventually across the whole car.

Here is a timeline of photos supplied by Howard showing just a few of the different steps taken on the kitchen side of the car to remove and replace corroded steel, prep and prime the car for paint, and start the complex four color paint scheme including the lettering on the car. These photos are by no means comprehensive of all of the incredible work our volunteers have done on this side of the car over the past year plus; work which is now being continued on the opposite side of the car to a similar degree.

Steel has been strategically removed from under the kitchen window and along the lower portion of the side of the car.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
New steel has been welded in and body work has begun. The stencils for the lettering are test fit in their proper location.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
This side of the body has been sanded and primer work has been started.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
Primer underway especially on the kitchen end of the car which will be the start of the four color GN paint scheme. This area gives the team a chance to test everything including their paint methodologies.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
Primer is complete on the rest of this side while the final paint work is underway on the kitchen end. It takes several steps typically working from lighter colors to darker colors.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
Aligning and applying the GREAT NORTHERN stencils to the car. These will have Pu;;man Green sprayed over them and then will be peeled to expose the lettering yellow underneath.
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission
The finished product on the kitchen end of the car. Can you help keep us going by funding the painting supplies?
Photo by Howard Wise – Used with permission

To help keep the paint progress moving forward, we have launched a new Facebook fundraiser to support a portion of the cost of the paint work. With high quality, long lasting primers and paints costing upwards of $300 per gallon and the need for four different colors for the as built GN paint scheme, we would love your support in any amount to help us offset the cost of painting the kitchen side of the car. Steel work is still underway on the other side of the car. While $3500 will not pay for all our painting supplies, it will cover most of them for this side of the car which would be a huge help to the project!

You can visit our fundraiser at Facebook at the button below. Prefer to donate via PayPal directly, there is a link for that too? Or if you like to learn more and get the address to donate via check, please visit our Donation page here.

Donate via Facebook
Donate via PayPal

Thanks and look for more updates soon!

Further paint progress as of 3/20/2023.
Photo by: Chris Hauf – Used with permission