Chapel RR cars, those with pipe organs info please

[daveklepper]

NEED IFORMATION    THANKS

[wanswheel]

 http://brattleborohistoricalsociety.org/phototag/estey-organ-company/

[Firelock76]

Check this site out Dave:

www.chapelcars.com

Everything you need to know!

However, I doubt any of them had full-blown pipe organs, space being at a premium.  Those that had organs probably had what were once called "parlor organs", which were about the size of a small upright piano.   One of the car floor plans shows a place for an organ, but they couldn't have gotten anything larger than a parlor model in it.

"This train is bound for glory, this train..."

[wanswheel]

2 ½ minutes of a reasonable facsimile of a chapel car organ

http://trainmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Estey%20Organ%20Company

[daveklepper]

thanks     informative

[Berkshire 779]

I have to agree with Firelock76 in that most chapel cars lacked the room for a full blown pipe organ (even a small one) and the required blower and other necessary components.  A decent sized harmonium or reed organ would have been the instrument of choice since either would have been self-contained with manually operated bellows (via foot pedals) and more than capable of providing music for hymn singing within the confines of the railroad chapel car.  They were also known as parlor organs and could be had in a variety of sizes, scopes and various levels of decoration.  

[daveklepper]

Right, and Estey in Brattleboro, VT, was the major manufacturer, and the factory there is now a museum.  Around 1900 Estey gradually transitioned to become the largest USA manufacturer of pipe organs, a position it held until supplanted by Moller of Hagerstown, PA.  It was a fortunate transition for Estey. because reed parlor organs were supplanted by electric and electronic organs, Hammond being the largest manufacturer.  But Estey continued building good, reliable, quality pipe organs until well after WWII, when the family had sold the business and new owners were guilty of mismanagement, in one case criminal.  This is all documented in Barbara Owens book, The Organ in New England, available from the Organ Historical Society, hq in Richmond, VA, www.organsociety.org.   Henry Ford had a house pipe organ by Estey.  Almost all went into churches, however.