Abe's sittin' pretty once again

Repair of the world's largest covered wagon nears completion

Album 1

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[April 12, 2014]     Send a link to a friend  Share

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Repairs begin on the world's largest covered wagon — 12 albums

Progress report on world's largest covered wagon
By Nancy Saul

Progress report on world's largest covered wagon — 3 albums

Friday morning saw another chapter competed in the saga of the broken wagon.  The world's largest covered wagon was carefully put back together by the crew of Matthews Construction.

The wagon blew off its wheels early this year during a severe winter storm with high winds.

The Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County, which owns the wagon, set about selecting someone to repair all the broken pieces. In early March they selected Brad Matthews of Matthews Construction, who also agreed to collaborate with the wagon's original builder, David Bentley.

The bureau asked Matthews to have the wagon restored by the end of April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The morning began at 8:30 with the arrival of two of the wheels. In the storm, two wheels were destroyed and one damaged.  The fourth wheel survived the storm, but it was later discovered that someone had intentionally damaged that wheel also.

Matthews, his crew and Bentley built from scratch two wheels, repaired the other two, painted the wagon and wheels, and did repair work on the fiberglass Lincoln statue.

On Friday it all came back together into one piece again. With the help of RBC Towing of Lincoln, the wagon was lifted into the air, the four wheels put back on, the multiple jack stands put back in place, and finally Abe was hoisted back up into his seat.

Pictures by Nila Smith

 
 

 

 

Click here to go to Album 2.

 

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