THE MIDNIGHT RIDER
PRODUCTION TEAM

Michael Machado / Project Engineer & Designer:
The Midnight Rider was first designed by Michael in the fall of 1986.  Originally designed as a touring vehicle,   The Midnight Rider was approved for feasibility in 1987 and received concept approval by The Board Of Directors of Irontree Management Company & Machado Land Investment Corp. in the summer of 1990.

During the year 1991, The Midnight Rider received concept and design approval from the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation.  In 1992 The Midnight Rider project was approved for construction pending funding and construction facilities big enough for the project.  Hydrascope Engineering, a division of Machado Land Investment Corp., was the engineering & manufacturing company for the production of   The Midnight Rider.

Pamela Bartholomew / Designer & Interior Designer:
Pamela joined Michael and Irontree Management Company in 1993, and was to a great degree the inspiration in seeing The Midnight Rider transform from a dream to reality.  During 1994 Michael and Pamela together began the tedious process of final design, not only to the exterior of The Midnight Rider but the interior as well.  After two more years, final designs, budgets, and engineering were complete and in 1997 The Midnight Rider was approved for construction.  On March 17, 1997 the first material arrived; the axels, six tons of steel and two tons of aluminum, and so it began.  Dates of completion were established and a marketing plan began to take shape.

Adam Machado / Construction Superintendent:
Adam joined the team in early1999.  He then began working with Michael on fabricating the T-3 steel frame, and the 6061 T-6 aluminum belt that protects The Midnight Rider.  Hundreds of hours were spent by Michael, Pamela, and Adam as specifications were changed and changed again.  More than seventeen engineers, and twenty-six companies would collaborate with our team to overcome every conceivable problem one can imagine from windows to cooling.  Nothing like The Midnight Rider had ever been attempted before.

The expected completion date was originally New Years Eve of 1999, but it came and went.  It wasn’t until the spring of 2000 that the final interior designs were established and the complete framework was fabricated, which included the most difficult section of all, the “Observation Lounge”.  Months were spent by Michael and Pamela reviewing every prestigious railroad passenger car ever built before Pullman’s presidential design was incorporated, but it was far from over.  New welding techniques had to be learned by Adam to incorporate bronze with brass.  The birch wood, carpet, and fixtures took months.

Jim Sisk / Finishing Specialist & Fabricator:
Jim joined the team in 2000 and immediately found himself faced with what seemed like the impossible.  Since most every part started as raw materials, they all had to be handmade, from the brass staircase to the registers.  These raw materials were literally turned into fine art.  Brass and bronze had to match and were imported from seven countries.  Wood and fabrics were imported from six countries.  Seats, cabinets, and electronics delayed the project longer and presented challenges beyond anything the team had expected.  Emily Machado later joined the team to assist Jim, both working closely with Pamela on special wood finishes not seen in any transportation vehicles since the 1890’s, and even then only in the world’s grandest vehicles.

Those delicate moments will always be remembered by this great team who for seven years gave everything they had for that first “Ride In Time”.  The Midnight Rider was released for operation on September 3, 2004.  Since that day……………

Anything Else Is Just Another Ride!