We purchased the 1916
Western Pacific 688 train caboose from the
Golden Gate Railroad Museum (GGRM) and we are now in the process of
getting it moved from San Francisco to our backyard in San Jose. We have
signed GGRM’s purchase contract, signed a contract with the crane and trucking
company (and taken them up to see the caboose), continued negotiations with
San Jose city hall, and started the work to get our swimming
pool filled in and turned into a very short rail line.
Last weekend, John and the kids and I drove to
Hunters Point in San Francisco to see our new 24 ton baby. My brother and
mother met us there to see the caboose before it is moved. “Very cool but you’re crazy!” summarizes my brother’s remarks even after I explained that gaining 400
square feet by using a caboose would be about 1/2 the cost of new construction of
a more conventional sort. Even so, we brought home our first load of 22 rail ties
plus spikes that day on our generous neighbor’s car trailer. Yesterday, John rented
a small fork lift to unload the ties onto our driveway, then drove north for the
second load. He came home with more ties plus a bonus – a somewhat battered but
still usable railroad cross buck sign on its post! A cross buck is an X-shaped
warning sign with the word Railroad on one leg and the word Crossing on the other.
This one is going to stand tall in our driveway.
Next Saturday, we will be back at GGRM to cut off some of the caboose bits
underneath which will get in the way when it is riding south on its low boy truck.
Specifically, we will be cutting off the air tank, generator, and one of the
rotted out sets of back steps so that it can ride securely on its bolsters on
the truck. Next week, the caboose actually moves to a storage area in San Jose!
The two other cabeese at the GGRM (
Western Pacific 648 and Sierra Northern 1642)
have been donated to the Western Pacific
Railroad Museum in Portola, California. We met the Museum’s Director last
weekend at the GGRM where he was preparing his treasures to move to their
new home. Once we get our WP688 moved, we will do some more research on caboose
restoration and repair. This will of course require several trips to rail
museums and historical societies to see what kind of original records and plans
we can consult.
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