Boxcars Converted for WW II
Below are photos of 4 other Western Pacific Feather River Railway
cabeese (cabooses) which started out as wooden boxcars and were
converted during World War II. These sisters to our own WP668
are all in Northern California.
Caboose Types
Cabeese come in several types with differences in the location of the
observation windows and the basic construction material of the body.
- Windows:
- Bay window style (with a bumped out observation window on each side)
- Cupola style (with seats and observation windows in a turret or
dome on the roof) - All wood
- Wood with steel bracing (likeWP668)
- All steel
Material:
Photos
WP614, “Built by the Western Pacific from a boxcar in 1937, WP 614 is undergoing slow restoration at the Portola Railroad Museum”
at Portola, California:
Feather River Rail Society
WP641, “Wood, outside braced; Cannery Row, used as a gift shop (photo courtesy of Central California Rails)”
at Monterey, California
WP645, “Built by the Western Pacific from a boxcar in 1943. Caboose is currently stored for the FRRS on Museum founder Norman Holmes’ property on the east side of Portola, she can be seen from Highway 70”
at Portola, California:
Feather River Rail Society
WP649, “1943 WP Shops (from 1916 Boxcar), Bay Window, Wood”
at
Niles Canyon Railway, Sunol California
Lists
Railfans and railroad museum members have developed several lists of
cabeese:
The Western Pacific Caboose List (broken links but interesting),
maintained by “The Western Pacific Virtual Museum”
Central California Rails Caboose Index more than just WP,
maintained by “Central California Rails”
KatysBlog 