John and Paul worked on the caboose roof yesterday. Of course, the job was
more complex than anticipated.
Before we bought the WP668 caboose, the
Golden Gate Railroad Museum (GGRM) had started
work to replace her roof. They had gotten as far as tearing off some of
the roof boards and cutting some replacement edge boards when they got word
that the museum had to move out of San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point. WP668
was pushed out of the shop to make way for more urgent projects. She had been
sitting in the rain for about four months when we bought her.
The edge boards cut by GGRM came with WP668 when we bought her and John was
able to use half of them yesterday. He got the first board bolted down when
he saw that the steel under it needed work. He unbolted the board and ground
the rust off the 40 foot steel roof edge then painted the edge with rust
preventative. Each side of the caboose roof edge needs three boards bolted
down. John got one side done but thinks he will take the boards up again
and put caulk between the wood and the steel. We are seeing a great many
yellowjackets buzzing around and we don’t want them nesting in the roof
once it is on. Caulking the gaps may help keep them out.
John also got some of the insulation batting down. We want to have rigid
foam insulation panels on top of the batting but we went to two stores and
neither had any. We are going to insulate and roof over where the stovepipe
will go for now since we haven’t found anyone who can sell us the right roof
flashing for a stovepipe.
We gave a newly-lighted caboose tour to both my brother and mother yesterday.
My brother, who successfully completed the
“Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim” from Alcatraz island to San Francisco on
Saturday without a wetsuit, braving Great White Sharks, currents, and the
cold, still thinks our caboose project is crazy. There’s all kinds of crazy.
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