Category Archives: Caboose Project and Other Trains

In between other life and job responsibilities, John and I are working through
our current list of Caboose To Do items. Yesterday, John put up the ceiling trim
(really basic crown molding) and baseboards inside WP668. The final internal
electrical outlets and switches will run along the top of the baseboards. He
also printed out 8×10″ copies of the four

Historic Photos we have so far of our backyard caboose. I put those along
with some more current pictures in one big frame under glass. We now have all of
our old reference photos in one place so we can check them when making restoration
choices.

Other work still
in progress or planned before WP668 is usable:

• Installing electrical plugs and switches inside
• Installing lights outside
• Building 7 step stairway with banisters and handrails
  (includes concrete pad installation)
• Anchoring the steps (and tie downs) to the ground
• Step and electrical inspections and sign off
• Recreating the back bay window (includes welding, wood work, paint)
• Installing the metal roof covering
• Painting the inside
• Fixing the base floor inside (1/3 of it is damaged, 2/3 of it is solid)
• Covering the floor inside (probably with linoleum)

I am still looking for more and older photos of WP668. We were recently able to
buy one dated 1973 from
John C. La Rue, Jr. With regard to why we have found four photos of WP668
from 1973-1974 but none so far from 1943-1973, he wrote:

[In 1973, WP668] was probably one of the last of its design and would have attracted more attention than ordinary from photographers. It was one of many cabooses converted from boxcars during World War II to make up for a shortage that had developed during the Depression, when most railroads had sold everything for scrap that they could in a desperate attempt to remain solvent. The sudden upsurge of war traffic caught them short of rolling stock, especially cabooses, and because the War Production Board would not allot steel for new cabooses, the railroads grabbed every old boxcar still on wheels and turned it into a caboose.

John C. La Rue, Jr. sells “Black-and-white prints, made to order, of mainly railroad cabooses and nonrevenue equipment of all types, dating from the 1940s on (with a few earlier). There are also some freight cars, a few passenger cars, and many locomotives, mainly steam.”

We have been hunting for caboose marker lights for WP668, our
1916 backyard caboose. Marker lights were portable status lights
which fit into permanent brackets on the side of the end of a caboose.
We found and bought two matching lights last week on eBay! They
need to have modern bulbs and wiring installed but are otherwise
complete. The lights were listed in the eBay category
“Collectibles > Transportation > Railroadiana, Trains > Hardware > Lanterns, Lamps”.

I have been at the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing here in Orlando,
Florida, since Wednesday. However, the lights arrived in the mail
yesterday so John sent me these pictures:

Images Copyright 2007 by John Plocher

We may have located two more

historic photos of our WP668 backyard
caboose: that makes five total so far. (I purchased one of the two new photos
but haven’t seen it yet. I am waiting to hear from the owner of the other one.) Unfortunately, all of them seem to be from the mid-1970s when WP668 was
nearing retirement. I am still looking for earlier images. Here are the
two historical images for which I now have reprint permission:

#1 – WP668, in 1974

#1 – photo from September 1974 on p. 122: Western Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment by Jim Eager, 2001
(Publisher: Morning Sun Books; ISBN-10: 158248063X, ISBN-13: 978-1582480633) The caption is: “WP 668 NE series 644-668 – Converted in October 1943 and still two years away from retirement, the 668 was at Sacramento in September 1974. That is the axle-drive for the generator silhouetted inboard the right hand truck. (Peter Arnold)” Used with permission of Bob Yanosey, Morning Sun Books

#2 – WP668, around 1974

#2 – Western Pacific #668, location/Date/Photographer unknown. S. Roger Kirkpatrick
collection, listed on

Central California Rails Caboose Index – W
Used with permission of S. Roger Kirkpatrick

We just found a third historic photo of our backyard caboose,
WP668. It was in a magazine we purchased last weekend at the

Western Pacific Railroad Museum in
Portola, California. I am writing to the owners of these photos to get permission
to reprint them. Here are the photos we have of WP668 from the past:

• photo from July 1973 on p. 8: “The Self-Propelled
  Era on the Sacramento Northern” by Tom Irion, “Western Pacific
  Headlight” Issue #29, Spring 2006, Publisher: Feather River Rail
  Society and WPRRHS. The caption is: “WP’s wooden bay-window cabs,
  long bumped from mainline service, continued to earn their keep on
  the rear of SN trains well into the 1970s. Number 668 was assigned
  to the Woodland branch melon extra on July 16, 1973. – Dave
  Stanley photo”
• photo from September 1974 on p. 122: Western Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment by Jim Eager, 2001
  (Publisher: Morning Sun Books; ISBN-10: 158248063X, ISBN-13: 978-1582480633) The caption is: “WP 668 NE series 644-668 – Converted in October 1943 and still two years away from retirement, the 668 was at Sacramento in September 1974. That is the axle-drive for the generator silhouetted inboard the right hand truck. (Peter Arnold)”
• 
  Western Pacific #668 location/Date/Photographer unknown. S. Roger Kirkpatrick collection, listed on
  
  Central California Rails Caboose Index – W

Here is WP668 (in our backyard) in San Jose, California:

Image Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson

In restoring our 1916 backyard caboose, WP668, we have been visiting examples
of similar railroad rolling stock to guide our choices in repairs, color, and
problem solving. Since cabeese (cabooses?) were not revenue-generating equipment,
the railroads sortof kept them in good repair and up to standard, but only sortof.
Really, every caboose eventually becomes unique as repairs are made by different
maintenance departments along the line using materials at hand.

Last weekend, John and I visited the
Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) in
Portola, California.
We saw four sister cabeese to WP668. That is, steel strapped wooden bay window cabeese
originally created as boxcars in 1916, converted to caboose service in 1943, and retired
in about 1975. Here are some details on each of the sisters we have seen so far:

• WP645 is owned by WPRM in Portola but is at a private home nearby. It was
  very recently repainted. It is complete inside – the only one we have seen with all of its
  interior furniture, fixtures, and cabinets.

• SN1642 and WP646 are two cabeese in Portola brought to WPRM in last year
  from the
  Golden Gate Railroad Museum (GGRM) in San Francisco,
  from which we bought our WP668. In fact, we had considered buying SN1642 and WP646.
  It was interesting to see them in their new home. (“SN” means Sacramento Northern, a
  rail company that bought equipment from “WP” or Western Pacific.) Both are stripped
  out (empty boxes). SN1642 was repainted and partially repaired when it was used in an
  exhibit at the S.F. Moscone Center. The WPRM folks said they plan to use it for
  meetings and birthday parties. WP646 is missing its wheels and has had
  several fires inside but has its original paint and markings. Someone recently
  bought WP646 and intends to restore it.
• WP679 is in a public park in Portola (not at the WPRM). It has been repainted
  and is enclosed by a permanent walkway and wooden deck.
• WP695 is a caboose we saw in 2006, at the
  Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California. It is being used as
  a bunkhouse and is attached to a deck. Some non-railroad windows have been installed
  by cutting through the steel strapping. It has been repainted.

For more examples of WP cabeese in California, see

Central California Rails Caboose Index – W.

Here are photos of the sisters:

SN1642 WPRM in Portola:

WP645 private home in Portola:

WP646 (on a flatcar) WPRM in Portola:

WP679 Public Park in Portola:

WP695 Railtown 1897 Park, Jamestown:

WP668 (in our backyard) San Jose:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Last week was my 50th birthday. To celebrate, John and I spent the weekend
on a 700 mile road trip to visit the

Western Pacific Railroad Museum in

Portola, California on the Feather River. The museum was holding its annual

Rail Photography Day.

Below are photos from our trip home. The entire way, we carried with us
many hundreds of pounds of spiky plants. John bought me 3 big cactuses for my
birthday at
Poot’s in
Ripon, CA. Since Poot’s is closed on Sunday, we bought them on Friday and carried
them with us all weekend. They were padded to keep from sliding and rolling (and to
keep them from poking us too often). I named the short one “Boris” and the tall one
“Natasha”. The blue agave parryi doesn’t have a name yet.

We started home from Reno, Nevada. From Reno, we drove
to see the excellent
Nevada State Railroad Museum in nearby Carson City. From Carson, we drove
over Ebbett’s Pass (8,730 feet above sea level) to Angels Camp
(home of the Jumping Frog Jubilee).
We had a superb dinner at the
National Hotel in Jamestown on the patio
under its 100-year-old virgina creeper vine, then
continued home to San Jose, CA.

Morning in Reno, Nevada:

El Dorado Hotel Reno, Nevada:

Reno, Nevada mountain view:

4 lanes from Reno to Carson City, Nevada:

Nevada Rail Museum, Carson City WP449 Steel Sided Caboose:

Nevada Rail Museum, Carson City Katy with HO model layout:

Nevada Rail Museum, Carson City: the real Engine 27:

Nevada Rail Museum, Carson City Engine 27 Model:

Nevada Rail Museum, Carson City Engine 26 in Flames:

Carson Valley Nevada:

Starting up into the mountains on Highway 4:

2 lanes into the mountains:

Entering Toiyabe National Forest:

Down to 1 lane for 25 miles:

Mountain view:

John at Ebbett’s Pass:

Corkscrew 1 lane road:

Red and white granite boulders:

Alpine lake near Ebbett’s Pass:

Tree and sun near Ebbett’s Pass:

Entering Stanislaus National Forest:

Geodetic Survey Marker near Ebbett’s Pass:

Mosquito Lake:

Monster rock on logging road:

Jamestown, National Hotel’s 100-year-old Virgina Creeper:

John in Jamestown, National Hotel:

Sunset near Jamestown:

Birthday flowers and books:

3 new cacti safe at home:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher