Category Archives: Caboose Project and Other Trains

We got the final report at last from the soils engineer at UPP Technology
about the fill of our former swimming pool. With that in hand, John spent
quite a bit of time this weekend taking site photos, preparing and polishing
the permit application to the City of San Jose for the installation and restoration of our caboose. We plan to turn in the application this week.

John is still working with the contractor on getting the dirt between the
train tracks and the house levelled with clean soil. The crew last
week came by when we were not home and spread out some very dark gravelly
substance which is full of small rocks, nails, and dry grass tufts. It
looks more like ground asphalt than dirt. The crew did not remove
the large chunks of concrete they had dumped in what will be a planting
bed. They did not raise the low spot that forms a big mud puddle when
it rains. The supervisor came over early this morning to discuss it. He
is coming back with the crew again tomorrow to sort this out.

Yesterday, John and I trimmed off some big lateral dracena branches from the
huge plants up against the fence and then popped them into the ground
to grow on their own. Dracenas are amazing plants and they grow very well
in our yard. Once the caboose goes in, the plantings of
dracena, nandina (heavenly bamboo), and aloe that now line the fence
will only get direct light when the sun is high so we are giving them
some time to get established. We are also trimming back the tree
branches that will get in the way when the caboose is lifted onto
the tracks.

The tracks, ties, and ballast are in for the 45 foot rail line which
will hold our WP668 caboose. However, after the granite ballast went in
we looked at the surrounding dirt and realized that even considering
the very slight land slope away from the Guadalupe River, the grade
was at least 3 inches too low. In next year’s rainy season we would
end up with a mosquito-breeding swamp instead of a yard.
John and the contractor were out with a long tape measure and yellow
string late yesterday. They strung lines (for the platform/deck, brick
walkways, and planting areas), and discussed grade levels and drainage.

There will be a 30 foot by 10 foot deck next to the caboose (serving
as the rail platform as well as a place to BarBQ). We plan to build
the platform out of Trex or a similar
plastic and reclaimed wood composite material, with the footings being
the left over rail ties. Over the platform will be a pergola for shade.
We have pictures of Southern Pacific rail platforms with pergolas that
we will use as the design models.

The contractor really wants to be done with this project so we hope he
will have clean dirt delivered and a crew out this week. We don’t mind
if he has the crew move the concrete rubble where the platform/deck will
go but I want it moved out of my planting beds where they dumped it.

John and I are also still trying to get the certificate from the
soils engineer so that can go to the city along with the other permit
application materials. The certificate will show that the swimming pool
was properly filled. That is, that the new fill will not liquify in an
earthquake and tip our caboose into our neighbor’s living room.
An important safety point for all concerned, I am sure.

Some early press on JavaOne Conference
and the JMRI open
source model railroad interface software winning the

Duke’s Choice Award in the “Java Everywhere” category:

Here is Sun’s press release:


“Sun Recognizes the World’s Most Innovative Java Technology Applications at the Fourth Annual Duke’s Choice Awards” Sun press release,
May 15, 2006

This text was also published by

• 
  Internet Adsales, May 15, 2006

• 
  MSN Money, May 15, 2006

• 
  Yahoo Finance, May 15, 2006

• 
  CNN Money PR Newswire, May 15, 2006

Other press:

• 
  Sun Crowns Winners of the Annual Duke’s Choice Awards
  jax magazine, May 15, 2006

Web notices:

• 
  Model Railroading News

• 
  Models News

• 
  Hobbies Digest – Models

John took pictures early this morning before returning to the
JavaOne Conference
in San Francisco. They show our backyard with the granite ballast
rock in place around the 45 foot rail line.

Next steps: finish the special use
permit application to San Jose, and lift our 1916 WP668 caboose onto
the rails!

Granite, steel, and wood:

Rails to nowhere:

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

John came home from the
JavaOne Conference tonight
with pictures of the JMRI open
source model railroad interface software winning the

Duke’s Choice Award in the “Java Everywhere” category.

Bob at the monitor running JMRI layout:	Terminal view of JMRI layout:
Bob talks with a fan:	JMRI layout among other displays:
Dave shows off JMRI layout:	James gives Bob the Duke’s Choice Award:
Bob and Duke:	John and Bob and Duke:
John, James, Bob, and Duke:	Duke on JMRI layout:

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

After a month of waiting, the granite ballast finally went in today!
A crew of five spent the day with shovels and wheelbarrows putting
down the ballast between the wooden ties and
levelling the backyard dirt around it. The kids and I got home just
as they were finishing. A supervisor is out there
now making things pretty. John is up at the
JavaOne Conference
in San Francisco’s Moscone Center, so we will have to wait for
tonight for him to see it.

When I called John to tell him about the ballast finally going
in, he had to make our conversation short. The
JMRI open
source model railroad interface software he has been working on
just won the
Duke’s Choice Award in the “Java Everywhere” category.
John had to go up to the Moscone stage with team leader
Bob Jacobsen. As the web page says, Duke’s Choice “awards spotlight
some of the most clever, practical, and inspirational Java technology
applications on the planet.”

It has been an exciting and busy day.

The team preparing the
JavaOne Conference display on
JMRI open source model railroad interface software and
Turtle open source model
train circuit boards met for the final work day at our house in San Jose
on Saturday. Photos are below.

The layout went to San Francisco on top of our truck
yesterday and is installed (and working) at Moscone Center. John
is designing and printing out paper documentation now…

If you are interested in more on the model train hobby, check out the
National Model Railroad Association.

Jon wiring:	Bob programming:
Layout overview with Bob in the back:	Model train’s layout view:
Jon and Bob and the layout:	John and the layout:
Engine in the dark:	On the way to JavaOne:

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)