C-30 wood caboose

[Rwilliams]

The issue of interior door security has been one of the last details still missing from the end doors. The Adlake Co. was a major supplier of door hardware to the railroads for many years. The common standard SP caboose key was unchanged for many decades. In this case, no key will be needed as it is only a dummy lock set.

Making up the latch material was not as bad as it looks. I milled a 5 inch long piece of material with the two rabbet like cuts on top at bottom. With the two cuts completed, I then cut the latches out for finishing and drilling of the holes. That way I had enough material for two cabooses with little extra effort.

Soon to follow will be a photo of the latch in a happy new home.

Robert

[Rwilliams]

Something I had never considered until looking at a SP caboose door drawing and some old photos was the secondary security lock known as the night lock. This was located on the door about 4 inches above the regular keyed lock. It had no key or way to access it from the outside and could only be operated from the inside of the caboose. I suspect most night locks were removed when the cabooses were pooled in early 1965.

The same sort of night lock was rather common in older homes of the last century and the railroads just used off the shelf hardware to beef up security in their caboose fleets. In this case it does not work but looks the part and will be left in polished brass to match the regular door lock just below.

Photo of night lock and regular lock to follow soon.

Robert

[Rwilliams]

Not only do we get a good look at the door security hardware, but the paint on the water table elements dried long enough so those parts could be installed in the last empty corner of the caboose. The white lettering is still missing from the two tanks but the parts all fit well and look great with paint. With most of the major interior elements completed, the smaller details will be next for my friend's caboose.

Robert

[Rwilliams]

The two different styles of door locks were quite an adventure to create but the mating strike plates were on a higher level as their small size demanded extra care in the order of operations if they were to work well. They are the same height and style but only .250 wide which makes for difficulty in holding on to them. Locating the tiny holes for the 00-90 screws also presented a challenge and all strike plates needed to line up with the locks adjacent to them.

A locating and drilling fixture was designed that should make for fool proof assembly. With the fixture placed against a door lock, the two holes are then drilled using the holes hidden under the strike plate.

The larger view shows how large the fixture really is in relation to the door. I made it big enough so human fingers could hold it in position while the two tiny #55 holes are drilled. Always nice to have something big enough to hang onto when working in confined spaces. Better yet, have two people with one to hold the fixture and one to operate the drill for best results.

Robert

[Rwilliams]

The drilling fixture worked as designed and the door strike plates are now in a happy new home on the door frame.

Need to eliminate the switch and wiring now that all the interior details have been installed.

Robert

[Rwilliams]

I have never been one to shy away from improving on a model even if it means making a few new parts or modification to something that already looked real nice. The threatened removal of the toggle switch and wiring in the previous post is now a done deal.

After much thought on how to make the unsightly wiring and switch vanish, it was decided to employ a push on, push off, style of switch from the Radio Shack facility. The tool box was considered as a place to hide the switch, which would have worked well. Further thought had the switch being operated with a simple push of the brake bleed rod handle. A quick push of about 3/16 of an inch is now all that is needed to turn the lights on or off. The spring from a ball point pen was used to keep the bleed rod tight preventing it from turning now that it is no longer anchored with two hex nuts. Connection of two wires is all that is needed to put the new switch into service. The end result still will appear to be a brake bleed rod handle next to the tool box, but it now serves to control the switch well hidden back under the caboose.

If one goes back one page in this series of posts, you can see the original brake bleed rod design before the thought of using it for a electrical switch control rod was thought of. I removed the former rod and designed a new bracket which served to secure the switch and align the rod with the centerline of the switch. I should mention that there used to be a big red plastic button on the switch that was easily pushed off leaving the short stub which was used to align the rod with.

Below we see the new parts looking down on them before painting. Then we see the final presentation complete with paint in the correct orientation.



Robert

[Rwilliams]

Work on the caboose has not stopped, just that I had a major computer failure and learning my way around a new version of Photoshop has not been a high priority. I hope the lack of postings did not curtail the interest in caboose construction among our members.

This past New Year's Day run at the SVLS track saw my END CTC sign out in the bright sunlight for the first daytime photo session of its short life. Upon viewing the resulting photos later that evening, it suddenly came to my vision that a bleed rod on the side of the caboose opposite the tool box was totally neglected by Keith Jackman and myself in my own build of his caboose design.

I shared the images and the thought that both our cabooses needed the upgrade in detail so the caboose did not look naked on one side.

A simple bracket was designed in aluminum and TIG welded together. After match drilling to the frame, my bracket now has a happy new home and is being painted at this moment. Another nice detail is ready to install once the caboose is ready for that item. I hope to see the same detail on the Keith Jackman caboose at the Spring Meet in a few months time.

[Cary Stewart]

Hello Robert,
Your polished door knob reminded me of a long ago story that Larry Heiney told me about he 1" shorty passenger car and a 1" car that Dick Jackson had built. They were both in the same class of detail that your caboose is made to. Larry and Dick were very much in competition with each other. Dick took his car to an early NMRA convention (50s I think) and won best in show. One of the details I was told bout that car was the fact that Dick had photo etched finger prints on his door knobs. I never saw the car but ???????
Cary

[VO4454]

Cary, you need to stop giving Robert ideas or he will never finish his caboose. I already have that problem with my engine.

Vic

[Rwilliams]

Cary and Vic,

I already have way too many ideas for the caboose as it is. Not only do I have a year of construction to catch up on, but I have some new items that are soon to happen like I have never seen before. Several years ago, I would have never considered somethings that are soon to become reality.

One item of interest is the Southern Pacific Company retainer valve instruction document straight from June of 1947. It was posted in some of the cabooses for crew training as there were three different retainers in common use at that time. I found a copy posted on a wall in very poor condition. With some hard work at a computer, the document has been salvaged to perfection and soon to find a home on the caboose wall above the conductor desk. It is half the size of a caboose window and when scaled down, still retains significant detail to please the most discriminating builder. Will have an image or two in the next few days.

[Cary Stewart]

I always thought that finger prints were a little over the top. Remember, that car was in 1" scale so the knobs were smaller than yours. I sometimes wondered whose prints he used? If you think about it there may not have been any finger prints on the prototype door knobs as most of the crew wore cloves most of the time. I was told that it took a 10X or better magnifier to see them and that the fact that they were there had to be pointed out to the judges. If Larry's coach or was it a combine(?) is any indication of what the two of them were doing in there friendly competition Dick's coach was spectacular.
I think the notice you are posting over the desk is a better idea and just plain wonderful.
Cary

[Rwilliams]

Here is the original document behind glass in the SP #187 on display in Visalia CA. I have researched several cabooses but have never seen this document posted on the wall but once. An old time conductor shared with me that he had only seen the document on a caboose wall perhaps 3 or 4 times in his many years of train service. This alone means that they were not all that common and for one to have survived from the end of wood caboose service in the mid 1960 era is a miracle. With the help of a couple of good friends, the idea of restoration of the document to a product ready for a scale frame and glass was less than a week.