Thanks for your useful input...

I think some have missed the point of what this group is doing, i.e. restoring a specific caboose that would have been lost otherwise. The fact that they probably could find a marginally better caboose to work on is irrelevant to THIS caboose. It also is doable for a group with a variety of skills, including transport but especially woodworking (which I am mediocre at but a lot of guys seem to innately be good at). The fun of this project is that they can see what it was, imagine what needs to be done, work through it and when it is finished see how far they have come. I personally am very excited to watch it from a distance.

Here’s a cousin of the PRR cabin car under discussion; # 981799, Southwestern Region, awaiting its fate in Brazil, IN in June 1962. Build date 3-14, N6B, PRR. The interior was complete including stove and large air line gauge.

My hat is off to the crew involved in making this project happen.
It is good to see a group come together and accomplish a save like this one.
I'm looking forward to seeing your continuing progress,

Grumpy Jensen

Updating both posting on this subject.....

Thought an update might be in order covering some of the twists and turns
that have come about on this project. As was noted, the wooden body was in
extremely poor condition and had to be dismantled on site before any move
could be contemplated. Over the course of about 4 weekends, the body
remains were removed, but we did work to save as much as possible for use as
patterns and such during the planned reconstruction of the body. Just about
all the metal elements were saved as well.

The plan had been to take it to a railroad in Pennsylvania, but the cost of
wide load permits (needed for NJ, DE, MD, and PA) jacked up the price of
trucking well beyond what anyone wanted to pay at the moment. So, on
Friday, 14 April, the stripped chassis was successfully moved to a temporary
home here in south Jersey where it can remain for upwards of two years and
where we can work to reconstruct the body of the caboose.

Really need to thank Rick Rowlands of the Youngstown Steel Heritage
Foundation (YSH) for handling the donation process. While not part of
Rick's YSH mission, we needed an organization which could move quickly at
the last minute to satisfy an antsy home owner. Again, this is a temporary
solution.

Also need to thank Allied Recycling for their support. A lesson learned
here is that if you need to find affordable trucking, then check with your
local scrap yard. They have trucks, experienced riggers, and are not afraid
of the unusual. The owner of Allied is allowing us to keep the chassis at
his winery here in NJ. It helps that he also owns a NYC bay window caboose
so has an eye for history as well.

Again, the plan is to begin the body work as soon as possible while looking
for that permanent home.

Have attached a couple of shots of the loading.

J.R. May

And exactly where were we going to find a better example? It's not like there are a lot of these around. Keep in mind that we put this group together to save this from scrap. We didn't go out looking for a caboose to save.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Just wanted to thank the Liberty Historic Railway (http://www.LHRy.org) for their generosity in awarding a grant supporting the restoration of PRR N6b No. 981775. Their support will cover the acquisition of the full dimensional lumber needed to begin the framing of the wooden body. Would also like to thank Scott Kwaitkowski for his support of the Project.

Attached photo shows progress with the frame work which is now ready for the wood framing to begin.

Mr. May - Thanks for the update. Frame looks great. How much prep did it require - any media blasting, needle scaling, grinding, wire wheeling? Any interesting markings/stampings on the frame? Great work.

You're doing fine. Obviously a plan is in action and you are making solid progress.