From Trainorders.com
Any help for this gentleman ?

I have been asked by the director of Erie MetroParks to assist obtaining information and a source of lumber for a restoration of a wooden B&O Class I-5 caboose #2067 at the Coupling Reserve, near Milan, Ohio. Visit its web site at this address:

>>http://www.eriemetroparks.org/The%20Coupling%20Reserve/HomeTCR.htm<<

The Coupling Reserve is a reservable public park. It has the fore-mentioned caboose and B&O boxcar that once served as the Yard Office buildings at Sandusky, Ohio on the old Sandusky Branch north from Willard. These railroad cars have been converted to bunkhouses. The former W&LE/B&O joint depot from Monroeville, Ohio is also located there; along with a steel former WM Chessie caboose currently used as a ranger station and storage room.

The caboose, while still in fairly good shape, will need restoration soon. The tounge-and-groove wooden siding on the south face (opposite the attached image) is suffering from increasingly extensive dry-rot in places. The director would like any restoration to be true to the character of the caboose. But if it is left alone for much longer; he will have to perform necessary weather-tight repairs (in other words-plywood).

Your advice on books, web sites, the names of knowlegeable persons and sources of tounge-and groove lumber commonly used on these wood cabooses would be appreciated.


http://www.eriemetroparks.org/The%20Coupling%20Res

lamontdc@adelphia.net

Hi GE;

Last year I did some extensive repairs to the Wrightsville and Tennile caboose in Savannah which required partial replacement of the exterior sheathing as well. In some cases a whole lot of siding was removed, the framing behind it repaired or replaced, and then new siding installed. In other places, only a small section of deteriorated siding was cut out and replaced.

A local lumber mill milled the T&G to order. Many old homes are being restored in the area and T&G is a common order. It isn't as economical to order just a few sticks if that is all you need, you may be better off to find a friend with a nice home shop with a shaper and a set of T&G cutters to mill what you need out of 1Xwhatever. Ours was pine on the outside, I have seen Poplar used as well.

Removing single boards is a challenge. Try removing all the nails and pulling it out downwards like a bad tooth. If it is truly rotten it might be easier to bust it out in pieces, and then go back and pull the nails.

Drop me a line for any additional or specific information you need and I will try to help.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Good morning: The gentleman that originally asked this question should be contacting you. In the days of yore there was a standard product called "philadelphia fencing" which was a nice T&G with a milled "V" down the center of one side that gave the appearance of two pieces each of which was about 1-3/4" wide. I know that early passenger equipment was generally sheathed in poplar because of its ability to take a smooth finish but this requires a lot of work to maintain and end grain must be sealed tight to prevent internal rot. Two cabooses I have been close to have T&G done in yellow pine which will give you a rougher surface but last longer for exterior work. Looks like a trip to Amish Country is in order, thanks again.

lamontdc@adelphia.net

Contact Dave Ludlow or Steve Jensen at the Wilmington and Western RR in Marshallton, DE. They have two fully restored ex-B&O I-5 wooden cabooses they use in passenger excursion service that were restored in the late 1970s. Though not in B&O livery, they are still intact in the same form from their service days, and would serve as good prototypes in undertaking a restoration of a similar car. Also, I know of a Dwight Jones connected with a B&O historical equipment research group, I believe in either Ohio or Maryland, who has published a number of excellent books and pamphlets on B&O cabooses, that could be used as references. Perhaps another Rypn freind could share additional information on this group. I also know of a school in western Maryland that has (I think) a B&O I-5 wooden caboose on their front lawn which was cosmetically restored in the early 1990s.

K.R. Bell
RR Museum of PA

> From Trainorders.com
> Any help for this gentleman ?

> I have been asked by the director of Erie
> MetroParks to assist obtaining information
> and a source of lumber for a restoration of
> a wooden B&O Class I-5 caboose #2067 at
> the Coupling Reserve, near Milan, Ohio.
> Visit its web site at this address:

> The Coupling Reserve is a reservable public
> park. It has the fore-mentioned caboose and
> B&O boxcar that once served as the Yard
> Office buildings at Sandusky, Ohio on the
> old Sandusky Branch north from Willard.
> These railroad cars have been converted to
> bunkhouses. The former W&LE/B&O
> joint depot from Monroeville, Ohio is also
> located there; along with a steel former WM
> Chessie caboose currently used as a ranger
> station and storage room.

> The caboose, while still in fairly good
> shape, will need restoration soon. The
> tounge-and-groove wooden siding on the south
> face (opposite the attached image) is
> suffering from increasingly extensive
> dry-rot in places. The director would like
> any restoration to be true to the character
> of the caboose. But if it is left alone for
> much longer; he will have to perform
> necessary weather-tight repairs (in other
> words-plywood).

> Your advice on books, web sites, the names
> of knowlegeable persons and sources of
> tounge-and groove lumber commonly used on
> these wood cabooses would be appreciated.


http://rrmuseumpa.org

Dwight Jones is indeed the man to talk to about B&O Cabooses. He is based out of Ohio, though he has been the moving force behind most of the B&O Museum's caboose restorations as well. Dwight's group is the Affiliation for Baltimore & Ohio System Historical Research, contact info
Dwight Jones, 536 Claribrook Avenue, Columbus, OH 43228. If you call the curators at the B&O Museum they might be able to give you a phone # or email address.

eledbetter@rypn.org