I’m pulling this out of the Grand Trunk Western 8327 thread because there may be an opportunity here if someone needs a pair of swing motion archbar caboose trucks for a restoration project.

Since we’ve just determined that the “flatcar” at the bankrupt Banadanna Square shopping mall in the Twin Cities is the floor and frame of 1882 Soo Line caboose 99014, perhaps the trucks would be available. There certainly wouldn’t be much else to scrap.

I can’t see the trucks in the photo, other than the journal lids look old. I don’t think that this car was ever upgraded with cast steel trucks (a program only done to the few wood cars remaining after the mid sixties) it should have the same trucks it has in a ca. 1958 photo in my possession. These are swing motion archbar trucks with wooden transoms and leaf springs, not quite a standard hardware store item these days. In the photo, the center of the bars and ends of the transoms are covered with a heavy cast plate with a small window for the spring to extend through; a very distinctive looking truck.

I would also expect to find two fabricated steel body bolsters and 8”channel section centersills from the underframe upgrade in the twenties, draft gear and draft stops, and type D couplers. Brakes would be AB, with the original small 8X12 cylinder retained.

Maybe these items would be useful to someone who has a body, ot to restore one of the preserved “plywood” cars to correct appearance for an earlier era.

I am looking for a form "D" coupler to replace a failed one on an otherwise restored CNW wood caboose at IRM. We have a few spares but they do not have the correct cross key dimensions, shank slot, and fit of the shank, to fit the existing draft gear.

So if anyone decides to pursue this, we would be interested in dimensions to confirm it would work, and then be happy to help in acquiring the parts. Please keep us in mind.

Bob Kutella, trying not to look like a vulture over carrion