Folks-

The Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad ( I am a member) has started a GoFundMe drive to get a caboose moved from an industrial park in Baltimore to Stewartstown Station.

Former UP 25623, it was given to an executive at Waco Products in Baltimore, but needs to leave.

We tried to get it moved by rail to our location- cleared with NS, brakes to spec, UMLER ID, had the sidings for pick up and drop off selected, etc. but one of the connecting railroads ( I won't say which) put the kibosh on those plans. So, we need to cut the cupola off, truck it down, and reassemble.

We'd appreciate any help in getting this caboose away from the scrappers and back to running on our railroad.

Thanks in advance

http://www.gofundme.com/8r6ec6x68

Moving by truck may work fine, but I wonder, is there is an advocate that can argue to the refusing railroad, on behalf of rail preservation in general? FRA? ATTRM? It seems that you have a perfectly fine piece of equipment, designed for rail transport, refused from a carrier. This may perhaps be an unusual movement, but it is still refusal of service on the general rail system with a piece of rail equipment.

It just seems to me that one carrier is not playing by the rules of interchange. It is not as if this car is the wrong gauge or something. Of course, I don't know everything about everything, so I expect to be fully informed by those who do, or at least know something about something.
O. Anderson

O-

Yeah, we agree, and have been fighting for almost a year. We have to get this car moved soon or the owner will scrap it, so we need to get it down to us. Afterwards, we will working on this some more.

Thanks-

Mike

I know precisely where the car is--in fact, I *think* that's MY photograph they used in the post. Unless the same car parks there all the time......

It's going to be problematic no matter how it's done. Note the PRR catenary pole in the background. This is hard up against the Northeast Corridor. It's going to be enough of a pain to truck it out of that location that I can see why they'd entertain rail movement. There exists a siding about a thousand feet north of this car's location, but it'll still have to be trucked over to that location from where it is now, so.......

Alex -

I took that pic two weeks ago as we were dismantling the interior of the cupola, so the car must always park there.

Mike

I have been in back-channel communications with some Powers That Be.

Since they have chosen not to reveal the specifics of the issue at hand, I won't hint at it either, except to say that this is NOT the typical "Class One won't touch anything they didn't build and without an UMLER tag" blather we normally hear. Indeed, it's a technicality that seems to make sense.

Are you wasting time being distracted by trying to move it by rail?

I would consider "truck move" an important part of your overall move strategy. You don't want to switch to truck at the 11th hour, you want it among your options the whole time.

Out here, in the west, equipment has been moved with a system that minimizes the height quite well. An rubber tire wheel and axle group like the rear group of a low-boy trailer has a shank (like a railroad coupler shank) fitted to it. In use the coupler is removed and the wheel and axle group with the shank slipped into the draft gear area. The caboose trucks are of course removed as are the steps and tanks, etc. This lash up gets the car body about as low as possible. I offer this not knowing what the minimum clearance in your area is. Good luck. It looks worth the effort.

CCdW

Quick Q that arose from our treasurer:

Who gets it, the Friends of the Stewartstown or the railroad itself?

And is the Friends officially a non-profit?

Details, schmetails, true--but some groups have restrictions against making "donations" to for-profit companies/groups.

CC -

A neat idea. We had looked at taking off steps, tanks, trucks, etc and put it on a lowboy trailer, but it was still too tall for bridges and wires around here

Mike

Mike, what is your lowest immovable obstacle (not counting wire drops that can be slid over the load? Are they bridges, etc., or wires?

Your car does have a tall cupola, could be a tough move in some areas in the northeast. How tall is the car (both with and without the cupola)?

Depending on individual utilities, or even regions of individual utilities, you might get a concession on wire raising fees.

Late in 2010, we moved CNR snowplow #55400 by road from Ottawa to Smiths Falls, Ontario. Even using a low railway bed float with the car off its trucks, the horn and headlight removed, the load came out to 16'9".

We, too, had been resigned to removing the cupola but that proved unnecessary. A week of exploration revealed a very roundabout route where the only overhead obstacles were wires. This was complicated by one sharp vertical curve in an otherwise suitable road- the float would have hung up there.

In the route we chose, the worst wires- those taut, thick main telephone lines- had a bit of slack coiled up at intersections, which enabled raising them.

Quite a few wires were raised by several utilities- Ottawa Hydro, Ontario Hydro (through two separate regions), Bell Telephone, and a couple of cable TV companies. Of all these utilities, the only fee we paid was to one office of Ontario Hydro- the corporation's bean counters overturned the donation of the work on the last day, after the line crews had already spent two days preparing.

The western solution would be great, if the equipment is available and local laws allow it. The cost savings might even make shipping the equipment from some distant point worthwhile.

Best of luck with your move! It looks like a great car.

Steve Hunter

Just an update-

While we're still raising funds, the Blue Caboose will arrive via truck in Stewartstown on Thursday, August 13th.

Visitors are welcome - especially if they've donated to the cause ;)

Excellent! Did you manage to avoid removing the cupola?

Steve Hunter

Steve-

Nope :(

Cupola is cut, and on August 11th will be removed, along with wheelsets and assorted hardware, and loaded onto trucks.

On August 13th, at Stewartstown Station, the whole caboodle will be reassembled.

Any help is appreciated:

http://www.gofundme.com/8r6ec6x68

I know pretty well the locations where this caboose will have to be removed from, and moved to.

Yeah, that cupola had to come off. <:-/