Hi folks, I'm welcoming myself to your forum! Thanks :-) I have been a member of one other forum for the restorations of e9 BMW's and it was/is an awesome experience so I hope to learn-and possibly contribute here as I attempt to restore and repurpose my BN caboose No. 10741. My plan is to rebuild it in much the same way it was intended to be used only with modern amenities in the kitchen and bathroom. Then build an old-school train station like platform around one side of it and use it as a guest house for visitors.

I hope someone(s) can direct me as to the proper sequence of dismantling and refurbishment as well as any potential dangers such as lead paint, asbestos or other safety issues. Also if there are any experts or resources to help me possibly even locally that would be most cool.

The train resides on my ranch in Liberty Hill TX

Welcome to the forum! There are plenty of knowledgeable folks here that will be able to answer many of the questions that you have. Good luck on your projects!

Hi Peter, and WELCOME TO RyPN !!! I might not be much help with the areas you mentioned, but I am retired from BN, so I at least know that not all cabooses were red.

One thing I might mention is that on the BN we use the term "Way Car" instead of "caboose", even when it may be written as c-a-b-o-o-s-e. This is a tradition left over from the Burlington system lines which were absorbed into the BN by merger --- Chicago, Burlington & Quincey; Colorado & Southern; Denver & New Orleans; and the Ft Worth & Denver.

Best of luck with your project, I'm sure you will find some good folks on here to help you.

Welcome. Looks like a fun project. We do have some on here that have totally refurbished, eh-hem, waycars so I’m sure you’ll get some good advice. Grab yer tools and have at it.

OK Peter, I'll take a shot at this: First, your way car looks pretty much complete and original in your photos. You might want to keep it as original as possible when you repurpose it. (Then again, you might not...)

It looks like you're in a dry climate, too. I'd start by checking inside for evidence of water damage or leakage, with the idea being that you first want to patch or caulk any leaks, then prime and paint the outside. Otherwise, the work you do inside will continue to require periodic attention until you seal up the carbody. I'm told that John Deere Green is pretty close to BN "Cascade Green", and I can attest to the fact that there were some variations in the actual color of BN equipment. I'm a retired engineman, and this is just about all I know about fixing up an old way car. You most likely already know to watch out for feral hogs, Africanized bees, poisonous snakes, and heat stroke.

Once a month I have lunch with a group of BN and BNSF retirees. There are several carmen in our group, so if you have any questions you want to ask them, please let me know and I'll see what I can do for you.

Take Care & WORK SAFE

Thanks Sammy, I plan on dismantling pretty much everything but I need to start with the floors since they seem to have a lot of diesel spilled on them. Can someone tell me the best way to remove the flooring and then let me know what's behind the wood paneling on the interior... Is there insulation? Most of the other stuff seems to be bolted on so it should be self explanatory.. I'm posting some interior pictures and will continue as I move along..

Thanks again!

Your way car really DOES look all original and complete. I've seen plenty of restored cabooses and way cars that can't make that claim. Starting with the kerosene soaked wood flooring certainly makes sense, but I can't tell you how best to go about it. Also, I don't "think" there is asbestos behind the plywood, but I've never stripped out a way car myself. If you don't get good answers from somebody on here before then, I plan to go to the big city for a pow wow with some other grouchy old railroaders on January 19, and can ask for you then.

So I went through and photographed every bit of graffiti which i plan on putting into a book before I refinish the interior. Apparently some guy named John Hovis was not entirely admired by his subordinates and seems to be the topic of much commentary :-/

There are a couple Burlington Northern classics:

Please don't feed the switchmen.

Uphill slow
Downhill fast
Profit first
and Safety Last

Pete, If you're documenting the graffiti in your waycar, you seem to be getting a clue first, and tearing into the project second. You might enjoy this account of my 10 days as a way car cleaner: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46037

Greetings!

Aside from that one red chair, you appear to have a time capsule from April 1972, when your "waycar" was originally built. This car spent some time in Gering, Nebraska, according to my records, before ending up at what is now the Homesteaders Museum in Torrington, Wyoming along with three other UP cabeese and a snowplow. Apparently, they somehow got a whole bunch from Gering and only kept the UP cars.......

Your car was probably built late enough that you may not be likely to hit lead paint or asbestos on the interior. Further, in an era when so many privately-owned cabooses are gutted completely to serve as party cars, playhouses, guest cabins, or the like, it's becoming increasingly rare to find a completely intact interior in a caboose. So I would resist the urge to rip things apart, or even repaint, unless deemed absolutely necessary. You might, for example, be able to power-sand the original flooring, and if needed replace a couple boards, to deal with the soaked fuel and dirt. (I'm currently dealing with a caboose where a flooring was laid over the original floor by a subsequent owner, came up in cold weather, and now my boots keep getting pulled off by the adhesive until I remember to take along sand or the like the next time I'm there....)

Help is on the way Peter. One of my friends has worked on BN waycars to repurpose them for use by a tourist RR, and he should check in here pretty soon. One thing he told me just now is that your car could indeed contain asbestos. In the meantime, you're starting to get some good advice.

You know, the cupola would make a pretty good deer blind unless your house would be in the line of fire....

A deer blind...

I'd probably shoot my foot... or my dog. I'm really excited to get this thing somewhat clean though so at least I can give tours!

I'm only half kidding about the deer blind. It's been well over twenty years since I lived in Central Texas, trying to make a go of restoring a sugar cane gathering railroad. While I never made a cent with the trains, I derived a bit of income by leasing out deer hunting rights, and the hunters usually gave me some venison, too. If you screen your applicants, you can get good hunters that are careful with firearms and are good sportsmen. You can also make the lease conditional if you want, such as prohibiting alcohol, although I only prohibited problems due to alcohol while allowing responsible consumption.

Anybody on this board can tell you that restoring and maintaining full size railroad equipment is a financial sinkhole. Think of my suggestion as a form of "giving tours".

The main place the "newer" cabooses had asbestos was in the heat shield on the wall behind the stove. Other than that, you should be in good shape.