Whew! I'm astounded at the collected wisdom out there! Google is a great resource but can never equal the info I've received. Charlie and William - thanks for the information. The info about the corner pockets is quite interesting. In retrospect, I guess tiny 'windows' would be pretty useless! My car is just over 30 feet for the body and just under 39 feet from end sill to end sill. I have the steel ladders and will install them at some point. One end sill is rotting away so I need to replace that. I have the beam...just need to get the time to replace it. Charlie - thank for the tip on getting the proper proportions for lettering. I have tried to cut stencils before and it's a real pain.....I figured I'd see if the sign company here in town could make stencils for me I should mention that I overlooked one important piece of information about the waycar. It started its life as Atchison and Nebraska #6 and was built at the Burlington's Plattsmouth, Nebraska shops in 1880. It became the B&MR #23 at a later date. From what I've read the B&MR was the corporate entitiy for the CB&Q lines west of the Missouri River when Nebraska required all railroads operating in the state to be based in the state. This information comes from a fella by the name of Jason Midyette, former head of the Boulder County Railway Historical Society and former co-owner of the caboose. I know virtually nothing about the Atchison and Nebraska but according to Jason, this waycar is the only surviving Atchison and Nebraska waycar. I feel privileged to have been able to acquire this car and to have the responsibility for its care.
Incidentally, I have some good local resources on caboose restoration. I belong to the Rio Grande Chapter of the NRHS and over the past 3 decades, our small group has located, acquired, moved, and restored several pieces of rolling stock from the narrow gauge Uintah Railway - a short line which ran from western Colorado into eastern Utah to haul gilsonite. They transferred the gilsonite to the then standard gauge Denver and Rio Grande at Mack, Colorado. The Uintah had three cabooses. We have the only survivor..Uintah RWY #3. We spent many years, working a few hours on our weekly workday and were able to restore the caboose to it's former glory. That included procuring trucks, drawbars.....all of the hardware other than the ladders and grab irons which were on the car when we found it. The car sat on the ground since 1934 when the Uintah folded and the frame had rotted out so it was dismantled down to the frame and restored from there.
Alan I might add a few things... The original siding boards may lave been the same width as they are now, just with a groove milled in the center to make it look like two narrow boards. The cupola was no doubt different when built; could have been just a narrower low one with two windows on the side or maybe the more ornate style with the he reverse curve “Bombay” roof. The Q started standardizing on the almost full width single window “Galesburg” cupola before the final consolidation and renumbering. The “possum belly” storage locker under the cars went away with the application of steel underframes. Not all the 28ft cars were stretched and it varied where the extra 2ft was spliced in on the ones that were...a few got it in between the windows but most before or after them. There were three sizes of waycar windows...the one on your car was the most common on later 3 window cars. Some were also built with even 2 over 2 panes but were taller and wider. The 2 over taller 2 style were usually found on 4 window 30ft cars but sometimes the shops mixed them up. The steel underfame platforms are wider than the old wood ones and the roofs had to be lengthened to cover them. They got steel ladders as well. Get a sign painter or someone who can properly scale the photos for the lettering size and style....too many restored cars have malformed oversized lettering which looks dumb. Charlie Vlk Alan,
Your waycar, may have started life looking more like B&MR no. 38 in the attached photo. The “corner” windows weren’t windows at all. They were, instead, small pockets accessible from the inside of the car through a door which allowed the trainmen to place kerosene markers lamps to the outside of the car. These were used before the days of marker lamp brackets that the cars had later. At one time, your car may have had a type of marker light placed on top of the cupola. Your car is a class NE-1 which included 393 cars with various exterior details. These cars were modified and rebuilt numerous times over their 80 to 100 years of service, finally achieving a more or less standard appearance. Among the modifications to many of the cars was a steel under frame which the Q, not BN applied. Many of the cars varied in length, but with the under frame modification, most if not all were rebuilt to 30 foot length. BN inherited a large fleet of way cars, some steel some wood. Due to their age, it is unlikely that the BN did much more than running maintenance to them. The siding on the cars was repaired, modified or replaced several times due to deterioration, damage or modification. The appearance of the car as originally built, may be quite different it appears today. In any case, they were classic way cars. It is good to know that yours will be restored. Somewhere recently, there was an on line discussion about the corner marker pockets and the cupola light, but I can’t seem to locate it.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO
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Caboose-Before.jpg
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Caboose #3.jpg
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