I recently acquired a partially built Sandy River & Rangely Lakes caboose. The wood work was well done and seems pretty authentic. one minor quibble is that the flooring runs the length of the car, it is diagonal on the prototype. It was nice clean workmanship, at least until I got to it. hardwood was used for the frame…a mahogany like tropical hardwood. pine for the detail bits, and some basswood.

I was working down at the Maine Narrow Gauge Musuem which has one of two remaining cabooses of this class.

Eric, is that 7/8th scale like the rest of your line? And are you looking for any help or assistmentation? This version is running here in South Wales on the Brecon Mountain Railway where they have almost finished building a full-size replica of SR&RL #24…

Wow Tac, that is a good looking car! They don’t mess around there in Wales. I will be starting a replica full scale coach at the WW&F Railway Museum after the new year. It will be built as the original. We aquired 40 foot long timbers for the body. They are in the shop and sorted for work to commence. We would love some help with that!

Yes, the caboose model is 7/8" to the foot scale., dont suppose i really nead help there, though i can always learn a thing or two. I do welcome guests though, bring your stock!

The caboose lacked details as I got it so into the shop I went. Before doing anything, I gave the car a thorough painting outside and in. the inside was plain wood which I like but I felt that it would be more correct painted light green. this is my standard Winnegance and Quebec Light green as used on the stations etc. I am not so sure it is quite correct but close enough. I used ACE hardware red primer which is a nice hue with a flat finish.

this is peeking into #557 in Portland as they were rebuilding it several years ago.

with the paining done, I had to make a bunch of custom hand railings for the car there was a box of fittings in the caboose when I got it, whitemetal castings from Ozark and Steve King. I felt that white metal is just too soft for actual use on my railway. I made most of the bits from steel wire with some copper thrown in for fun. platform grabs were interesing, there are three “feet” on them where they are bolted to the car. Two is easy, just flatten out opposite ends of a bit of wire and bend to shape…three??? Well, I decided to make single feet and silver solder them to the middle of a bit of wire to start the project. then the wire could be formed for the other two ends.

Nice work, as always… Very clean bends and “feet” you have there…

Nicely done, Eric. I enjoy seeing your work, I tend to learn something each time. Thanks for sharing.

One of the tricky parts I wound was making the side doors slide reasonably well. I made a bunch of parts starting with a “rail” made from a piece of square tubing with a slot sawn along one face. then little rollers were made and brackets to attach the rollers to the doors. It took some work with a square file to clean out the inside of the track from flashing left over from the saw. then the rollers moved pretty well.

Two brackets were then riveted to the top of each door. with the rollers again slid into the track the track could be hung along the top of the wall over the opening. (the roof is still removable at this point)

this is the door from the outside!

very clever.

The Master at work.

Wooden cars are usually reinforced, (stiffened) with truss rods under the car. The caboose had a bunch of detail parts in a box inside it when I got it and included truss rod turn buckles. I set out to use them but found a tap broken off inside one. taps are hardened steel tools used to cut threads. I thought perhaps I could just silver solder a wire to that end but failed miserably. so…I had to make my own turn buckles. I have made them by silver soldereing heavy wire to two threaded “nuts” I did this again but ended up with too large a product. So… I tired a bit of brass hex bar, drilled and threaded, then I milled a slot in it with my old Unimat lathe in milling mode. it came out pretty good I thought…

I threaded the ends of some lengths of steel wire for the truss rods. They then were strung through the appropriate locations with holes drilled in the end of the car. at the car ends, a nut and washer were added and made up tight.

you can see the end of the truss rod just above the deck of the platform

Beautiful job.

Wow! Nice job and somebody else with a Unimat!(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

Looks great Eric.

much of the fun of this project has been the inside…

here is the coal stove. it was turned from a piece of maple, a copper foot rail was added around the middle and the door and ash cleanout made of wood. It is based on photos from the books in my library. There is quite a bit going on inside a caboose. notice that the door slides behind the stove. there is a metal heatshield protecting the door from fire. the stove pipe is a bit of maple turned to a dowel with a flared end. the real stove pipe would be flattened into an oval cross section where it attaches to the stove. I suppose I should add a damper handle, well next time the roof is off. the whole stove is bolted down to the floor using steel straps and bars.

this is a shot looking in the cupola end door, just like the prototype photo. we can see the cabinetry under the cupola seats. I used copper to make fake hinges and door latches. there is also a ladder made up of metal steps.

this doesn’t show on the photo of 557 in Portland but Allan from the SR&RL railroad Museum in Strong sent a photo that shows this seat on their caboose 556(?). It has its own backrest so the door can tuck in behind. also the seat hinges up for storage.

the rest of the benches also lift up for storage. a plank screwed along the windows prevents heads from breaking the glass on rough track. down by the cupola is a folding table. yes it does work!

Ok, that folding table is awesome! Not that the rest of it is not, just that sticks out for me. Nice job!

All the detail and so many ideas for future builds. Really great work Eric. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

A Photo from Allan at the SR&RL Museum in Phillips Maine…I wish I had this when I started the Project, I had to change some stuff but It is pretty close now I think:

“Pretty close” !! Gadzooks!

Just awesome Eric. If I didn’t know it was a model it would easily pass as real. 7/8 is wonderful for details. Thanks for posting.

Just awesome Eric. If I didn’t know it was a model it would easily pass as real. 7/8 is wonderful for details. Thanks for posting.