Restoring the SP 1353 caboose

Updated April 25, 2008

February 2008 I received an e-mail from a Chantel Paul in Southern California who, along with her husband, recently purchase a Southern Pacific bayside caboose #1353. They were looking for a picture of the 1353 in service to hang in the caboose. Yes, I hooked them up with the Southern Pacific Historical Society but have had no luck yet. Anyone who might have something, please e-mail me. During our e-mailing I found that they plan to restore the caboose to its 1973 look. They will keep me posted on how they are doing and I thought it would be a good story so here it is in Chantel's words.

Here is a little story about our caboose:

The caboose was purchases September 3, 1974 by Mrs. & Mrs. Healey of Atascadero California. He was a professor at Cal Poly and she was a freelance writer for The Atascadero News. They converted part of the caboose to a dark room and the bay window section she used as her art studio.

Nathan (my husband) all his life has wanted to own a Southern Pacific Bay Window caboose. When cabooses started to be sold he tried to get his Grandfather to buy him one. But his Grandfather wouldn't even though they had plenty of room for a caboose. In the late 60's his Grandparents moved to a new house and around the corner from their house was a caboose (our caboose now). For the next 27 years my husband would drive by the caboose. On our 1 year anniversary he finally showed me where the caboose was. The next day I went door to door to try and find out who owned the caboose. I was very lucky that the first house I went to was the owners brother.

For the next 2 months I stayed in contact with Kevin to try and get him to sell me the caboose. I knew that it was a mater of time, I just wanted to make sure that if he ever was going to sell the lot that I could get the caboose for Nathan.

Every two weeks Nathan would drive by to look at the caboose on his way home from getting his hair cut. One day Nathan called me at work very upset. He was talking 50 miles an hour and it took a few minutes for me to figure out what he was talking about. All I could make out was, "The property is for sale and we're going to lose the caboose!" Of course I got nervous because Kevin didn't call me and tell me that he was going to list the property. Nathan went as far as to call our realtor to make an appointment to see the property, so that he could climb on the caboose.

That is when I had to come clean to tell him that I was in the process of buying the caboose for him. Needless to say he was speechless! So on Sept. 19, 2007 we brought our caboose!

In the conductors desk we found records of when the caboose was cleaned. 1972 it was in El Paso & Tucson. 1973 in Tucson and retired Nov. 11, 1973.

That is their story and here are some pictures. They are very lucky as the caboose is in very good contition.

April 25, 2008
Nathan's side of the story.

I grew up in San Jose, CA, and my grandparents lived in Atascadero, CA, approx 200 miles south. We visited frequently, which meant I was treated to a three hour drive paralleling SP's coast line. I have many fond memories of bloody nose geeps, beet gons, SP "Golden Pig Service" TOFC trailers, and of course bay window cabooses. When the end was near for cabooses I was grief-struck. I tried in vain to convince my grandfather to put one on his property. Now, it wasn't that my grandpa, a railroad veteran himself, wanted to deprive me of my heart's desire, but he was a practical man who understandibly didn't feel the same love for a 30 ton piece of yard art. However, he did take me to a piece of property a short distance away from his house where there, among the trees, was the 1353. I made my dad drive me by the caboose at least one time every visit from that point forward.

Fast forward 20 or so years. I ended up settling in Paso Robles, a town a few miles north of Atascadero. (Also along the Coast Line) I go to the same barber that I used to go to with my grandpa, right around the corner from his house, and the caboose. Every haircut day, I'd drive by the caboose just to check on it. I always figured if it came for sale, I'd find a way to purchase it. Once I bought our current house, which sits on an acre, I knew I actually had room for a caboose. I shared my plan, and the 1353, with Chantel on our 1 year anniversary when we were driving home from dinner. The rest is as she told it- she pretty much sealed the deal behind my back, although I gave the car a thorough inspection before we actually bought it.

Moving it was complicated by local tree ordinances (you have to love California regulations). The ordinance prevented trimming more that 25% of the tree canopy which covered the caboose. As a result, we couldn't use a crane to life it from above. Instead, I hired a house moving company who raised the car from below, and slid it sideways(!) onto a low boy trailer. (for only about 3x the cost of a crane)

Status as of April 25, 2008

The caboose is currently on cribbing at our house, with the trucks set beside it, on a section of track. I know we will move it one more time following restoration, so I didn't go to the trouble of placing it back on it's trucks. An added bonus is that it's lower to the ground, allowing easier exterior restoration.

Our caboose is unique in that it was not modernized by the SP in the 80's. As a result, it reatins features such as roofwalk and end ladders, wooden end platforms, wooden end doors, wood framed operable windows (not sealed safety glass), direct flush toilet, and coal fired pot belly stove. Additionally, it was retired in the very short-lived paint scheme with an all orange bay. The previous owners installed shag carpet and brick veneer behind the stove (as is visible in the stove pic). I'm happy to report that all non-original interior additions have already been removed. I planned on pushing on with an interior restoration first, but instead the exterior will take priority. When we placed the caboose at our house, it receives full sun, and the paint is fading fast. So, I'm proceeding full-speed with prep to repaint the exterior thereby protecting it from the elements. The interior will have to wait a bit, but I'm happy to have the shag carpet gone! Our plan is to restore the car to it's "as retired" condition. I will not be converting any portion of the interior to a den, clubhouse, guest room, etc. I want it to be a snapshot of railroading as it was. To that end, I'm constantly researching for this project, and I welcome any and all information, help, or interest. Feel free to e-mail me.

April 25, 2008 latest status.

Recent projects include completely documenting and tracing all exterior lettering. This included measuring all lettering, and it's relative position on the side of the car. I've removed one end platform- see the before and after pics. That'll give an idea of just how degraded the wood planking was. If you figure that SP replaced the wood with metal roofwalk material in the 80's, this wood lasted an extra 20-25 years, so I'd say they got their money's worth. On a serious note, once the wood platform was removed, I discovered severe body rust on the top of the steel center sill. The wood trapped dirt and moisture against the steel, and I'd estimate about 1/2 the thickness of the center sill top flaked off after the platform was removed. Fortunately, I'm not restoring the car for operation, so as long as I stabilized the rust, I don't have to worry about the weakened area. I plan on removing the other end platform soon. I've also removed one window to survey the amount of work required to replace the wooden window frames, most of which are rotten. I'm happy to report, it wasn't terribly difficult, and the rot and damage was limited to the moveable window frame, and not the body or interior panneling and trim. There is a picture of the interior to show it's current state... much better without carpet and fake brick. Although, you'll see that I couldn't remove the brick veneer from the plywood wall behind the stove, so that section of plywood had to go. It did reveal the window opening behind the stove that SP had filled in. You'll notice the 2x3 framing with lighter colored insulation in the space. I'm currently heavy into research with industrial paint firms regarding paint type and body prep- not the most exciting topic, but I need to get it right. I welcome and and all inquiries from modelers, etc. I do also have paint chips scraped from all colors including the original vermillion end paint from it's 1951 as built paint scheme.