Ben Sullivan's East Broad Top Railroad site

02/21/2004 FEBT Rockhill Work Session
The task of the day is Caboose 28! FEBT is participating in an overhaul of the caboose which sees regular service on all tourist trains run on the railroad. The caboose was is in bad need of new siding, window repairs, roof repairs, and extensive rebuilding of the end platforms. Perhaps the biggest task is the end platform work which involves grinding, drilling, hammering, and wrenching the rivets from the rusted out end platforms. The wood planking on the end platforms will also be replaced, of course. I spent most of the day pulling nails and siding from the caboose along the roof line. The caboose has a plain tin roof which is sealed with tar in some places but mainly just paint.

The best thing about the day was being able to peek inside the guts of this neat piece of rolling stock and see how it is constructed. The caboose is about 75 years old and was constructed in the EBT shops. The goal is to have the caboose completely resheathed and repaired in time for the opening week in June. The work session was a 2-day affair, but I missed out on Sunday. On Saturday it was myself, Bill Adams, Reggie Arford, Tom Kozub, Lee Rainey, Wade Woodcock, Charlie Wooton and myself. Sorry the pics are a bit blurry. It was tough to shoot in the shops, as light is pretty low. BUT, not as low as it was before the windows along the car shop were replaced by the FEBT over the last 2 years! WOW - what a difference. Enjoy!

Standing right next to the boiler house, facing North. The blanket of snow over the yard makes this little railroad seem even more sleepy. 28K

Now standing on the main line, next to the boiler house, facing South. The yard, so quiet. 30K

Here's the exterior of the Boiler House and the northern Car Shop doors that the FEBT did so much hard work on over the last year. They seem to be holding up really well. Caboose 28 is located just behind door number 1 (the one on the right). [Said like a game show host] 101K

Well, it might be quiet outside but inside the Car Shop was a whole different story! Ear plugs were the order of the day. Here Lee is preparing to start grinding away the rivets. 131K

A view into the caboose. Note the bracing. 55K

Here is the other side. Naked. That's my ladder there and by the end of the day about 98% of the siding would be off the car along the roof. This mainly involved pulling nails from the tin roof (sometimes multi-layered and coated with at least 4 coats of paint), prying the pieces away (sometimes rotted out), and pulling the rest of the sheathing and trim away. 138K

And here's Lee grinding away. The rivets all along the frame had to be ground flat so that the new piece of steel plate can be laid down in its place. There was also a couple air hammers and some drills available for removing the rivets. 133K

A bit closer. We had fire extinguishers and water handy at both ends in case of a fire. Luckily, there was no need. 68K

Walking back thru the shops, boxcar 181 is slumbering in her winter spot behind a derelict diesel and the M-7. In the foreground is a Hand Roller used to shape metal into curved pieces. View is Southward. 45K

A view from the engine shop to the car shop. Charlie is removing a damaged window & frame which will be replaced with a new, rebuilt one. 39K

Here's Charlie using a Sawzall to cut behind the frame. This method does a better job of preserving the wood than trying to find the nails in the frame and pull them which often results in broken, dented and dinged up wood. 61K

Working the frame loose. 53K

Blocking the light and checking the cuts. 52K

Here's Bill working on loosing up some rivets. He's using a hammer & chisel now. 125K

"Clang Clang Clang!" The hammer blows. 56K

A LOT of hammering, all day. 122K

Charlie is removing the window frame now. This is the side of the caboose that I worked on most of the day. You can see the sheathing that has been removed, and the stuff that still needs to go. Mainly along the top where I was pulling nails so that it could be removed. 150K

Tom grabs a huge wrench and attempts to loose some rivets. You can see the extent of the rust on the platform pretty well here. 148K

Here are the two EBT "acorn" heralds from the caboose which have been preserved. 56K

And here are the two "28" and some other stencils which have been preserved as well. 70K

Lee & Wade working the rivets. You cane see here that they've removed the old metal platform and are workng on removing the remaining rivets. 144K

Here is Wade doing some drilling while Lee grinds away at the rivets. 55K

View up into the caboose thru one side window. 35K

Charlie working on another window frame. 45K

More window frame work. One of the coolest realizations of the day for me was the fact that we were actually working on an EBT built car in the EBT CAR shop! Woah! Very neat to actually be using the building for what it was intended for after being built over 100 years ago. Sigh. 54K