Rehabilitating a W&LE Bobber Caboose

Pastor John May 1, 2022

  1. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    I like the whisker couplers because they can fit into some existing gear boxes that are a bit too tight for the little brass spring insert (especially in height). A lot less fuss too. The #148 is one of my choices as an alternate to the #5.
     
  2. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    I've been hung up painting the handrails and the chimney. I wanted to paint them "safety yellow" but the closest I found in my paint collection was "school bus yellow" which I like, but it's a water based acrylic craft paint. As a result, most coats were thin (because I added too much water). In this photo I was up to 4 or 5 coats. This morning I applied number 7, I think. Reassembly should start today or tomorrow.[​IMG]

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  3. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    That looks like Safety Yellow that's gone through some active life.
     
  4. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    I think we have the same craft paint. I use it for painting parts of the handrails, too.

    What I like is that "used" look.
     
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  5. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    Not much time to work on important things like trains this week. Had Scouts Monday night, church meetings Tuesday, Wednesday we had Mother's Day dinner with our daughter and son-in-law (since she's a nurse and had to work last weekend), and tonight I finished loading our trailer for a run tomorrow to our mission in the Kentucky mountains. Here's a gratuitous shot of the loaded trailer.[​IMG]

    But this morning I did squeeze in enough shop time to reassemble the W&LE caboose and check the coupler height. It's a tiny bit high, but not enough to worry about correcting. If I ever need to do so, the thinnest of shims will be all that is needed. [​IMG]

    Hopefully, you can also see that I scored the epoxy patches on each end to match the wood plank pattern, then painted the patch, and the coupler mounting screws to match the planks. It isn't invisible, but it's much better.
    [​IMG]

    I also painted over some red lines on each corner that must've been underneath some handrails or other decorative parts that were removed. The paint didn't exactly match, but it did give it something of a weathered, or aged look as if a maintenance crew decided that it was "close enough."[​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

    It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with it and it'll go to the train club on Sunday.


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  6. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Cute little bugger.:cool:

    The coupler height shouldn't bother you too much unless there's a steep change in height somewhere that will draw the lower coupler down or the higher one up.

    That's how I detected some height issues - both on the couplers and on the track.:)
     
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  7. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    Me too. But this small a variation hasn't been an issue... yet.

    It turned out as I expected it to. I thought it might be a shade too high, but knew using a shim to bring it down would be a lot easier than rebuilding it again, or even changing couplers.

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  8. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks and best wishes on the mission.
     
  9. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    Thank you.

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