Western Pacific 664
Western Pacific caboose 664 is partly responsible for this web site. My parents bought this caboose from the Purdy Co. scrap yard in Lincoln, CA, and moved it to our yard in Carmichael CA in March, 1977, when I was 12. It sits there today and I've been a WP fan ever since....
WP 664 is one of approximately 100 cabooses which the Western Pacific built in-house from Pullman-built boxcars. The boxcar, originally built in 1916 and
numbered 15599, was one of 24 units in WP Lot No. 91-43 (numbered 644-668)
rebuilt into cabooses in 1943.
Moving it cost almost as much as the purchase itself. Two cranes lifted the carbody onto the back of a low-loader truck trailer. The stares of folks along the route is something I'll always remember. Prior to arrival, the track was laid, as well as an extension out into the street. Once in our neighborhood, the first truck was laid on the track, and one end of the caboose was lifted by crane off the trailer and rested on its truck. The crane then lifted and held the other end in place, while a front-end loader set the second truck on the track and pushed it under the caboose. The caboose was then lowered onto the truck and pushed up the extension track and into place with the front-end loader.
(Click on the thumbnail to see a full size image.)
Alan Radecki photos
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