ON MY WORKBENCH.

The posts in this theme have recently focused on the front of the train.  Today we'll look at work on providing a proper conclusion to the train.

I never apologize for bargain-hunting and buying fixer-uppers, and that includes a few cabooses.  (If the plural of moose is moose, why isn't the plural of caboose caboose?  You could hold a meeting of a lodge of moose in a caboose, right?)

For some reason, a previous owner of this brass Northeastern style buggy decided to remove the roof walk and started sanding off the non-skid tread.  In the transition era, the roof walk would still be in place.

As long as the rest of it is brass, the roof walk will have brass saddles and brass planking.

There was a little extra brass tubing around to improvise the rain guard and smoke deflector in order that the stove would work to keep the coffee hot.  With modern electronics, how hard would it be to improvise a circuit that would make the sound of a metal coffee pot crashing to the floor if the engineer started the train too roughly?

Another project came from a hobby shop.  This is one of the first Japanese imports in brass from after the War.

That's in the form I got it from the hobby shop.  That brake wheel would be more at home being spun by Snidely Whiplash shutting off the water for non-payment, or perhaps controlling the flow at the mill-race.  The previous owner had some ladders that were not yet installed.

Now the ladders are on, as are horizontal-axis brake wheels at either end.

The assembly at the short end of the car wasn't so visible in the side shot, but it's there.  It's a small detail, but having a standard arrangement for brake wheels (horizontal axis) and placement (at both ends of the buggy) makes life a little easier in an emergency, when the brakeman or conductor doesn't have to remember which end of the car the hand brake is, and how it is dogged down or released.