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Post Info TOPIC: Semaphore Caboose


RV-Dreams Family Member

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RE: Semaphore Caboose


Caryn,

I can't speak to exactly why that happened, but I suspect that when you went to change your signature's address, if you didn't "unlink" the link by highlighting the address and clicking the "broken chain link" icon, it may have kept your old address instead.  I think that one has to "unlink" an address prior to "linking" a new one.

Now, as one of those "nasty old moderators," I have the "powers" to be able to go in and activate or fix links in the signature of one's profile.  I think I've got it fixed for you, so it should work now.  If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try again.

Terry



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RV-Dreams Family Member

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I've never thought of you (or any moderators for that matter) as nasty old anythings. lol

THANK YOU for fixing my blunder! I wasn't aware I had to disable the original one, so I learned something today. Always a good thing!

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I'm sure I will see the trailer again, and when I do I'll get some pics of the inside. There will be a parade later this summer that the shriners will be here for. I can also talk to a co-workers dad who is a shriner and was in the parade driving his old convertable. He may know some history on the trailer.

Mark

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Hi, wife and I just bought a 1974 Semaphore Caboose. We still have to go fetch it home. We live in North Florida and we go camping a lot at old tyme farm day type shows. We have a 1969 Silver Streak Trailer that we use now. When we get the Caboose we will sell the Silver Streak. We usually tow our trailer to the show then go back home and tow our 1920 wooden steam powered tugboat back to the show. We can run the tug out of water as it has it's own water supply on board. We also have a large collection of very early acetylene and electric welding equipment that we display. We have a complete acetylene generator torch set. Even have a surgeons heating torch from the turn of the century for cauterizing wounds. The Semaphore Caboose should be a blast to take to the shows. We would like to see your blog or site showing your work on your Semaphore Caboose. We tried using the link in the first message but it did not open. Love to see your Caboose. Steve & Darlene      



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Hi, we just bought a 1974 Semaphore Caboose Trailer/Camper.  Except for the roof it is supposed to be in good condition. Would love to trade photos with you. Ours still has the complete original interior in it in excellent condition. We live just down in Live Oak, FL Just a few miles south of GA. We should be towing our camper down from PA .  in the next two months. We would love to come up and see yours. Steve & Darlene

 

 



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Hi Steve and Darlene. I'd love to meet up and also to see the interior of your Caboose, since I've never seen the exterior of one. Is yours a yellow Abilene? That's the only Caboose I know of in PA. I'll send you a private message with my email address, I haven't been getting on RV Dreams much lately but I do manage to check my email most days.
Caryn

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Our Semaphore Caboose has been moved down from Mercer, PA to Coral Caverns, Manns Choice, PA. We used to own the caverns and we are good friends with the present owner. He and a friend towed our Caboose down to the cave yesterday. This will make it a lot easier for me to go up and fetch it down here to N. FL. Only 915 miles one way. At least it is safe to tow. Steve & Darlene



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RE: Semaphore Caboose Delivered!


We finally went up to PA and brought back our Semaphore Caboose. The tires that were on it were in good shape but they were not trailer tires. they were truck tires. The trailer handled very poorly(squirrelly) We stopped at Bob's Cheap tire in WV and bought a set of trailer tires for it. Wow! what a difference in towing. Smooth as can be. The refrigerator is missing(but I have one) and the hot water tank has been replaced with  a small modern electric one. Lucky I have a good original type gas one to replace it with. All the cushions are original. Even has it's original latter up to the cupola bunk. All original lamps with shades. The roof needs to be recovered and apparently the cupola roof cross members need bracing or replacing. The old owner stapled down roll roofing from one end to the other to protect it. As soon as I pull up the temporary roofing ill be able to see what needs to be done. Overall the camper is in fantastic condition. Steve & Darlene  



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RE: Semaphore Caboose


Update on our Semaphore Caboose Trailer: It is in near mint original condition, with no visual alterations. No weird extra holes in the inside or outside. Still has it's original yellow paint on it. All original cushions, walls, sinks, toilet, and stove. The water heater and refrigerator had been removed when I got it. I installed a later gas/electric water heater(looks just like the original) and a gas/electric refrigerator. Dinette table top was missing but stand and seats were all still there. I am making a table top for it. Last owner cut out all the gas lines(he was afraid of gas) I have replaced them all. The roof was bad but luckily for us it was kept under a permanent shelter. The copula roof was sagging down 2" in the middle from old long ago water damage. I removed the roof and pulled the two crossbeams up 2". Then I fitted two seasoned oak beams right next to the old ones and attached them together with screws and glue. Re-insulated and installed a new roof board 9/16" thick. Old one was 3/8" thick. I injured my right wrist so I have temporally stopped working on the roof. As soon as my wrist heals I'll belt sand the whole caboose top. Then I am going to glue down a one piece roll rubber roofing. Than should keep it dry. Since we live in Florida we have to have AC so I am installing a roof mount AC unit. It is a new very quiet type and it also has a very low silhouette. Already have the hole cut out for the AC. Everything in the camper now works perfectly. The toilet leaked bad when we got the camper so I found the new parts I needed to fix it from the original manufacturer. No more leak. Both top end edge light bars camp with the camper laying on the floor inside it. One is broke clean in half and the other is chipped and cracked. I will restore and re-install them when I get better. Email me for photos. Like to hear from anyone with a caboose trailer/camper. Steve & Darlene in LIve Oak, FL

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My wrist is better now and I'm back to working on our Semaphore Caboose Trailer. For the last two months they have been harvesting the 200ac pine tree farm that surrounds us. The dust, pollen and noise has been terrible. They finally finished cutting them down a hauling them off. Next they will be burning the huge piles of left over tree parts. That should be fun Not. Yestyerday I swept off the caboose roof then blew it off with an air compressor. Wow! talk about dust and pollen. Filled in a few low spot with bondo then belt sanded the whole front roof section. Swept and blew off the dust from that. Positioned the rubber so that I could unfold it as I moved along. Measured out a few feet and started brushing and rolling on the adhesive. Then I rolled out the rubber roofing a few feet at a time. I finished the adhering the rubber roof section between the front of the trailer and the cupola. This is the first time I ever used rubber roofing. Ended up with a few small air bubbles in it but it looks good overall and will not leak. Next I'll start rolling the rubber up over the cupola. Should be lots of fun, NOT. Once the roof is done I'll install the new roof mounted AC unit. Can’t wait to take it out camping. Should be lots of fun. I would like to know more about the KS Shriners Caboose. Love to hear from anyone about These Semaphore Caboose Trailers. Steve & Darlene 1-386-330-2566 after 10AM up to 10PM eastern time any day

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Wow! Don't know what happened with Caryn?? Guess she gave up! Does anyone have a clue?

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We just spoke to her a few days ago. Her Caboose needs total restoration. She is not doing anything on it right now. Ours is just about ready to hit the road. We can't wait to take it out. Steve & Darlene North Florida



-- Edited by Engineer on Wednesday 28th of October 2015 10:38:28 PM

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This past week has been a world wind. I have been super charged working on our Semaphore Caboose Trailer. I finally finished adhering the new one piece roof down. Everything i read on line about installing this stuff said i needed at least two other men to help me. But i ended up installing it completely by my self. A few small wrinkles and bubbles but it looks great overall and it is water proof. Even with knee pads my knees hurt. Of course going up and down the latters a zillion times did not help them. Old age is NOT for sissies! I still have to screw on the trim that holds the edge of the rubber down all the way around the edge of the camper. It will be a pain but not near as bad as getting the roll rubber roofing on. Next day after getting the roofing down i used our our JD tractor/loader and lifted the AC unit up onto the roof. I managed to carry it over to the the hole that i had already cut. Then from inside i lifted and turned it to line up with the opening. This camper had no roof vents, it used small windows in the cupola to let hot air out. The wires are supposed to rub to the ac inside the ceiling but these cabooses have solid blocks of Styrofoam glued all the way across glued to the roof, ceiling and cross members. I used a small (1/4") piece of all thread rod and poked it through little by little from the ac opening over to the wall near the refrigerator. I kept poking larger and larger all thread rod through, up to 1/2". Using a guestament i figured out where the end of the hole was at the wall. Drilled a 1/2" hole up through ceiling at that spot. Poked the small rod through the tunnel and some Styrofoam bits fell out of the ceiling hole. Hurrah! Then i slipped a 12ga wire through the tunnel till it hit the wall. Using a flashlight it could see the wire right above my ceiling hole. Using bit of clothes hanger with small hook on the end, i was able to hook the first wire and pull it down through the ceiling hole. Attached the new 110 to it, then pulled and pushed it through to the AC opening. Hooked up the AC then i ran the exposed wires across the ceiling and down the wall inside wire hideaway tunnels. Then under the refrigerator, kit sink and cabinets and back to the fuse box in the closet. Turned the AC on and i have cold air now. n Florida this is a must! More later.

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Hey Steve, it was great talking to you! Glad to hear you got the roof on, and have working AC!! :)
I'm still around, I haven't done anything with the Caboose yet, I still haven't got a title for it and I hate to start sinking lots of money into it without one.
It's been busy here, youngest daughter who has been living in my house in TN is getting married and moving to Utah, and I was "volunteered" to move her. Since she's not going to be living in the house I've decided to sell it, can't see all the expenses and upkeep for a place that I might stay at for just a few months in the winter, so I'm also packing, selling, giving away all my "stuff" as well as hers (and her fiance's, he lived here for a while before moving to UT and has a ton of stuff in storage). Some of their things will be stored long-term at my farm in MN, some will go to UT. So I'll be back and forth between SD/MN and TN for much of the summer, with at least one trip to UT towards fall.

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We have been actively working on the Caboose Camper. The trim/awning slot has been attached now. Except for i little touch stain to be applied around the kit. door edges the inside is completely done. I'm just finishing fabricating a new refrigerator vent for the roof. The one I'm going to install looks exactly like a real caboose smokestack. It will vent the fumes and heat from the gas refrigerator just like the old vent did. I have also started repairing the rail road looking light bars that mount onto the front and back porch roof edges. They are made of plastic and fairly unstable by them selves. One of the is broken clean in half. I bought a 4'X8'X3/4" exterior plywood and i'm going use it for a stick backing for the light bars. We are getting closer to taking it camping. Should be a blast! Steve & Darlene

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RE: Semaphore Caboose in North Florida


Just got from a camping trip out in Temple TX. We bought a 16' Casita camper on ebay out there. Picked it up and camped for a week in our daughter's driveway. Better than a $500 to 600 motel bill. Camped on the way back to N. FL. The vacation over and it's Back to work on the Caboose. It is 96+ degrees here and wet. WOW! Finished building the fake caboose smokestack, painted it, and installed it. This replaces the ugly standard factory refrigerator roof vent. Looked at a zillion caboose smoke stack photos before i built it. Looks like a real caboose stack and it will function well for venting the refrigerator fumes. Started restoring the two roof end light bars. These are made of thin black plastic and one was broken in half sometime in the past. I must have removed 5Lbs of silicone on each one. Where they had joined to the roof edge they were packed with the stuff. Plus there was still the remains of the old vinyl roof cover stuck fast to the bars. The front bars have 5 small amber clearance lights screwed on and two large amber lights at the end. These are factory light bars. The back on has 5 red clearance lights and two large round lights at each end. The round lights not only light up but act as brake and turn signal lights also. All 4 large lights were still in usable condition. Most of the 10 clearance lights looked good on the outside but were corroded on the inside. I am replacing them with ne LED lights that look just like them. We are getting close to taking her out camping. If anyone wants photos of any part, just email us:  livesteam(AT)hotmail.com   Steve & Darlene

 



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RE: Semaphore Caboose


We just finished attaching the front and backend upper light bars. They are now back in working condition. Finally finished working on the outside of the caboose two days ago. This is the last part we are on: The kitchen cabinet doors! They are made of particule board and they were reverting back to saw dust due to water leaking on them in the past. After removing them i soaked them around the edges with minwax wood hardener. After they dried i planed and sanded the ruff edges. Now i am staining the edges to match the fake oak grain. Also started cleaning the interior of the camper. A couple more weeks and we will take it camping. The old license tag that was on the camper was dated 1978. We are still looking for more information on these campers. Steve & Darlene

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Pulled all 4 wheels off the caboose today while my wife scrubbed the kit cabinets insides. Oh yes! i finished restoring the kit cabinets yesterday! Hoorah! Getting ready to sandblast and paint the wheels silver just like they were from the factory. The only silver paint still on them was where they were against the brake drums. Brake drums were deep red from the factory and they are still very red. I'm repainting them too. Darlene cleaned the lamp shades today. They are all original. All inside and outside lights are in working condition. Mounted two aluminum propane tanks on the front. Hope to go camping in it real soon. Should be a hoot! Steve & Darlene

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Finished cleaning the Kit, dining area and the upper bunk bed yesterday. Removed the original mattresses today and cleaned them. They are in excellent condition. Removed the wooden mattress platforms, cleaned and sprayed them with anti mold stuff. Darlene is vacuuming out the area under the beds right now. Converted the waste dump outlet/coupling to more modern fitting. The original fitting was a weird one. Even the local RV place had never seen one like it. There were no hose fittings available that would fit it. Have to saw down some tree limbs that hang down low over our drive. The caboose will not make it under them without dragging. Caboose is tagged and road worthy. Just need to finish cleaning, get the wheels back on, and get it packed up for the trip. Can't wait. It is going on two years now working on it. Steve & Darlene

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Darlene cleaned the bathroom and the closet today while I painted the hubs and drums. I also wire brushed ans painted(black) the springs and section of frame right behind the wheels. Looks nice. Put up all the new curtains that Darlene made. Makes the trailer look ready to go. Also started loading pots, pans, cups and silverware on board. Still need to shampoo the rug(original rug) Cleaned the windows and screens this morning. Still have to chainsaw down some low limbs over our driveway. We keep finding more things that need fixing or cleaning. We can't wait to take it out camping. Steve & Darlene

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Made up the beds today, Tied up some loose wires underneath the trailer. Moved a bunch of stuff away from the camper so we can pull it out of the shed. Cleaned the rug some more. Wheels are back on. More camping gear loaded on board. Almost there! Steve & Darlene

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I'm hoping that you'll post some pictures once everything is complete.  Fascinating project!



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Took the Semaphore Caboose Camper camping over this last weekend. Towed it down to a resort in Kissimmee, FL Thursday. Towed great! Everything worked great except the refrigerator(it acted a bit funny) Friday evening it quit working on 110 volts so i switched it over to gas. Worked great on gas till late Sat evening. Sunday morning we could not get it to run on gas or elec. Cut short our trip and went home. We spent half our time showing folks through the camper and the over half in the hot tub. A lot of people thought it was a real caboose that we put trailer axles under. The new AC and water heater both performed very well. I had used a new(but old stock) plastic flex line inside the outside water connection. Even though it was new it burst! Darlene was upset but i pulled out a spare i had with us. HaHa! it burst the minute i turned on the water. So much for using old plastic lines. Right across the street from the resort is a Lowes! How convenient for us. Went right across and bought two brand new armored flex water feed lines. No more water troubles. Overall we had a great time, fixed a few bugs and both got a great tan. Monday(10/26) I towed to caboose over to a local RV repair shop. The problem with the refrigerator was the circuit board. My friend who runs the place said it was a first model type board and known to go bad. I unbolted the refrigerator and slid it forward to gain more working room on the backside. We had the new board back in and the refrigerator up and running in about 1 1/2 hours. This refrigerator had come out of a 2006 toy hauler that was water logged. Water and elec. circuit boards do not mix. Still fixing up a few odds and ends, like toilet paper and tooth brush holders. Nothing major. Only took a year and 11 months to get it to this stage. Planning on taking it out again in a couple weeks. Will post photos soon. Steve & Darlene



-- Edited by Engineer on Wednesday 28th of October 2015 10:18:57 PM

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Not bad at all!!! lot of new units have more problems than that!

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Hope this link works. Photos of our Semaphore Caboose Trailer. You may need to copy and paste it into your browzer:

http://engineer.simplesite.com/

Hope it works. We are still adding photos and moving them. Steve & Darlene



-- Edited by Engineer on Wednesday 28th of October 2015 07:55:05 PM



-- Edited by Engineer on Saturday 31st of October 2015 09:24:31 PM

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Steve,

The link worked, but it goes to a url address for SimpleSite that requires a sign in with a username and password.  Many of us, myself included, may not be SimpleSite users.

That is why I use Photobucket.  It is free and one can link directly to one's "library" or to folders or separate images for others to see.  Photobucket is free, and even though I have more than 2000 photos on my account, I've still only used 13% of my space there.  However, I always resize my photos before posting them to Photobucket because most of my photos are high resolution.

Terry



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RV-Dreams Community Member

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Yes i found out this morning it is not working like it should. I have emailed the photo site for help on this. Thank you, Steve

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This should link to caboose photos(i hope):

s1274.photobucket.com/user/livesteam1/library/

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Wow, that's pretty darned amazing.  I'm very impressed that you were able to restore so much of i and with all of your hard work.  Enjoy!

 

 



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Thanks, Steve.  Those look good, but I'm afraid that the bathroom is a 'wee bit' too constricted for me.  I'm not sure I could even get in there at 220 lbs.

For the benefit of those viewing the images, when you get to Steve's Photobucket page, click on the "Slideshow" button to the upper right of the pictures and it will give you a slide show.  You may also want to go to "full screen" mode to see more of each photo.  Also, for the benefit of those using Photobucket, you can initially click on "Slideshow" to start it running and then copy the url address from above to use for the link at the forums.  Then, when someone clicks on a link to the photos, they go immediately into the slideshow.

As a side comment, I'm also intrigued by one of the boats in the background of the pictures.  Did that one have a boiler in it?  Was it some kind of steam-powered boat?

Terry



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RV-Dreams Community Member

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Yes they are Steamboats, two of them. They both burn wood. We take one of them out at Harris Chain of Lakes FL. every spring with a bunch of other steamboats. The thin one is not for sale but the 1920 steam tugboat behind the caboose is for sale. Bathroom is bigger than the photos make it look. Steve & Darlene

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That's quite a piece of history........Cool.

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We took the Caboose Camper camping down at Kissimmee, FL. This past weekend. Everything worked fine except the right rear turn/brake light. It worked the last trip but not this trip. I had fixed(i thought) this problem twice before. The tail light/brake/and turn signel wires are very hard to get to, as they go under the solid fiborglass bathroom. I wanted to tie a new wire to the old and pull it through under the bathroom. No dice, the old wires were stapled down to the floor before the bathroom assembly was installed. I removed the right rear tail light assembly and shoved lots of the new green wire through the hole behind it. Got a flashlight and a piece of copper tubing with a bent hook on one end. I could barely see the coils of new green wire way back up under the bathroom. Poked the copper tubing back there and snagged one of the green wire coils with the hook. Just left the old wire under there. Ran the new green wire all the way up to the front. Hooked up both ends and now the light works great. I pulled out as much of the old turn/stop light wire as i could. From the camper front to the light it had 7 splices(from the factory) It also was made up of different colored, and thickness wires. Since this camper was one of the last they made they must have cleaned out their wire supply when they put it together. We fixed the toilet paper holder and found tooth brushes that would fit the old brush holder. Once again we spent half our time taking tours through the caboose and the other half in the hot tub and pool. Got more tan! We had a great trip! Steve & Darlene

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Took the caboose to Spirit of Suwannee music park this past week. It was their Old Farm Time Days event. We also had our 1920 steam powered Tugboat there. We ran the tugboat two days straight and had hundreds of kids(and adults) up on the boat and blowing the three whistles. We were running it up on it's trailer. It has a 100 gal. water tank on board to feed the boiler. While i shuffled kids in and out of the tug Darlene took hundreds of folks on tours through the caboose camper. We are worn out! The tug and caboose were a big hit. Nothing in the camper broke down or needed fixing! Next Wed Dec. 9 we are headed over to Three Rivers State Park in Florida with the caboose. It is a Tin Can tourist meet. There will be lots of vintage campers there. We will be there till Sun. Dec.13. Steve and Darlene

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