PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF FIFE

Fife acquired this Union Pacific caboose in 2000. Because it was rotted, volunteers have worked to reconstruct it.

Volunteers reconstruct history in Fife shed

By Meghan Erkkinen

In a large, nondescript shed behind Fife’s city hall, history is coming to life.

In that shed over the past eight years, volunteers have dedicated every other Saturday to restoring an old Union Pacific caboose to its former glory. The process is slow – it took two years to dismantle the caboose down to its frame – but the end result will be a tribute to the long history of railroads in the city of Fife.

Facility Maintenance Worker David Cantlin has headed up the project since 2000, when former City Manager Mike Caldwell and former Parks Director Michael LaFreniere asked him to find a piece of railroad equipment that was of historical significance to the city.

Cantlin found Union Pacific Caboose 25722, a surplus item at the Camp Six Logging Museum at Point Defiance. Camp Six agreed to donate the caboose, which was built in 1918, so it could be restored and put on display.

“It’s really been more of a caboose rebuilding than a restoration,” Cantlin said. When the volunteers began inspecting the caboose when it arrived in Fife in 2001, they found much of the wood was rotted, and much of the metal was rusted. The caboose was stripped down to its frame.

Tacoma resident and volunteer Ray R. Richards re-members hearing about the caboose when it was brought back from Camp 6.

“I was appalled at the shape” the caboose was in, he said. “I thought I’d spend some time and see if I could salvage it.”

He and his wife Mary began working on the project about a year ago and regularly volunteer time to work on the caboose. Richards also works with museums around the country on railroad exhibits. He began working with trains in 1950 with his grandfather.

“I grew up liking trains,” he said. “I’ve been chasing them ever since.”

All of the restorations are being done based on 1929 plans for a similar Union Pacific caboose. The work is harder than many thought it would be – volunteers soon found that the caboose was not perfectly square, and have had to make adjustments based on unforeseen problems.

So far, the caboose has received a new floor, walls and beams. Now, the volunteers are working on the caboose’s windows and siding. Each piece of wood is being treated with wood preservative.

Once the siding is put up, volunteers will paint the caboose to resemble its design when the city first received it. The interior of the caboose will also be restored to reflect the car’s main purpose as a mobile office and living quarters for the train conductor and other employees.

The design for the caboose shows office space, a kitchen area, bunks and a toilet, as well as a cupola, or lookout, for workers to observe the train’s wheels for problems. Cabooses tended to be the most dangerous part of the train, according to volunteer Reynold De Jager.

“It’s kind of like you’re at the end of a whip,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous place to be.”

But in spite of their homey interiors, cabooses were built more like bridges than houses, De Jager pointed out. Cross wood beams sit in metal pockets to absorb the contractions of the train as it slowed and sped up.

Today, cabooses are obsolete, both for safety reasons and because radios now serve most of a caboose’s practical purposes.

Once this caboose is restored, it will take its place next to the Fife History Museum, representing the rail industry’s place in the city’s history.

Union Pacific Caboose 25722 was built in 1918 in The Dalles, Oregon, for the Oregon-Washington Railway and Navigation Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific, whose tracks ran through the city of Fife.

The city is also considering acquiring an engine to serve as a partner to the caboose, but a final decision has not

yet been made on that subject.

The cost of the caboose restoration so far has been funded by two grants from the Union Pacific Foundation. The first grant, awarded in 2001, was for $9,700. A second grant was awarded in April of this year for $7,000. The city of Fife has also supported the project by constructing the building that houses the caboose in 2002.

Over the past eight years, about 30 volunteers have dedicated their time to the project.

“Many have different backgrounds,” Cantlin said. “Some aren’t interested in trains, they’re here for the woodwork.”

Cantlin expects the project to be completed in 2009 or 2010.

Although Cantlin said he has lots of volunteer help, he would always like to see more people show an interest in helping out. If you are interested, contact Cantlin at (253) 606-8877.

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