I am establishing this thread to document the work performed to rebuild and restore Lehigh Valley No. 95100 at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Rush, N.Y. (www.rgvrrm.org)

Built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in February 1941, LV 95100 was one of 105 "Northeastern" style steel-bodied cabooses built by the railroad between 1937-46. This car is a significant addition to our collection, as the LV served the city of Rochester with a branch line that terminated at Court Street (now home to well-known Dinosaur BBQ restaurant).



We first became aware of the car's availability at the end of summer 2011. We had amassed private donations to purchase the car from the private owner, but the owner reneged on the purchase agreement and sold the car to a scrap dealer. After we tracked down the scrap yard (previous owner would not tell us who he sold to), we made a deal with the scrap yard to purchase the car. This doubled the price, so more donations were solicited.




We rescued it from the scrap yard in October 2011, and moved it to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum by the end of that month. It is our goal to restore this car to its mid-1970s appearance, to pair with our preserved Lehigh Valley RS-3m 211. The car will be restored entirely through volunteer labor. We will be depending entirely on outside donations in order to complete the work.



Stay tuned for more updates.

-otto-

By the end of 2012, we had the exterior needle scaled and cleaned up, and removed any parts that would be in the way of repairs. We also began to clean and strip the wooden interior to facilitate the welding repairs we would have to make to the exterior.



By the spring of 2013, we began replacing rotten sheet metal on the west side of LV 95100. We found evidence where a similar repair had been made years ago. Condensation gets trapped between the walls and eventually the bottom starts to rot out.



Each step of the restoration is being funded by private donations.

-otto-

By June 2013, the east side had been prepped for metal replacement. The paint on both the body and steel will help to prevent the corrosion that led to the need to change out this steel for what be the third time on this caboose.



All of the work on this caboose was performed by volunteers at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum and is privately funded.

-otto-

By September 2013, new metal had been installed and riveted on both sides of the Lehigh Valley caboose No. 95100.



Next we turned our attention to some roofline repairs. These were addressed in November.



You can see what the repair looked like from the inside of the car. The wooden interior was dismantled and cataloged so it can be reinstalled when metal repairs are complete.



All of the work was performed by volunteers at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, and funded by private donations.

-otto-

great project, thanks for sharing.shame the last owner got greedy.

Did you guys actually use rivets to secure the new side sheet repairs?

We used real rivets along the roof line. The rivets were heated with a torch and installed with a set of air hammers:







We used tension control bolts to fasten the lower sheets. These particular bolts resemble rivets when installed and are relatively easy to work with.

We ground off the raised lettering on the bolt heads to better simulate real rivets.

Link:
http://www.lejeunebolt.com/?q=products/ ... trol-bolts

Joe

Very nicely done update with great pictures and explanations! Not versed in car repair so I find it very interesting. See so many pieces of equipment that need similar repairs so to see how your organization approached it and addresses it shines light on the subject. Thanks for taking the time for this thread. Regards, John.

We identified some areas along the roof line of LV 95110 that needed work. Additional steel repairs took place in May 2014.






Donations in any amount will keep restoration work moving forward:

http://rgvrrm.org/support/

-otto-

Work on LV 95100 continued through the winter of 2015 at Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, shifting to the interior of the caboose. The floor had weakened and rotted away in two areas, and they were replaced.

The area under the icebox had completely rotted away. We pulled out the icebox to make repairs to it (the bottom had rotted from years of condensation), and also to replace the floor in this critical area. We found stencils on the metal walls that read "L.V.R.R. SAYRE."





Our volunteers also replaced a section of floor in the southwest corner of the caboose that had been damaged.




Thank you for following this thread. Donations in any amount will keep restoration work moving forward:

http://rgvrrm.org/support/

-otto-

With exterior metal repairs completed on the Lehigh Valley caboose, we turned our attention to finishing in the fall of 2015.

The cupola roof was sandblasted and primed. You'll note the grab irons were torched off in the 1970s, as there was a strict rule against employees occupying the rooftop of any car. At some point in the future, we may replace these grab irons to complete the restoration.



Thanks to a generous grant by the Thomas E. Dailey Foundation, we were able to fully fund the sandblasting and priming of the caboose exterior. We eased LV 95100 out the south end of our shop building to facilitate this work. This was the first time the car had been outdoors since its arrival in 2011.



Our recently acquired Telehandler forklift equipped with a man cage helped access all areas of the caboose body to complete the sandblasting process by the end of October.



Thank you for following this thread. A donation in any amount will help fund progress and keep us moving forward. http://www.rgvrrm.org/support

-otto-

That rivet work looks impressive. Few restorations have the interest or knowledge to do actual riveting of side or roof sheets such as seen here. Most take the easy way out and just use bolts throughout. Good job.

By the end of 2015, we had completed primer on the exterior of the caboose body. Next steps involve doing a little filler and body work before we apply an exterior finish later this summer. We have the exterior paint partially funded thanks to a generous $3000.00 grant from the Thomas E. Dailey Foundation. Your donations in any amount will help move progress forward.





Progress continues on the interior of Lehigh Valley 95100, with additional boards replaced and repairs to the base of the icebox completed. Work will continue through the spring and summer as time and resources allow.

-otto-
RGVRRM

Interior re-assembly of LV caboose 95100's interior has been progressing at a regular pace, under the supervision of project manager Sam Rosenberg. Here are some updated photos...

Southeast wall completed, November 2018:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/44252233340

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/45343991634

The Northwest wall completed, January 2019:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/46016026184

Volunteers are re-assembling the Northeast wall during February 2019:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/47001494962

View the entire album here, that tracks the restoration from its arrival to present day...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/se ... 209876369/

As always, donations in any amount are always welcome.

http://www.rgvrrm.org/donate-lehigh-valley-caboose/

Thanks for looking! Your feedback is appreciated.

-otto-

great work, thanks for the update!