RailroadTreasures offers the following item:Cabooses Photos and Diagrams by Dwight Jones Hard Cover 1998 124 Pages Cabooses Photos and Diagrams by Dwight Jones Hard Cover 1998 124 PagesIntroductionWelcome to this book on B&O cabooses, the first volume of what is planned to be a multi-volume set on the history of the caboose fleet of America's first common-carrier railroad. This first volume will present a very generalized overview of the caboose fleet of the Balti-more & Ohio, primarily centering around official caboose diagram sheets issued by the railroad. Subsequent volumes will delve into the history of B&O cabooses in much greater detail and will be of a format similar to our other caboose books, (Steel Cabooses of the Chesapeake & Ohio, 1937-1987, C&O Historical Society, 1987, and Western Maryland Cabooses, Western Maryland Railway Historical Society, 1991).Railroad equipment diagram sheets have long been sought after by historians, enthusiasts and modelers as one of the fundamental elements necessary to define and document the mechanical characteristics of cars and locomotives. B&O's first diagrams were prepared and issued in the latter part of the 19th Century and evolved through several formats over the years. Although we don't profess to have all of the pieces to the puzzle, what we have learned leads us to conclude that B&O's earliest freight car equipment diagrams were issued in the late 1800s in a small 3" x 6" format. For caboose cars and most freight equipment, the standard size of approximately 3" x 12" (by our measurements) had evolved by 1900, although it appears that some of the smaller-size diagrams were issued until 1901. About 1921, the railroad began adding a table on the right side of each diagram listing the car series, weight information, dates built, and builder.Around 1925, many earlier caboose diagrams were retraced and the table added. We suspect this re-tracing of older diagram sheets (other mechanical drawings as well) was the result of a fire which destroyed many early B&O mechanical records and drawing masters in 1922. This would explain why there were two versions of diagrams for classes K-1, I, and I-1-one for the pre-fire era and another for the post fire period. The fire completely destroyed the old B&O general office building located on the grounds of the Mt. Clare car shops and was only one of many fires that ravaged B&O Baltimore facilities over the years.The 1925 format continued until the B&O Mechanical Department in Baltimore was combined with the C&O Mechanical Department in Huntington, West Virginia, in 1966. With improvements in copy machine technology, that oddball B&O size was replaced, as was C&O's old format, with standard 8-1/2" x 11" diagram sheets beginning in 1969, when standardized C&O/B&O sheets were prepared and issued from Huntington.Diagram sheets were issued by the railroad to its mechanical people, and others who would have a need to know, in books. During the pre-C&O/B&O period, B&O's oddball size required several volumes to cover all of the equipment, including locomotives and passenger cars. Each of the freight car diagrams was punched on 1-11/16" centers for insertion into a screw-post type leather-cover binder. Later editions featured metal reinforcements around the screw posts. As revisions to the diagrams were made, newer copies could be easily inserted and outdated versions removed and destroyed. During the C&O/B&O era diagram sheets for freight equipment were issued in a blue hard-cover binder (with large C&O/B&O logo on the cover in gold), horizontal format, with diagrams punched on 4-1/4" centers with each volume measuring about 2" thick. The books were serialized and revision blocks were provided on the inside front cover-our copy is book #44 for instance. In the later Chessie years, and as a cost reduction, diagram books of similar format were issued with stiff card-stock covers replacing the more expensive C&O/B&O hard covers.With the combining of Chessie and Seaboard to form CSX, the 8-1/2" x 11" format was retained. The total volume of CSX equipment diagrams measures about five inches in thickness and requires three, three-ring gray CSX binders. One volume is labeled "Box Cars", a second "Covered Hoppers and Open Top Hoppers", and the last "Gondolas, Flats and Miscellaneous" (which also includes cabooses). These three-ring binders were issued in boxed "sets", each set containing a serial number stamped into the binders (for our work on cabooses CSX mechanical officials presented us with serialized set #167).The diagrams in this book have been arranged, generally, in the order of their B&O car class. In later years, when there were no B&O car classes, the sheets have been arranged in the order that the cars were added to the B&O caboose roster. Roster data and information contained on the diagram sheets in this book have been updated to be accurate as of January 1993, unless noted otherwise.In true B&O years, the mechanical department relied heavily on equipment classes for freight, passenger and locomotive equipment. B&O's equipment classification system consisted of an alphabet letter for each different type of equipment (such as "I" for eight-wheel caboose cars) followed by a number to indicate different configurations (such as I-1, 1-2, etc.). Minor changes to a specific car class were handled by adding upper case alphabet letters as suffixes. As an example, caboose class 1-5 modifications eventually resulted in the creation of classes I-5A, I-5B, I-5BA, I-5C, I-5D, and I-5E. B&O historian and long-time Company Public Relations representative Larry Sagle described the system (as it pertained to locomotives) as follows:The B&O locomotive classification has always been simple and understandable... In this system of classification the number behind the letter indicated a different series in the same type. A small letter or letters behind the numbers, indicated that the B.& 0. had altered the locomotive in some manner. New ideas and new gadgets were often being introduced...'B&O's car classification system began in the later part of the 19th Century. The exact start date for this system has been the subject of much speculation over the years among B&O historians. If one assumes that the freight car fleet was classed at about the same time as the locomotive fleet, that classification would date to the 1860s according to some. Other locomotive historians often refer to the "reclassification of 1884". Historian Sagle wrote the following about B&O locomotive classification:Immediately after the Civil War when J.C. Davis was Master of Machinery [December 13, 1865 to February 28, 1882], the B.& 0. began to change the locomotive designations from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class, to a system of classification by type. A system that survived until the last steam locomotive was retired in December 1960.3B&O historian Julian W. Barnard, Jr. in his copyrighted 1979, Research Workbook: Cars of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, had this to say about the subject of car classification in the context of his review of John H. White Jr's. superb book The American Railroad Passenger Car:...White's text states that Baltimore & Ohio applied class designation to its cars in 1870. He may well have a record of this, or it may be a logical assumption from the fact that the B&O class A coaches first were built in 1870. If correct, it will solve a mystery that long has puzzled us. At the moment, we think that it was no earlier than the 1880's and that when class designations were applied, B&O applied them to older car groups still in service, just as the company did when it reclassed its locomotives in that period.We have no proof of this. If we did, we would "know" and it would be no mystery. However, it seems to be indicated by our older car diagrams. These were produced following a standard format, with certain information lettered in specific positions. On our oldest B&O coach diagrams (cited as an example) through to class A-5, which first was built in February, 1881, class designations are entered in odd locations. This suggests to us that they may have been added to the original drawings at some later date. The diagram of the class A-6 cars, which first were built in November, 1881, however, places its class designation in the upper right-hand corner, a position that then was followed as standard on later diagrams. Note again that this proves nothing, but is to be regarded simply as one piece of a puzzle that may or may not fit.During our research of Baltimore & Ohio equipment, the earliest official document that we have located that makes reference to B&O car classes is a B&O Company letter dated during May 1897, concerning new class N-4 wooden hopper gondolas being built for B&O at South Baltimore Car Works. From the B&O Railroad Museum archives, Mr. Dennis Fulton, Director-Special Services and Railroad Operations, advises that museum personnel have located an old B&O corporate "Minutes" book which makes reference to class N-6 cars with an entry date of January 13, 1894. This date, early in 1894, allows us to conclude that the system was in place at least as early as 1893.In addition to diagram sheets, where available, this book includes representative side and end photos which depict the actual appearance of these cabooses during their service life. A summary of cars remaining in service and select historical tidbits about the classes are also presented as background data. Various other subjects relating to the B&O caboose fleet have been listed as addendums and should prove of interest to B&O equipment fans and modelers.It is not our intent in this book to provide a detailed history of each caboose class. That goal will be addressed in the more elaborate histories that will appear in future volumes. Those volumes will contain the detailed research for each caboose class, extensive photo coverageof paint schemes, modifications, etc., and unprecedented roster coverage by individual caboose number from the Civil War era right up to the most recent CSX disposition, including renumberings, build dates, modification dates, sales to private owners, scrappings, and all of the other key materials historians expect in such works.We think users of this book will appreciate its format and layout: The diagram portion of the book has been designed such that, with the book open to a specific class, the diagram appears on the left with matching photo coverage of the class on the right page thus making it easy to study photo details against the diagram. Unfortunately this format presents a problem for a few classes where photo coverage has not yet been uncovered (if it does exist). Therefore the reader will find some non-related "photo gallery" views filling those voids.One problem that we struggled with early on was the reproduction quality of the diagram sheets. Obviously the clarity of the diagrams, and the readability of the dimensions, are primary concerns to enthusiasts and especially modelers who may be trying to duplicate a particular car type in their choice of scale. If one reviews official company diagrams that already have been published elsewhere they may note that some dimensions are so poorly reproduced as to be unreadable. Even official B&O diagram sheets in our collection that had been produced directly from the company's master tracings were of poor quality. What to do? Is it better to reproduce "official" company diagrams that are of questionable or poor quality, or produce clean, crisp, diagrams that have been redrawn from the company masters-and open the possible concern that "official" diagrams have been tampered with.In this case it was decided that the highest quality reproduction was most important. Therefore, the diagrams contained in this work have been faithfully and carefully retraced from the "official" company copies. One important disclaimer: Diagram sheets were not produced to necessarily be proportionally accurate. Therefore, modelers should not "scale" dimensions from diagrams which also may be distorted due to reproduction processes.In a few cases, there was no official B&O diagram prepared to illustrate a particular caboose class. We have prepared our own diagrams, carefully labeled as such, to illustrate certain of these. And in other cases, insufficient information was available for us to produce a diagram sheet of quality.Periodic changes to diagram sheets were necessary to document equipment modifications, correct errors, or add new information. In the case of most original B&O and C&O/B&O sheets the revisions were dated, and/or carried an alphabet letter to indicate revision status. Diagram sheets with differing revision dates for the same car class may show dimensional changes, so it is important to document the revision date of the diagram being used. When this information is available it has been listed on the diagrams used in this book. In most cases we have used the latest revision that could be located.As stated in the opening paragraph, this is the first of what we expect will be a massive multi-volume work to document the history of B&O cabooses. Readers are especially encouraged to respond to the "Wanted" section at the end of this book. There are many questions that remain unanswered and many photos, especially of older equipment, that are needed to make this history study as accurate and complete as possible. If you have any questions on B&O cabooses please drop us a line. If we don't have the answer, your question will help us identify areas of interest to enthusiasts and we can direct our continuing research efforts accordingly.Research is an on-going process. We have been actively researching the history of Baltimore & Ohio cabooses for over 30 years. During that period we have been fortunate to have compiled and acquired a great deal of information and photos on the subject--enough to fill several file cabinets in fact. We are constantly amazed at the new data that turns up, some from the most likely of places, others from the most unlikely. Although all years have been productive, 1992 was an especially good year. During that year CSX mechanical operations was moved out of Baltimore and transferred to Jacksonville. As normally is the case with mergers, consolidations, and transfers, old obsolete files are reviewed and destroyed. What would happen to any old B&O caboose materials during this move? Our CSX contacts told us that any files covering equipment no longer active would be destroyed as obsolete, and if we could make it to Baltimore we could save any B&O caboose materials determined to be no longer required. We were there two days later!The trip was well worthwhile. It turned out that there was an incredible number of old original Baltimore & Ohio mechanical department caboose files, photos, and drawings, many dating to the 1920s, that were being declared surplus. After all, wood cabooses had not operated on the railroad for several years, and even early steel cabooses had virtually all been removed from service. The material, which filled some six large boxes, provided many answers to questions that long had perplexed us. But even as we were saving the valuable B&O caboose material, other data was being reviewed and disposed. On the day of our visit, B&O gondola files were being examined and obsolete data thrown in a large dumpster which had been moved in for the house cleaning. Several weeks after our visit an unexpected large Federal Express box arrived at our home. We opened the box to discover a large assortment of old, Baltimore & Ohio caboose files. Our good CSX contacts had kept us in mind as they reviewed the old drawing files, and had saved any relating to B&O cabooses!In early 1993, another exciting discovery was that a railroad employee had salvaged the entire car department blueprint file from the B&O car shops at Newark, Ohio. We bit the bullet and purchased the entire collection of over 1000 original B&O mechanical blueprints. This collection contained even more exciting B&O caboose material-some of which we never dreamed we would ever see. All this information, and much more, will be presented in our future B&O caboose volumes. Never stop looking! You never know what will show up and when it will.

CLICK HERE for purchase and sale information of this book.