Anybody had experience with one of these? I got a good one and have had a few good fires in it. But it is a bear to tune in. The grate is small so it is easily blocked and as a result the draft is lost. Maybe some railroad guy could add some good tips...
Did they use bit. or antr. in these things? I'm using nut anthracite in mine but I'm not being really successful at it. I did add a manual damper to keep the heat in the stove.
thanks all.
Estate Caboose Stove
Hello brin
Caboose stoves and Depot Stoves were and still are monster to keep tuned in. It was back then it was all go or no go. Keep feeding it and open windows. They used Bit because that is what the Engines took and there was a coal tower some where on the property. Load up the hod and throw it in. Lots of Caboose fires and Depots burnt down because of this thinking. Railroads had there own coal mines for there use, or they just bought from an other RR with a mine.
I have fired some of the Caboose stoves we have at a museum I donate time and they can be a pain. But the heat output is awsome. But do you want the sit with a jacket on or just in your shorts? You could have the stove set just right sitting still but when you got moving.... dang it it s too HOT IN HERE. Air flow from the train itself or a passing train would mess it all up. And it was all from the stack (flue) end too. Most stacks were only 6 to 10 ft. tall off of the stove depending on the roof of the Caboose. Might have two 45s in the flue for placement of the stove in the cabin area. Straight up and out after that. It would be just to the height of the Cuplua. Didn't go any higher or you would rip it down on an overpass or tunnel. Old Timers just set it to full. Didn't care about draft just as long as the smoke went out of the Caboose. They were nice and toasty and the fire was up and going if the stack (flue) was red hot.
You can use a damper. Keep the draft up but not crazy. If your stove aint tight you will find out in a hurry. Nothing worse than a room full of Bit smoke and CO. You must have a CO detector...PLEASE DON'T TAKE A CHANCE.
Hope I didn't scare you with the Old ways.
You can use Anthracite but use Nut to Stove size. Same sizes of Bit. Anything I found smaller will plug the grates. Keep the firebox full and play with the spinners and/or sliders. You will have to shake it more than a newer stove. Maybe poke at it also. Get your air from the bottom and regulate the air with the spinners. This will set the temp you want also.If you use Bit you need some air on top of the fire. Regulate it with the slider or spinner. If it was me I wouldn't leave the stove alone for a long time. Keep an eye on it. All Depots had an agent there 24/7 and kept an eye on the stove. Just in case it took off on a hot burn do to the wind or weather. The same thinking was used in the Cabooses to but they (crew) were not always around if the work got to long. Fire was out or cooking the Caboose. Remember they watched the stack. Hey Hank the fire is out you bone head.....
and then the conductor would pipe up. But that would get censored.
You'll just have to tinker with the stove and enjoy the heat it will put out. It is a fun science project that the wife might not understand but she will love you for the heat.
Caboose stoves and Depot Stoves were and still are monster to keep tuned in. It was back then it was all go or no go. Keep feeding it and open windows. They used Bit because that is what the Engines took and there was a coal tower some where on the property. Load up the hod and throw it in. Lots of Caboose fires and Depots burnt down because of this thinking. Railroads had there own coal mines for there use, or they just bought from an other RR with a mine.
I have fired some of the Caboose stoves we have at a museum I donate time and they can be a pain. But the heat output is awsome. But do you want the sit with a jacket on or just in your shorts? You could have the stove set just right sitting still but when you got moving.... dang it it s too HOT IN HERE. Air flow from the train itself or a passing train would mess it all up. And it was all from the stack (flue) end too. Most stacks were only 6 to 10 ft. tall off of the stove depending on the roof of the Caboose. Might have two 45s in the flue for placement of the stove in the cabin area. Straight up and out after that. It would be just to the height of the Cuplua. Didn't go any higher or you would rip it down on an overpass or tunnel. Old Timers just set it to full. Didn't care about draft just as long as the smoke went out of the Caboose. They were nice and toasty and the fire was up and going if the stack (flue) was red hot.
You can use a damper. Keep the draft up but not crazy. If your stove aint tight you will find out in a hurry. Nothing worse than a room full of Bit smoke and CO. You must have a CO detector...PLEASE DON'T TAKE A CHANCE.
Hope I didn't scare you with the Old ways.
You can use Anthracite but use Nut to Stove size. Same sizes of Bit. Anything I found smaller will plug the grates. Keep the firebox full and play with the spinners and/or sliders. You will have to shake it more than a newer stove. Maybe poke at it also. Get your air from the bottom and regulate the air with the spinners. This will set the temp you want also.If you use Bit you need some air on top of the fire. Regulate it with the slider or spinner. If it was me I wouldn't leave the stove alone for a long time. Keep an eye on it. All Depots had an agent there 24/7 and kept an eye on the stove. Just in case it took off on a hot burn do to the wind or weather. The same thinking was used in the Cabooses to but they (crew) were not always around if the work got to long. Fire was out or cooking the Caboose. Remember they watched the stack. Hey Hank the fire is out you bone head.....
and then the conductor would pipe up. But that would get censored.You'll just have to tinker with the stove and enjoy the heat it will put out. It is a fun science project that the wife might not understand but she will love you for the heat.
Inside the cabin of a wood SOO LINE Caboose just after stokin the stove. Notice no MPD and the two 45's in the stack. Picture was taken in 11/13/08. The stove is a Smokeconsumer. Original to the caboose. Burning nut size Bit coal.
HDFX,
I enjoyed your comments on my old Estate........took you to be much older to know about these relics.
Coal around my parts, Binghamton, NY, is only available in bags or 3 ton minimums. Only one source for bags too.
I see these stoves in poor shape, on EBAY for much more than I bought mine for. Mine is in excellent condition and complete. Except for the broiling rack. Would like to broil a steak in it, betcha it would cook real quick!
I have it in my 2 car garage (uninsulated) and it takes the chill off with a couple of small fans to distribute the heat.
Money might better have been spent on a modern unit but the idea of a real caboose got me. I'm a RR buff and N scale modeler.
thanks again for the info.
I enjoyed your comments on my old Estate........took you to be much older to know about these relics.
Coal around my parts, Binghamton, NY, is only available in bags or 3 ton minimums. Only one source for bags too.
I see these stoves in poor shape, on EBAY for much more than I bought mine for. Mine is in excellent condition and complete. Except for the broiling rack. Would like to broil a steak in it, betcha it would cook real quick!
I have it in my 2 car garage (uninsulated) and it takes the chill off with a couple of small fans to distribute the heat.
Money might better have been spent on a modern unit but the idea of a real caboose got me. I'm a RR buff and N scale modeler.
thanks again for the info.
-
Poconoeagle
- Member
- Posts: 6397
- Joined: Sat. Nov. 08, 2008 7:26 pm
- Location: Tobyhanna PA
N , Z, G, HO, any scale is cool... I like O and full scale.
Thanks brin. I listen well to the oldtimers and was taught at an early age to listen and learn. Thanks Mom, Dad and my Grandparents. I will have more stories when I can get them up. RR has been busy right now with the SOO 1003 Steam Locomotive and the Santa Trains we put on. And with the snow we have and are getting the Santa Trains will be just has good as last year. 
You can go do a search on youtube or your fav. search engine for SOO 1003. 
mrpete64 = the shipping might kill your savings if you want me to ship one from Wisconsin.
Poconoeagle = I was an N scaler. Flipped a coin for model train or War Between the States re-enacting. I'm a Confederate Infantry Captain or a Buck Pvt on a Mountain Howitzer cannon crew. The model trains got sold to a bunch of guys here at work. So I can still go play plastic RR if I got the extra time.
You can go do a search on youtube or your fav. search engine for SOO 1003. mrpete64 = the shipping might kill your savings if you want me to ship one from Wisconsin.
Poconoeagle = I was an N scaler. Flipped a coin for model train or War Between the States re-enacting. I'm a Confederate Infantry Captain or a Buck Pvt on a Mountain Howitzer cannon crew. The model trains got sold to a bunch of guys here at work. So I can still go play plastic RR if I got the extra time.
I can second what many of you are saying about caboose stoves being a bugger to control the draft in. I act as conductor for a steam based RR museum (http://www.mstrp.com) and have dealt with a couple of these Estate (Union) stoves for quite a while. We have two Union stoves in a Pere Marquette caboose and a Ann Arbor caboose. Our other AA caboose uses another brand, I forget what make, something or another valley iron works.
We use bituminus coal, as that is what our locomotive uses. Draft control is marginal at best, especially at 30 mph in a crosswind. I've noticed that the best bet for cutting down the draft is to let the grate clog partially up with ashes. If you get too religious about shaking down the grate, you've got too much draft. They do a great job of heating the cabooses, though. Our last run was Sunday, 21st of December. Weather conditions here in MI was terrible, about 14 degrees and a 45 mph wind. Engine crew almost froze to death, we were warm and comfy in the cabeese, but going thru coal like there was no tomorrow. Stove pots were a dull red most of the time.
Has any one ever seen the "grille" that sets inside of these stoves? They'd be handy if you had a small dutch oven, I'd think. Evidently, you would have to lift them out to add coal.
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We use bituminus coal, as that is what our locomotive uses. Draft control is marginal at best, especially at 30 mph in a crosswind. I've noticed that the best bet for cutting down the draft is to let the grate clog partially up with ashes. If you get too religious about shaking down the grate, you've got too much draft. They do a great job of heating the cabooses, though. Our last run was Sunday, 21st of December. Weather conditions here in MI was terrible, about 14 degrees and a 45 mph wind. Engine crew almost froze to death, we were warm and comfy in the cabeese, but going thru coal like there was no tomorrow. Stove pots were a dull red most of the time.
Has any one ever seen the "grille" that sets inside of these stoves? They'd be handy if you had a small dutch oven, I'd think. Evidently, you would have to lift them out to add coal.
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Yes, that's it. Thanks. We salvaged a flat with 4 of these stoves from the old D&M roundhouse in E. Tawas, MI several years ago. They were in unused condition. Put out lots of heat, but kind of a pain to load. No door in front, you have to use a lid handle to lift a semicircular plate on the top of the stove. They also have a tilt to dump grate handle that's kind of flaky. I drilled the body of the stove for a 1/2" bolt to act as a "catch" so the grate wouldn't dump from vibration or vigorous use of the poker.Dann757 wrote:Maybe Cowanesque Valley Iron Works?
Fred
Hey HDFXR-
If you work on a train crew for WSOR, chances are you've passed my house many times. I look out my front window at the tracks in Hartford. I enjoy watching the diesel-electrics go by, but love when the steam locomotive is fired up. It's a shame that more of these iron horses were not preserved like the SOO 1003, and the locomotives at Steamtown.
Too bad I've never noticed any cars hauling coal by my place. I could start walking the tracks looking for some of that "extra" stuff!
Don
If you work on a train crew for WSOR, chances are you've passed my house many times. I look out my front window at the tracks in Hartford. I enjoy watching the diesel-electrics go by, but love when the steam locomotive is fired up. It's a shame that more of these iron horses were not preserved like the SOO 1003, and the locomotives at Steamtown.
Too bad I've never noticed any cars hauling coal by my place. I could start walking the tracks looking for some of that "extra" stuff!
Don
Hammer8 if you go to Slinger on the WSOR tracks you might find some Bit. by Hanke Bros / Sewer Plant driveway. But we have done alot of track work so it might be under the new ballast. I remember dunping a door or two on my runs up there on that crossing. WSOR dosen't haul coal to the Northern Division as of right now. Most of the coal goes to the UW and MG&E in Madison.
How do you like the 40MPH thru Hartford? It was 10 when I was going up there.
WSOR dosen't haul coal to the Northern Division as of right now. Most of the coal goes to the UW and MG&E in Madison.How do you like the 40MPH thru Hartford? It was 10 when I was going up there.