Cost effective

be applied by spraying, but straight from the bucket, the stripper does not pour as easily as water.

It has a consistency more like paste or jelly and, according to the maker, will stay wet over extended periods of time.

Overnight the chemical stripper reacts with the paint, which then can be peeled or scraped off.

The committee members said they were impressed so far with test patches that have been stripped and covered with primer.

“You can see it takes it right down to the metal,” Dembiec said.

“The funny thing is, when you work on the railroad, the caboose isn’t not very big,” Dembiec said. “This is 40 feet long, this is not very big, it looks small.

“When it’s on its own right here, it looks pretty darn big to me,” he said. “Especially when you’ve got a six-inch brush in your hand.”

The work is time consuming, but is far cheaper than sandblasting the exterior to remove the paint, according to the committee. Estimates for blasting cost up to $16,000, Schaefer said.

It also is more controllable.

If the sides were sandblasted, the committee members said they would have to build a containment tent around the caboose and strip it off pretty much all at once, Schaefer said.

Then they would have to paint the exposed metal quickly or risk formation of more surface rust that then would need to be removed.

Using the chemical stripper, taking off the paint will cost an estimated $3,000.

“This takes a lot more elbow grease and time, but the cost is a fourth,” Schaefer said. “And we can do it in sections.”