The Caboose in reality - more features

The control enclosure turned out just as I envisioned. With the aluminum channel matching the aluminum trim of the trailer, and the dark blue lid, the enclosure looks like it is supposed to be there. The chains wrap nicely over the tongue, and the plug fits nicely into the coupler latch. As for a lock, I bought an extra 2" ball and ground the shank off it, and use a Master lock to lock the ball into the coupler. So if anyone wants it, they cant just carry it away with a pin for a hitch, but theyll have to grind the lock off. Itd take some real balls for someone to fire up a grinder 5 feet from my house and expect me not to hear it. Id still like to come up with a way to lock the control enclosure, but have not much for ideas yet. Might use some 500 bhn steel from work to make a latch that pokes through the top, then secure it with a lock. Actually, the ground-off ball just got lost when my mom borrowed the trailer. I bought a real hitch lock for it, which you can see here.

I wanted a third brake light on the Caboose, but couldnt decide on a light. I ended up using a third brake light from another A-body wagon. It is a bit bulky but it does match the trailer as well as the car. I could have bought a flush-mounted light, but for now I like this one. The light is held in place by aluminum strips cut from the bracket from a True Value hardware thermometer. No drilling or cutting into the body. Didnt want to do that right now since we are still getting snow.

There were basically three options for wiring the light. (1) Use the brake controller output, (2) use a tx/rx circuit to send the car signal to the trailer, or (3) just use a plain old wire. I ended up resorting to the latter after trying both of the former which did not work. I didnt want another wire dangling down there, and I found out that 9-wire plugs are available. The 7-wire socket on the car was pretty weathered anyway, so I upgraded to a 9. Had to rig a special bracket because it takes so much more force to plug in the 9. But it ended up being worth it. Now there is absolutely no delay between the car and trailer lights, and no dimming when the blinker or brakes come on. If I need to load the trailer to anyone, or if I need to pull anything else, I have made adapters to go from a 9 to a 7 and a 4.