100 cabooses away - a photo on Flickriver

100 cabooses away

I spent a sizable chunk of my childhood throwing switches, riding shove moves, making couplings, un-couplings, lacing air hoses, opening industry gates, handing up bills to conductors on cabooses (cabin cars), and sweeping snow from switches, all under the watchful eye of experienced railroaders. One big perk to this experience was riding around my hometown in GP-7/9's, and of course, my favorite, Penn Central caboose 18474. The coffee never tasted any better anywhere than it did from the metal pot on the caboose stove. PC 18474 was the model N11, which was PC's most modern version of NYC's transfer cabooses built in NYC's Despatch Shops in East Rochester, New York. NYC's caboose program continued into the PC years somewhat with a few different models being built there.
PC 18474 eventually disappeared from the Columbus Yard Engine in Columbus, Indiana, at which time several other transfer cabooses filed through, most for a week at a time. One week CR 18180 showed up, an older N6A, but had received a very fresh coat of Conrail blue with the "Agreeable Gray" interior. You could smell the fresh paint a few car lengths away it was so fresh. 18180 stayed on the job until well after I entered the military and was gone from my hometown.

Seen here, CR 18374, an N9E model has been saved and hangs out at the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society Museum in downtown North East, Pennsylvania adjacent to CSX's former LS&MS/NYC/PC/CR Erie West Sub. The Lake Shore Railway Historical Society has an impressive collection and display of rolling stock, both the passenger and freight depots, and a few other cool items such as a crossing watchman's tower.

NS' Lake Erie District is also located here, and runs parallel to CSX's main.

Check out more about the Historical Society here:
lakeshorerailway.com/about-lsrhs/

Check out more about NYC's Despatch Shops here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchants_Despatch

Check out more on NYC/PC/CR transfer cabooses here:
crcaboose.railfan.net/

And here:
www.hebners.net/CR/CRcab.html

Taken on: January 9, 2025

Tags:

conrail

CR18374

NorthEast

Pennsylvania

Transfer

caboose

N9E

erie

West

Sub

CSX

Lake

Shore

Railway

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Museum

East

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Sets appears in: • CSX Erie West Sub • Cabin cars and cabeese

Groups appears in: • Cabooses • Great Lake Railroads more » • The Caboose Fan Group • Conrail Blue Memories • I've been railroaded! • The Colorful World of Cabooses • Transfer Cabooses • trains of the Great Lakes • cabooses of any kind • All things railroad • Conrail's Legacy • Former Conrail Routes • Caboose's • Worldwide Railfanning (WRP Flickr) • flickrailroad • Railroad Museums of the USA « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/4.0, 1/2000 sec, 32mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Lens:	28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/2000)
Focal Length:	32mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Lightroom 8.1 (Windows)
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