Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose 1 - a photo on Flickriver

            This is a restored Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose in the collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in the town of Strasburg.  It was built about 1900 and was retired from road service in about 1937.  It is 21 feet long and weighs almost 11 tons.

From museum signage:
"As railroads grew into larger, complex transportation networks, keeping track of freight shipments and trains became a challenge.  Responsibility for the train and its cargo fell to the conductor.  The caboose served as his office, providing both a place to process the freight waybills as well as accommodations for the long journeys and nights away from home.  The conductor shared this office with a brakeman who would assist in throwing switches, coupling cars, and protecting the end of the train.

Little thought was given to the comfort of early train crews.  With a short, rigid, four-wheel truck and uncushioned couplers, these "bobber" cabooses provided a rough ride worthy of their nickname.  This poor riding quality usually limited the bobbers to slower and shorter branch line runs.

On board the caboose, the conductor managed all of the train's paperwork including train orders which governed the train's movement and waybills which showed the commodities and destination of each car in the train.

The early history of this car remains clouded in uncertainty.  Built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in their Packerton Car Shops around 1900, the car served only a few years on the Black Diamond Route before being sold to the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad prior to World War I.  In 1921, the car was sold to the C.W. Sones Logging Company in Nordmont, Pennsylvania.  Shortly after the mill closed in the 1930s, the car was stripped of its wheels and used as a watchman's shanty, storage shed, and finally a playhouse for kids for many years as "Aunt Clara's Caboose".

Mr. John Gummo of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania purchased the car in 1982 and began his own restoration.  A new underframe was acquired from a former Lehigh and New England clearance car.  The remainder of the car was rebuilt to its original Lehigh Valley appearance.  The number 2606 was found on the walls inside the car during this restoration.  No. 2606 is not the car's original Lehigh Valley number but probably dates to the Williamsport and North Branch.  Mr. Gummo displayed the car on his farm until donating it to the museum in 1997."

Some rights reserved

Taken on: May 11, 2016

Tags:

Lehigh

Valley

caboose

Museum

Pennsylvania

Strasburg

cabooses « less

Sets appears in: • Cabooses • Trains & Railroads

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