L&N
Caboose #6497
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Caboose was donated by CSX Transportation and is a Chessie
Class C-27. It is one of 62 cabooses built for the B
& O Railroad by the Fruit Growers Express Company at their
Alexandra Virginia Factory between February and Many of 1978.
The Fruit Growers Express was a company owned by several railroads
including the B & O. They had produced refrigerator
cars for a number of years. During the 1970 era, the
decline in shipment of goods in refrigerator cars caused the
company to branch out into manufacture of other types of cars. |
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caboose was delivered in May of 1978. It was a "pool"
caboose built to replace aging cabooses on the B & O.
It was originally numbered C-3980. The B & O renumbered
their cabooses in 1982 dropping the "C" and adding "90" becoming
903980. |
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Restoration
efforts began in March of 2002 and now wears the L & N
colors and has been renumbered 6497. Our caboose honors
L & N Flagman Rayburn Wills who was riding in that caboose
when he was shot and killed near Bucklodge, Tennessee on November
6, 1980.
The cupola caboose was developed to allow crews to be able
to see over the top of the cars. Variations of this
style caboose served until freight cars began being built
higher during the 1950's. At that time, the bay window
caboose like this caboose was developed to allow crews to
watch the cars ahead from the side. |
The
caboose developed out of the necessity for the crew.
In the early days of railroading, a brakeman would ride
on the top of the last car or in the last car. This
most often left him exposed to what ever the weather was,
rain, heat, cold or snow. On signal from the engineer,
the brakeman would walk across the top of the cars and set
hand brakes to stop the train, a very dangerous job.
In the 1870's, air brakes were invented and started appearing
on trains. This ended the dangerous job of the brakeman
walking across the tops of cars.
In the days before radios, when the train stopped, the flagman
would have to walk a half mile or more behind the train
to warn approaching trains of the stopped train ahead.
He would use flags, flares or lanterns to signal the danger.
The flagman
would have to listen for signals from his engineer blowing
the train whistle to know when to return. Many flagmen
were accidentally left behind sometimes. The warm
caboose was a welcome sight after standing outside some
times for hours in zero temperatures and sleet or snow. |
Caboose Interior - Before
Caboose Interior - After
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Caboose is a Dutch word for a ship galley, a fitting name
for the railroad refuge for the train crew. The caboose
was occupied typically by three men, the conductor, a brakeman
and a flagman. It was an office for the conductor, a
place where he could watch the train and take care of waybills
and other paper work related to the train's load. After
air brakes were invented, the brakeman could monitor the brake
gauges from the caboose. It was also used for storage
areas for flags, flares, and lanterns plus carried extra cans
of oil for lanterns and some spare parts such as air hoses. |
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The caboose was also a home for the crew as they were sometimes
gone from home for days at a time. The crew lived in
the caboose while waiting for their return trips. There
were oil fired stoves for heat and cooking, a restroom, sink,
closets and bunk beds. The crew would keep food supplies
in the caboose and sometimes farmers would allow the crew
to pick a few vegetables while the train was stopped.
Also, the crew many times carried fishing poles and rifles
to help supplement the food supply.
During the 1980's, more engines became equipped with computers
and cabooses were replaced by a small black box with a flashing
red light called "FRED" (Flashing Rear End Device) or "EOD"
(End of Train Device). This small box monitors the trains
systems and alerts the crew of trouble. This also allowed
for train crew reductions and reduced maintenance of equipment.
Today, the conductor now occupies the engine cab and a train
crew consists of a Conductor and Engineer. |
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