Cabooses

For generations of North American train crews, the caboose was more than just a car on the tail of the train. It was office, workshop, lookout post and sometimes even home: the vantage point from which the men at the back kept the whole train in order. From here they watched for hotboxes, shifting loads or dragging equipment, and did the paperwork that kept the freight moving.

Early cabooses were plain wooden affairs, little more than mobile sheds. Later versions sprouted cupolas or bay windows to give a better view down the length of the train. By the middle of the 20th century they had become sturdier, better equipped and even comfortable compared with their predecessors. Modern technology — radios, trackside detectors, rear-end marker devices — gradually rendered them redundant, but the caboose remains one of the enduring icons of American railroading.

Northeastern Style 

The caboose type we now call the Northeastern was born on the Reading Company in the early 1920s. Wooden hacks were still the norm, but the Reading wanted something sturdier to cope with the pounding of heavy coal trains. Their answer was an all-steel body: plain, purposeful and strong enough to stand years of rough service.

Between 1923 and 1924 the Reading built 285 cars of this type across several classes. The first had solid underframes; later builds introduced Duryea cushion underframes that smoothed the ride for crews on rough track. The design was so successful that other Northeastern roads soon followed. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh & New England, Lehigh Valley, Pittsburgh & West Virginia and Western Maryland all rostered similar cars. Some were built by the Reading, others in home shops, and each batch had its own quirks — differences in trucks, steps, running boards, grab irons and whether or not the end walls carried windows.

What they all had in common was toughness. Northeasterns lasted into the Conrail and Chessie years, and many found second lives on Class I and short lines. A fair number survive today in museums, on tourist lines or adapted for new uses, from cabins to hotel rooms. They may not have had the striking profile of the wide-visions, but as dependable workhorses they were about as good as it got.

International Wide Vision

By the 1950s freight cars were getting taller, and a man perched in an old-style cupola could barely see past the first couple of box cars. The solution was simple: extend the cupola out over the sides of the carbody and restore the crew’s view along the train. Thus the wide-vision, or extended-vision, caboose was born — instantly recognisable, unmistakably modern and very much the last word in caboose design.

Some roads, such as the Rock Island, created them by fitting extensions to existing cars. Most, however, were purpose-built, with the International Car Company taking the lead and turning out hundreds for railroads across the continent. The wider cupola not only gave a clear line of sight past high-sided cars but also made for a roomier interior, a small but welcome concession to crew comfort.

In many ways the wide-vision was the caboose’s last hurrah. Modern, practical and still common into the 1980s, they were finally displaced when electronic train-end devices took over.

Maine Central

On the Maine Central the caboose was always the “buggy”, and the fleet reflected the line’s character: varied, hard-working and often rebuilt to suit the times. Wooden cars from the First World War era were rebuilt with plywood sides. Others were sheathed in steel at Waterville. The road also rostered International wide-visions and three distinctive home-built long cabooses on express reefer trucks, with either vertical or sloped cupola sides.

By the Guilford era the writing was on the wall, but the buggies clung on. One even received the grey-and-orange Guilford scheme, the only MEC caboose ever to do so.

Caboose No. 558, shown before reskinning in plywood, retains its original wood siding typical of Maine Central’s earlier “buggies.” © Geoff Quadland
Waldo H. Kingston captured Maine Central caboose No. 563 on display at Boothbay Harbor, Maine, in September 1965. © Great Falls Model Railroad Club
Maine Central wooden caboose re-sheathed with steel at Waterville, ME. in April 1980. © George Melvin Collection
Maine Central Caboose #614R at Livermore Falls, ME on 8 December 1977. Photo by Richard Merriam.
Maine Central Caboose #614R is seen at Livermore Falls, ME on 8 December 1977. © Richard Merriam
Caboose #614, a plywood-sheathed example from Maine Central’s eclectic fleet, stands at Newport Junction in 1982 awaiting a run to Dover-Foxcroft. © Michael Shufelt
Originally a wooden caboose, Maine Central #623 was one of a few that were rebuilt with steel sides and ends and new aluminium window frames. Bangor, ME. 16 February 1983 © D.S.Hutchinson Collection
Caboose #642, an International wide vision type with tabbed side sills, at Rigby Yard in August 1978. © Rich Gibson
Maine Central caboose #644 at South Portland, Maine, on 7 May 1984, wearing Guilford’s grey-and-orange paint scheme, the only MEC caboose to receive this treatment. © Chuck Zeiler
Brand-new Maine Central caboose #645, only a month old, at Rigby Yard (South Portland, Maine) in November 1972. © George Melvin Collection
Maine Central Cupola Caboose #648R at Hermon, Maine, photographed on 23 July 1977. Built at Waterville Shops in 1976, it was one of three of its design.
Maine Central Cupola Caboose #648R at Hermon, Maine, on 23 July 1977. Home-built at Waterville Shops in 1976, this caboose was one of three of this design on the MEC roster. © Thomas Seiler
Maine Central caboose #648R and WHSX 112 hopper car in a train leaving Rigby Yard, Portland, Maine, March 15, 1977.
A Maine Central caboose #648R adds a classic touch to a train departing Rigby Yard, Portland, Maine, on 15 March 1977. The trainman strikes a pose that would likely raise eyebrows in today’s safety-conscious world. Also seen in the mix is WHSX 112, a W. H. Shurtleff Co. PS 4427 cu. ft. PS 3-bay hopper, specifically used for salt traffic. © Doug Lilly
Maine Central steel cupola caboose No. 662 at Bangor, Maine, on 15 May 1977. Originally from the Western Maryland. © Matt Herson
Maine Central caboose #664 at Waterville, Maine, in October 1971. These cars, purchased from the Western Maryland, originally entered service in harvest yellow and black with an offset emblem and Andrews trucks. © David Hutchinson.
Maine Central Caboose 664, a classic Northeastern design, was photographed in Calais, Maine, in October 1978. Now preserved at the Danbury Railway Museum, Connecticut, this caboose reflects the enduring legacy of railroading in the Northeast. © George Berisso
As International Wide Vision caboose #671 of YR-1 St. Johnsbury – Rigby Yard, Portland clears the B&M diamond in Whitefield, NH, a crewman adjusts the ball signal—the last of its kind in regular railroad service. The ball on the left will be hoisted to the high position, signalling the B&M to proceed, a practice that inspired the term “highball.” © Doug Kroll

MEC roster highlights:

  • 600–639: assorted WWI-era wooden cabooses rebuilt with plywood sides
  • 640–641: International wide-visions with straight side sills
  • 642–645: International wide-visions with tabbed side sills
  • 646: one-off caboose built from a boxcar at Waterville
  • 647: long home-built on express reefer trucks with vertical cupola sides
  • 648–650: long home-built on express reefer trucks with sloped cupola sides
  • 651–654: International wide-visions with straight side sills
  • 655–659: International standard cupola cabooses
  • 660–664: ex-Western Maryland Northeasterns
  • 670–672: International wide-visions with tabbed side sills, built without running boards

Cabooses with an “R” suffix were restricted to home-road service. The phase-out began in earnest under Guilford in 1985.

No.DetailsRRPANotes
…   
537 836457 
…   
558
559 692696 
560 193695 
561   
562   
563 4204953http://cencalrails.railfan.net/mec563.html
…   
571
5811911 Laconia Car Company674387 
582  http://cencalrails.railfan.net/mec582.html
…   
610 674566 
611 836459 
612R  Micro-Trains 100 00 610 ★
613   
614 397776 
615   
616 710267Atlas 50 001 390 ★
617 629149 
618 692927 
619   
620   
621 543930 
622   
623R 396594 
624   
625   
626   
627 676334 
628 3553265 
629   
630 2910794Intervale in New England Glory: Mountain Division
631  
632  
634  
637Atlas 50 001 391 ★
—
640
641
642International Wide Vision with tabbed side sills
643International Wide Vision with tabbed side sills
644International Wide Vision with tabbed side sills380097 / 692929The only MEC Caboose to wear Guilford colours. Atlas N Master International Extended-Vision Caboose?
645International Wide Vision with tabbed side sills
646One of a kind built from a boxcar462634/396599/692687Built from boxcar no. 4939 (a 1932 ARA 9ft 4in inside-height, 40ft car from Magor Car Company, Lot P8750, delivered December 1936), this caboose was converted at the Waterville shops. It later worked on the Mountain Division, most often around Gilman and Whitefield, and was known as the Beecher Falls caboose. After its time at Beecher Falls it moved between assignments until, in 1984/85, it was allocated to trains 324/325 out of Rockland at the request of the job’s conductor, G. R. “Dick” Frank. Today it is preserved on the Grafton & Upton Railroad in Massachusetts.
647Long home-built on express reefer trucks with verticle cupola sides 
648RLong home-built on express reefer trucks with sloped cupola sides 676331/647290Blomberg B Trucks
649RLong home-built on express reefer trucks with sloped cupola sides 674388
650RLong home-built on express reefer trucks with sloped cupola sides 650R was originally numbered 656 but was renumbered in 1963 to make room for a new series of cabooses from I.C.C., 655-659.
651Atlas 50 000 295 ★ RP
652
653  http://cencalrails.railfan.net/mec653.jpg
Atlas 50 000 296 ★
654
655International Standard Cupola Atlas 50 005 605 ★
656International Standard Cupola Atlas 43011 ★ Atlas 43018 ★
657International Standard Cupola Atlas 43111 ★ Atlas 43116 ★
658International Standard Cupola Atlas 43112 ★ Atlas 43117 ★
659International Standard CupolaAtlas 43012 ★ Atlas 43019 ★ Atlas 50 005 606 ★
660Ex Western Maryland Northeastern Style RRPAex-WM 1878. Purchased in 1962. Now on display at Cole Land Transportation Museum.
661Ex Western Maryland Northeastern Style 308591ex-WM 1904. Built in 1940 by Union Bridge. Purchased in 1962. Acquired by Danbury Railway Museum in 2000. Bachmann 16854 ★
662Ex Western Maryland Northeastern Style 674565ex-WM 1804. Purchased in 1962. Kimball Oil, Great Barrington, MA, from Canaan, CT.
663Ex Western Maryland Northeastern Style 710270/692936ex-WM 1838. Purchased in 1962. David Ritz, Apalachin, NY.
664Ex Western Maryland Northeastern Style 730269ex-WM 1837. Purchased in 1962. Danbury RR Museum, Danbury, CT, from Canaan, CT.
670International Wide Vision183725Atlas 30281 ★ Atlas 30289 ★
671International Wide Vision380097/692929
672International Wide Vision540818

Epilogue

The caboose was never just a car at the end of the train. For generations of railroaders it was a workplace, a refuge, and a front-row seat on the life of the line. Maine Central’s “buggies” were no exception — a mixed fleet that spoke of adaptation, economy, and the hard work of keeping trains moving in New England conditions.

Today their outlines survive in photographs, in preserved examples, and in memory: the steady rhythm of wheels underfoot, the view from a cupola, the glow of red marker lamps dwindling into the dusk. Whether built of wood, steel, or something in between, they carried more than waybills and marker lights — they carried the human side of railroading.

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