Good Medicine Aboard My Own CABOOSE

(Page 2 of 6)

November/December 1990
By Adolf Hungry Wolf 
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But several days of sweeping, mopping, patching and painting left us with a handsome, sturdy car-a fine testimonial to the Canadian Pacific Railway carpenters who built the caboose in Montreal back in 1922. For So years this car followed CPR trains of all kinds, traveling an estimated million miles or more and becoming a living piece of railroad history.

Nostalgia is an important benefit of owning a railroad car, especially if you value history or are intrigued by antiques and collectibles. An old conductor we know named John Egan wins hands down for owning a car with nostalgic value. He still rides on working cabooses during the week, but on weekends and holidays he and his wife travel to the scenic White Mountains of New Hampshire, where they relax aboard the very first caboose he ever worked on as conductor—back in 1949. The railroad sold this wooden antique some years ago, and now John has lovingly restored it. Still, we've found it's the practicality of each car that makes it well worth its cost.

John's caboose, by the way, is parked with several others on rental track belonging to the diesel- and steam-powered Conway Scenic Railroad. The site is landscaped and offers power, water and a sewer system. Unfortunately, liability problems in recent years have all but eliminated this option for most private railroad-car owners.

Next door to the Egans, Blanche and Howard Audibert own a 1910 caboose. "I love the car," Blanche exclaimed during a recent visit. "I only wish we could spend more time in it." To reach it, they travel up from their home in Florida, where Howard is an award-winning architect. A lifelong admirer of trains, he dreamed for years of owning a caboose. "I can't think of a better vacation home," he says of his dream come true.

Howard redesigned the typical caboose interior—9' x 30'—to create a small sitting room where the conductor used to work, a dining space where the potbellied stove used to be, plus an efficient kitchen underneath the cupola. One of the former closets now holds a toilet, the other a shower ("You kind of have to back your way into them"). Upstairs, the four cupola seats fold down into two narrow "but cozy" sleeping berths. The little home also has wall-to-wall carpeting, stereo music and ample electric lights, even in the closets. That seems pretty luxurious to us, living as we do with kerosene lamps and wood heaters.

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