Caboose — Old Souls

NYC Caboose 18015

Caboose awaiting restoration, June 2023

History

Caboose 18015 is a New York Central System “standard” caboose. According to the NYCS Historical Society, approximately 2000 of these cabooses were built starting in 1906:

Because of its close-cropped cupola design, it was able to move in areas having clearance problems that would not permit operation of larger cupola equipped cabooses. The short "gun turret" offset cupola gave them a sleek, almost streamlined appearance that befitted the "water level route". The N.Y.C. liked the design so well that only very minor changes were made in these cars in over 50 years of train service.

Records obtained from the NYCSHS indicate caboose 18015 was built in Norwalk in 1875 as a steel underframe caboose. The NYC was frugal and rebuilt a lot of their equipment, so it’s likely this caboose was rebuilt or renumbered after 1906 and little (if any) of the original 1875 caboose remains.

1943 New York Central caboose WWII advertisement

The many lives of 18015

The railroad sold the caboose in May 1966 and soon after it was relocated to Beverly Farms station, MA, where it became The Caboose Cheese Shop. By the early 1980s it was used as a travel agency office in the same location. Later that decade it was moved to Essex, MA where it became a computer repair office and finally an antique store.

In 2021, we purchased the caboose and relocated it again from Essex, MA to Copake, NY where it awaits restoration alongside the Copake Train Depot.

Train 1520 stopping at Beverly Farms in March 1983. The former NYC caboose is a travel agency office. Photo from “Boston’s Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years” by Thomas Humphrey and Norton Clark.

Our vision

Today, planning is underway for NYC caboose 18015’s newest purpose as a vacation rental. The exterior will be restored to original condition, and the interior will be thoughtfully converted into a cosy tiny home.

The caboose will be located near where the tracks once ran past the Copake train depot, with views of the Taconic Mountains and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail — where it could have traveled over a century ago.