For the first time in 15 years, visitors to the historic train exhibit at the New York State Fair will be able to tour an almost fully restored 1910 caboose that had its start in here Central New York.
First Vice President of the CNY Chapter of the New York Railway Society Philip Edwards shares the caboose’s 119-year journey.
"This caboose was originally on the New York Central Railroad. It was built in Oswego. It traveled the system from New York City all the way out to Cleveland, Ohio, St. Louis. It was basically home on the road for railroad employees."
"It was brought over here in the mid-1980's, and it's been open to the public for years and years to tour. But unfortunately because of the ravages of time and weather, we were forced to close it. This is the first year we've been able to let people inside and check out what a real caboose is like."
Edwards says the ground-up restoration is about 85 percent complete.
"It was in bad need of restoration. This is nearly a $50,000 restoration. There's only a handful of these left in existence. There was probably over 500 to 1,000 of these originally.
But Edwards says times changed, and cabooses were soon a thing of the past.
"As railroads grew up, technology made these obsolete...with computers and GPS systems, cabooses really aren't needed. Because of that, the railroad cut back on the railroad crew. When the New York Central went to the Penn Central was pretty much when they stopped using this particular caboose, and that was in the late '60s."
John Lytle is a volunteer with the CNY Chapter of the New York Railway Society. He explains what happened after the caboose went out of service on the railroad.
"It was bought by a private individual and put on Erie Boulevard as a hot dog stand. So they modified it for that purpose. Then it turned into a dress shop for a awhile. One of our members bought it and donated it to the club. It had been partially restored, but not authentically. This is the first re-creation of what the original one looked like," Lytle said.
"We actually found blueprints for how this was made. We used them to rebuild this to the original specs. There are cushions we have to make. Desks and tables will be put in there. There's a little bathroom. There'll be a sink. We'll have to look far and wide to find some of these artifacts. We want to get it back to what it looked like."
The CNY Chapter of the New York Railway Society is seeking photos, documents, and stories from anyone who has a connection to the caboose during its storied history. The club hopes to complete the restoration in time for the model train show in November. The caboose is at the historic train exhibit behind the horticulture building.
