Mystery caboose in Mohawk NY (Mohawk Station Restaurant)

Anyone know who's this is? I have a cruddy photo I could post, but it's a wood caboose, not the typical 34' NYC car that there is at least half a dozen of between Rochester and Albany - it's longer, the cupola is taller, but it's still a wood car with regular sheathing. Maybe 45' or 50' long, it's longer than the other RR car on site (a 40' steel plug-door boxcar). The only markings on it are "Mohawk Station Restaurant" - if you've never seen it, it's right on the corner of Route 28 and Route 5S, just across the river from the Thruway exit. I don't know if you can eat inside it or what, but it's part of the restaurant, which is presumably in the old West Shore station there.

Hi,

There's a photo of the caboose on this site: http://www.mohawkstation.com/ .

I'm wondering if it might be ex-BAR?

Roger

Just looked at the Mohawk Station site and boy is that full of misinformation! The Erie was actually the first railroad to serve NYC to western NY and the little pieces of lines put together to form the NY Central was second with the West Shore coming in a distant third. Has any railfans tried to correct this or are the owners holding fast to their story?

While henry6 is correct, the site says "first line connecting New York City to upstate, western NY and the frontier". I've spent time in that area and it's just a different take on the geography of NY.

In that area of the state, "upstate" is the Albany/Utica area. The Erie never went up there. They were down in the Southern Tier to get to WNY. So the WS did connect NYC to upstate and WNY. Also, most people up there think of the WS as the WS as part of the New York Central. The NYC was the first to head north from NYC to upstate and then across to WNY and the WS was part of the NYC.

While RRers think differently, from a locals perspective, it all makes sense to them!

BTW, I'm not making this up. A part of the restaurant was the old WS station and is on my stations site. I talked to the owner about it when I was taking a photo years ago. He told me the whole story. It was sold to its new owners a few years ago.

Charles

I've eaten at that restaurant a few times, and had reached the tentative conclusion that the caboose was so oversized it had to be a fake.

Somebody let me know if I'm wrong.

"I've reached the tentative conclusion that the caboose was so oversized it had to be a fake. Let me know if I'm wrong."


Hi March,

I can't tell you that it isn't a fake but I'll note that you don't mention examining the undercarriage, trucks, or other parts of the car for clues to its origin, so you could easily be mistaken.

Thanks, Roger

The picture is not the best but it appears the cupola is considerably narrower than the carbody which raises the possibility of an old B&M buggy.