Surviving L&HR cabooses, and their locations

Does anyone have a list of L&HR cabooses that still exist and their location? Also roster numbers of all that existed. Thanks in advance.

There is a L&HR caboose in Warwick, New York next to the station. I forget the number on it.

The caboose across South Street from the station in Warwick is only lettered for L&HR. It was originally NYS&W 0119, bought by a local Chamber of Commerce member in the seventies and moved to Warwick.

(I can vouch for the accuracy of this information because I'm the one who suggested the lettering, and I'm the one who cut the stencils and lettered it. I gave it the number 20, the next logical number in the caboose roster.)

There IS an authentic L&HR caboose a couple of blocks away in Warwick, on Forester Avenue- 4-wheel 'bobber' 81, on display at one of the local historical society's house museums. The 81 is typical of all of the road's cabooses until the mid thirties, when the road converted some idled milk cars into their first 8-wheel cabooses, the 90 class. One, the 94, still exists, at Storybook Land Park, just west of Atlantic City.

The 10 class (the 'northeastern style' that most L&HR fans are familiar with) were delivered during WW II. There were 8, originally 10-17 (the 13 was quickly changed to the 18 by superstitious crews). At least 6 (possibly 7) still exist at various locations, in various states of preservation.

Remember a LNE caboose ran regularly on the OA-3/AO-4 job in the early 60's.

Anyone remember it?

Was is loaned from the CNJ pool, or did the L&H acquire it?

Here's the sad tale of the Reading Shops-built composite cabooses: They were all sidelined by Conrail shortly after they took over because of their all wood bodies and Duryea Cushion underframes. An individual from Phillipsburg, who tried to save as much of the L&HR as he could, sued Conrail over scrapping/abandoning the L&HR. As settlement, he received 6 or 8 of the cars, and had them shipped to the Ingersoll-Rand plant in Phillipsburg, along with the L&HR flanger (ex-O&W). The flanger was kept inside for a number of years, but the cabooses were not. Almost as soon as the cabooses arrived, I-R sent letters telling him to have them moved.
They sat and sat for a number of years, with the cupolas, roofs and siding leaking water, which also warped the floors very badly. Eventually, I-R tore up the track inside the plant, and the cabooses were going to go, too.
Apparently, the Phillipsburg Rail Historians managed to get various people to adopt them, and they all found homes, more or less. I did see one of them in the yard of a garbage hauling company along Route 46 above Belvidere. Looked pretty sad.

I'm a long time Erie/Lackawanna fan having modeled the 2 RR's since the early 70's but have recently become interested in several other RR's that interchanged with them. I joined the New York Society of Model Engineers in 2001 and quickly learned theres more to model railroading then sitting in your basement for hours! We do railfan trips when we can get enough of the group together and its been an enjoyable part of club membership. Last November we went to the O scale show in Wind Gap, PA which is virtually down the street from the LNE shops at Penn Argyl. We went up after the show and roamed around with cameras and goofy grins when a guy came out of the shop building and invited us in to see what they were working on. It's a Lehigh and Hudson River wood caboose being restored to an incredibly high level. I'm not 100% sure but I believe its #11. The carpenter working on this is an ace, some of the corner pieces were really works of art. I did take some pictures, the story is that its owned by a guy that has a gravel business on Rt 94 in NJ and that he's going to use it as an office. If anyone is interested in seeing the photos just drop me an email and I'll send some out to you. Anyone else know about this project? Rich Martin

Rich wrote, "A Lehigh and Hudson River wood caboose being restored to an incredibly high level. I'm not 100% sure but I believe its #11."



I believe Jim Smith's caboose is #14.

At last report, #11 was at Beck's Tree Farm, Stone Church Rd., Stone Church, PA.

Roger

Caboose 14 matches my records, too.

I saw #94 at Storybook Land last month. I tried uploading it but my image is 4.5MB. It's in pretty good shape.

Warren

About four years ago I spent several hours photographing and measuring the 94 at Storybook Land. Here's one shot of it (one of the few I took showing the full caboose; the other side is unobstructed). The park's owners had just turned it into a snack bar, after using it for storage for several years. All of the ramps in front of it are for handicapped access and egress.

The park's owners, the Fricano family, have maintained it well since it was moved there from Vineland NJ several years ago; it is in remarkable shape for a car that was built (as a milk car) in 1924.

Marty,

Do you have an address for the bobber caboose in Warwick? I have been up and down that street a dozen times over the years and have never seen a caboose.

Apple picking season is comming up so it will give me an excuse to explore the area again.

Chris

Chris-

The caboose is behind the house at 7 Forester Avenue. If you come in from Colonial Ave/King's Hwy/County Rt. 13 (at the Mobil station), it's the third house on the left. The house and caboose are part of one of the Warwick Historical Society's sites. The house (the Shingle House) is the oldest in the Village of Warwick; there's a carriage house behind it, and an old wooden church (now boarded up) next to it. The bobber is between the carriage house and the church; it's about 50'-60' back from the street. There's a small parking lot across the street from the complex.

You can check the exterior of the caboose at any time; the entire site is open to the public on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, 2:00-4:30 PM, during July and August- the only times you can get inside the caboose. This coming Saturday will be the last day it'll open until next summer; I'm the docent for the caboose.