> Nope...caboose got "accidentally"
> burned during the scrapping of the Bear
> Creek Junction equipment in 1987. There were
> efforts to preserve it, but the fire ended
> that. See further comments below...

> On the subject of random GC pieces...I've
> heard rumors of some caboose being sold to a
> private individual in the Whittier area.
> I've never seen anything driving through
> there and never seen anything to
> substantiate those rumors either.

> There was at least one caboose in the BCJ
> equipment at one time, but I don't know
> whether it lasted till end end or not. If
> memory (and pictures) serve correctly...the
> caboose used on the tourist trains was
> ex-L&N and the one in the BCJ museum
> appears to be ex-SR. I'm sure some of the
> other people can add to this. Which one got
> burned, I'm not 100% sure of.

> On the topic of the passenger cars, as far
> as I know, GSMR ended up scrapping them at
> some point. They were used the first season
> (and plenty of pictures to show it), but
> were not used after that. I'm guessing they
> were dismantled somewhere around late 1980s
> or early 1990s.

> Kevin

Kevin,

Your two posts today seem to indicate this is a tale of two cabs. The one you are talking about was on the display tracks just east of the depot and had been part of the museum. It was outside braced and I think you are correct about its Southern heritage. The one I am refering to is the Bemis built cab that was on display behind the 2147. It was out by highway 129 and very short. They were basically a sign for the entrance to the nearly hidden Bear Creek complex. I was not aware there was an attempt to save the caboose by the depot. I assumed it was just scrapped with the rest of the stuff. I wish Little River or someone had gotten it.

As Jim Wrinn states in his post above the caboose used on the trains was an ex L&N job and numbered GC 10. It was not only used on the passenger trains but also the freights. It was servicable until the end. I did not know the 10 was now off the rail at Whittier. It is my hope that it will someday join the 1925 in the museum at Spencer.

Jim and Wayne, if I am wrong here jump in and set the record straight. My memory could be getting as bad as the rest of me.

John


jhbohon@yahoo.com

> Kevin,

> Your two posts today seem to indicate this
> is a tale of two cabs.

Actually 3 cabs in truth. Been corresponding with Jim Wrinn on e-mail and I'll post the latest on those discussions here for you and anyone else to add to.

The one you are
> talking about was on the display tracks just
> east of the depot and had been part of the
> museum. It was outside braced and I think
> you are correct about its Southern heritage.

Wrinn said this is actually ex-NC&StL. Essentially the same design as the ex-SR cab GC was running thru mid 60s. This is the caboose that was burned at BCJ in 1987ish. Susan said there was some attempt at the time to save it, though I don't know how organized that attempt was. At any rate, the torching of the car ended any of those hopes.

> The one I am refering to is the Bemis built
> cab that was on display behind the 2147. It
> was out by highway 129 and very short. They
> were basically a sign for the entrance to
> the nearly hidden Bear Creek complex. I was
> not aware there was an attempt to save the
> caboose by the depot. I assumed it was just
> scrapped with the rest of the stuff. I wish
> Little River or someone had gotten it.

The little caboose behind 2147 is one of several subjects on confusion here. You were there at the time the 2147 left and maybe the Little River group got the caboose at the time, but they don't have it now. They do have the trucks from the caboose however. It is definitely NOT the caboose parked behind 2147 in Townsend now. I don't know what the heritage of the current Townsend caboose is.

Re: the BCJ caboose, my guess is that it was pretty much firewood by the time 2147 left BCJ and probably just fell apart at some point. As far as I know, it does NOT exist in 2003.

> As Jim Wrinn states in his post above the
> caboose used on the trains was an ex L&N
> job and numbered GC 10. It was not only used
> on the passenger trains but also the
> freights. It was servicable until the end. I
> did not know the 10 was now off the rail at
> Whittier. It is my hope that it will someday
> join the 1925 in the museum at Spencer.

....And here we arrive at the main point of confusion in this saga. Both Jim and I have heard rumors of the L&N caboose being in private ownership in Whittier. I went searching for it a couple of years ago, but couldn't find anything and Whittier is a fairly small place. IF it does exist, it is not visible from the roads. Neither of us has ever seen any pictures of the caboose in Whittier, or anyone who actually has seen the caboose. All information at this point is second-hand at best.

My guess is Kurt Newman (??) at GSMR would be one to know since he has probably been with GSMR longer than most people. Greg Dodd may know, and Steve Webb has definitely HEARD of it (as he told me about it originally), but I am pretty sure Steve hasn't SEEN it himself.

I think Jim is going to try and contact Ryan Scott to see if he knows anything. I'm sure Jim would like a picture of it to put in his book if it does exist, but without any definite info to prove that the caboose exists, I'm beginning to think it's another one of those stories like "the Whiting loco for the original GC that got washed away with the 1916 Asheville flood".

If anyone has anything to add to this, please do. Quite a few bits of info on this little railroad that shouldn't be THAT hard to piece together since it hasn't been an extremely long time since the last train ran in Graham County.

Kevin

k_gilliam@bellsouth.net