Not on topic, but while looking for photos of the early 900XX cars, this photo of a preserved wooden car turned up. What makes it interesting is that the reproduced paint scheme is that of the 1920s and earlier, with a brown car and arched spelling of "Chesapeake."

Photo is credited to Bob McGilvray, Jr., and the location is Sanford, Michigan.





A photo of sister car 90776, in a later configuration (with awnings) and red paint scheme. . .note that this car, and the 90786 above, also have the center windows in the cupola, originally intended to display lighted numbers, but they were apparently never used for that purpose.

That fellow, Bob McGilvray, Jr., seems to get around a lot, and has a great many photos, a lot of them of cabooses--and one of them is this preserved (?) C&O car in Elkhorn City, Ky.--and look at the location of the end window. It's in Chessie System paint, and has a lot of modifications, including a backup light.

But ARRRGH!! It's missing its number!!





Source--and worth exploring, I would say.

https://hiveminer.com/flickr_hvmnd.cgi? ... 0&noform=t

Some more looking--and something weird.

Based on this Flickr page by Bob McGilvray, Jr., it seems that caboose with the window on the left as you face one end of the car, has the window on the opposite end on the right!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/n8myc/with/23613951562/

The first page of Mr. McGilvray's album list.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/n8myc/albums/page1

The yellow Elkhorn City C&O car has faded numbers upper center on the sides and on cupola ends. In the bottom pic you can almost see 900231 but hard to tell from that angle. Better look is here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/n8myc/23613951662/. No idea why it has an additional 0, unless maybe Chessie changed everything to 6-digit numbers.

Thank you for having better eyes or blowing up the picture! I tried to read that number but couldn't pick it out.

And yes, there were several renumbering schemes over the years.

Here's a roster by a model builder, and if his information is accurate, our mystery car is indeed significant to C&O fans.

She's part of that first order from 1937--AND she's the only one of her class to NOT be rebuilt and renumbered from class C-15 to class C-15C! And she survives!

http://www.trainweb.org/chessie/cabin.htm

The rebuilding included an updated interior, removal of the awnings, roller bearing trucks, and blue paint; scroll down to see what such a car might look like in the view of No. 3567.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/C-O- ... om0txwT-ng

This roster says C&O 90002 was preserved in Grand Rapids, MI at one time:
https://www.sites.google.com/site/railw ... peake-ohio

This roster also says Grand Rapids:
http://www.railroadmichigan.com/cabooselist.html

This person made a model of C&O 90002, and he provided some information about the real caboose:
http://www.trainweb.org/chessie/90002c&o.html

Thank you all for your help with identifying this caboose. Now that I know what it is, I want to find out how it wound up in a Central Illinois parking lot. Is there a place I can look to see previous owners of the caboose?

Thomas

Thomas -

Also important is to find out who currently owns it and what their plans are for it. Good luck with your search.

Les

Hi,

I went to the building the caboose is next to (The Lincoln Springs Center) today and went inside to ask about it. The owner was very friendly and told me they aquired it via a railcar broker from Oklahoma. Apparently, it had been located on a private farm in Michigan for many years and was remodeled to be a playhouse for the farmer's kids. The owner also said they are planning to move it to the front of the building this summer and turn it into a railroad themed bar. I was let inside to take some pictures and from what I could see, the only original thing inside was the stove.

Thomas

Thomas -

Thanks for all your efforts including finding out what the future holds for the caboose.


Les

Caboose history update:

According to this site, http://www.railroadmichigan.com/cabooselist.html C&O 90002 was owned by J. L. Tabbott of Grand Rapids. I'm trying to find when he may have purchased the caboose. Does anyone know the general time frame that Chessie System likely retired their "cabeese" fleet?

Thomas