I received this e-mail from my brother, and though I would pose the question to the group. Any ideas?

”I have found an old caboose in a farmer's field. I
want to buy it for a guest-house. Can you give me a
ballpark estimate of what I should offer. I don't want to be seen as a
rube. More importantly, I don't want to pay too much.

It appears to be
structurally sound but the windows are mostly broken. It is off the
trucks, but they are there. I have been told that the have been
sitting in the field for 10-15 years.”


Strasburg Rail Road

kelly@strasburgrailroad.com

From what little I can see in the photo, it looks to be in good shape. Remember that water and animal damage will have to be repaired, and the biggest expense will be hoisting it onto a flatbed and towing it to wherever you want it. I would offer the owner no more than $3000, and would start at more like $2000. You can still buy retired cabooses on the trucks for around $4500, if you find a resource or broker. Some ex-BAR cabooses made from WWII troop pullmans are for sale here in Maine for $3000, in similar condition and with trucks. A beautiful CP van is for sale on a small piece of property just north of where I live for an asking price of $7000; that's a steel caboose, road ready, on track, with lot. Moving it is the hard part for me. Good luck. Every man and woman should own a caboose.


Aurora7@Juno.com

> ”I have found an old caboose in a farmer's
> field. I
> want to buy it for a guest-house. Can you
> give me a
> ballpark estimate of what I should offer. I
> don't want to be seen as a
> rube. More importantly, I don't want to pay
> too much.

Regrettably, the price of scrap metal is up over $200 per ton now, and preservationists are being forced to compete against that. So figure about a dime per pound - whats it weigh? With trucks probably 45,000 lbs or $4500.

If the owner wants to get rid of it and is savvy to the market value of scrap iron, he could get a dealer to come out and take it away in wheelbarrows and still make some money, maybe more than he thought. Unless it is on a mountaintop, surrounded by a swamp, or hunnerts of miles from civilization. But then, how would you be able to move it? And how did it get there?

Bob Kutella



68trolley@comcast.net

The value of such pieces is in the price of moving it. Unfortunately, people have the mistaken notion that this stuff APPRECIATES in value. Or, if someone has historical interest, they must have LOTSA money (we know the truth about that, don't we). And, it also depends on how eager the owner is to get rid of it. The $2-3,000 range is about right, because of its location, and having to be trucked out. You may also want to look up the appropriate Trains magazine article that appeared a few years ago:
So You Want To Buy A Caboose? Or something like that,the date of which you can look up on Trains.com

schwartzsj@juno.com