N&W Caboose in Bowie, MD

Tim Moriarty · **Joined:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 372

Thanks! I've passed the info on to Pam Williams in Bowie.

Tim Moriarty · **Joined:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 372

I've received word that the caboose in Bowie will soon be posted for sale on a Maryland state website. I'll post the URL here when I find out what it is.

Tim Moriarty · **Joined:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 372

The ex-N&W caboose in Bowie, MD, is now for sale. For details go to:

http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/bowie, ... uc=1208487

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:10 pm

A week, and no bids yet.

Go hunt down all those folks who moan about how they'd "love to have a caboose to display in their yard/town".......... we KNOW they're out there; they're whining on Facebook and on online forums all the time!

mikefrommontana · **Posted:** Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:49 pm

That open ended reserve on a object with obvious "issues" isn't going to bring out the bidders. Sorry, just ain't. When you factor in an unknown level of repair on top of shipping--that's going to thin the herd right quick.

Yes, I realize you are applying some satire to the situation, but the problem remains, and so might the caboose remain an endangered orphan.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Emmo213 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 19, 2014 8:38 am

I would love a caboose, and a N&W one at that. Let's do a little research on it from just this thread:

"is not long for this world"
"it's rotting away "
"Its steel components aren't doing too well, either"
"it suffered a couple of fires"
"This one is just gone."
"The patchup is continual."
"We are not suffering this thing to collapse. It's doing it all by itself."
"one side was gone, as was part of the floor."
"much of the shell was housing grade material"
"hole formed in the floor"
"it's not in the best of shape, to say the least"
"A couple of fires didn't help, either."

Add on top that who knows what the reserve is, plus it'd have to be trucked from Maryland. Thanks, but I'll hold out for something more realistic like the 2 newer N&W ones on Ozark that could have been had for $8k each and they can be shipped by rail.

Gary Gray · **Posted:** Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:25 pm

Any updates on the status of this one?

Tim Moriarty · **Joined:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 372

Reportedly was sold for $1,250.99 after bidding closed on September 25. There were only two bids. I haven't found out yet who bought it, but I hope it wasn't a scrapper.

bbunge · **Posted:** Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:07 pm

The auction web page also states the reserve was not met.

Bob

bbunge · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:09 am

Just a quick status:

http://www.gazette.net/article/20150327/NEWS/150329321/1010&source=RSS&template=gazette

Looks like it was lifted over the old PRR passenger shelter.

Bob

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:58 am

Y'know, (and I'm partially responsible for the predicament), there is a very PRR related artifact in the area that would very much belong in the Bowie park along the NEC. That would be very derelict GG1 4876, which I helped bring to the B&O Museum when they were interested in things related to Baltimore area railroading in general, and not just things directly related to B&O/Chessie/CSX. I'm certainly in no position to help mechanically or financially - shot that wad getting it to B'more - but if any existing piece of the Pennsy deserves to be stuffed and mounted along the corridor, it is a GG1, and not a Chessie-era caboose. That caboose would be much better placed somewhere like Gaithersburg or Brunswick.

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:59 am

Glad to learn somebody wants to put the effort and dollars into history. Hopefully a risk that will pay off.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:50 pm

Folks,

I have spoken with various Powers That Be around that project in the past two years, and as much as I concur with Brother Woodring about his/our desire to see a GG1 saved along the NE Corridor and closer to the trackage under which they ran in a more accessible location than Harrisburg Station, the consensus seems to be forming that IF a locomotive is going to get "stuffed and mounted" at Bowie, it is more likely to end up being a MARC AEM7 than the 4876.

GG1's seldom actually stopped at Bowie, while the MARC AEM7's did every weekday while in service. There can be little to no argument to moving an AEM7, while Amtrak will protest a GG1 move. Further, a transfer of state (MARC) assets to an in-state museum or non-profit, provided the mission is clear and fits, is a relatively simple matter, as MARC has already proven with several pieces now at the B&O Museum--where a MARC AEM7 presumably does NOT fit.

I'm not going to pooh-pooh saving 4876 at someplace like Bowie, Perryville, Wilmington, or the like, but the logistics of movement, preservation, and accessibility of this piece are downright daunting in 2015.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:23 pm

I don't have a problem with an AEM-7 also being displayed there. My ideal display there would be a GG1 with a PRR coach, back-to-back with an AEM-7 and an Amfleet coach or one of the ex-PRR sleeper/MARC commuter cars, maybe separated by a Pennsy N-5 caboose. That would be a great and entirely fitting little exhibit overlooking the corridor - things that actually ran there that still exist. With the side facing the corridor lit at night.

historian1960 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:47 pm

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

as MARC has already proven with several pieces now at the B&O Museum--where a MARC AEM7 presumably does NOT fit.

I don't understand what you're saying here - do you believe the B&O Museum wouldn't want an AEM7 or it doesn't fit it's collection policy? If you're saying the wouldn't want one I agree, but I believe such a piece is within the parameters of the museum's collection policy; they did, after all, take 7100; granted, the 7100 can be used on the on-site excursion.