Living in a Train Caboose

When I was little there was a train caboose in the parking lot of the Crandon Park Zoo in Miami. We loved it. Our parents had to drag us into the zoo.

I found a photo of the caboose in the parking lot of the zoo: Caboose at Crandon Park Zoo. Now I know that it was a Florida East Coast Railway caboose.

Here is a postcard of the same one.

Caboose Upcycle

Cabooses have been turned into little restaurants or shops, converted to tiny houses or used as part of a house.

Railroad Square is a popular spot for students and residents of Tallahassee, especially on the first Friday of every month when all the galleries are open to the public.

Ryan Hovatter

Or used as part of a restaurant. This one was in Toronto.

I loved the caboose at the zoo. I wanted to grow up and live in a caboose. And people do.

This isn’t actually a caboose. They turned a really long passenger train car into a house.

What do cabooses look like inside?

I couldn’t find a photo of the inside of the caboose we played in. I think it had steps to a chair where you could see out the top windows. I don’t remember what else was there.

I found these photos on Wikimedia Commons.

Freight operations on the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad between Chicago, Illinois and Hammond, Indiana. Belt Line cabooses never go long distances or at very high speeds and are therefore constructed differently from line cabooses.

Photo by Jack Delano
United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division

This caboose is at a train museum. Inside it looks sorta like inside a ship.

Here is another train museum caboose. I see potential.

This is a view inside the caboose at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario.

Note the sofa and writing desk in the main hall as the caboose has been retrofitted as a cosy living accommodation for interested guests to the museum.

Smith’s Falls, Ontario, Canada

This is a view out of the other side of the caboose. They all have doors at each end. Cabooses are 8 to 10-feet wide, which is as wide as most tiny towables. They are a lot longer, the ones I found were around 45-feet long.

This is the only other photo I found on Wikimedia Commons of inside an old caboose. This is another train museum.

Cabooses on AirBnB

Then I thought of a brilliant idea. AirBnB. I could not find an easy search on the site, but if you use Google Image Advanced Search for airbnb.com, you can find them.

The one above is in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

Google Image Advanced Search for airbnb.com >

The Loose Caboose is in Leavenworth, Washington.

The Blue Caboose is in Flat River, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The Lil’ Red Caboose is in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

Cap’s Caboose is in Ashland, Alabama, 30 minutes from Cheaha State Park

This 1926 C&O Train Caboose is not too far away from me, in Waynesville, North Carolina

Where do you buy a caboose?

You can buy a caboose on eBay. There are two of them listed right now.

Vintage Rayonier Cupola Steel Caboose

10-feet wide x 20′ long enclosed
44.5-feet long, including outdoor decks

Original wood doors, windows, metal deck in front and small covered deck in back.

Vintage Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose with original wheels tracks

The enclosed part is 10-feet wide x 20′ long enclosed, with the additional front and back porches for a total of 44.5-feet long.

This is the door that opens onto that deck. Above you can see the windows in the cupola.

This wooden caboose doesn’t have the wheels anymore. It is on blocks.

1904 Great Northern Caboose

8-feet, 4″ wide x 24.5-feet long
Ceiling 79″ to 83″ high
Cupola 78″ x 60″

1904 Great Northern Wood Caboose

The caboose has two decks. One is on in the photo, the other isn’t attached, but it comes with the caboose.

You can see the potential.

Here is a view of the inside of the caboose.

There is a caboose resale website. Cabooses4sale.com. Really. Your one stop shop for caboose or sleeper car sales, trucking and moving, design, gutting and rehabilitation.

Cabooses4sale.com

We purchase, then sell railcars and other equipment, so you deal with us as the equipment owner.

www.cabooses4sale.com