{"id":9298,"date":"2021-04-05T21:11:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T21:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/?p=9298"},"modified":"2024-05-31T11:36:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:36:47","slug":"living-in-a-train-caboose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/living-in-a-train-caboose\/","title":{"rendered":"Living in a Train Caboose"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Florida East Coast Railway caboose on display at Crandon Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

\"\"
Florida East Coast Railway Caboose Postcard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a postcard of the same one.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tasty Eats Beer Garden, a Caboose at Railroad Square in Tallahassee
Photo by Ryan Hovatter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caboose Upcycle<\/h2>\n

Cabooses have been turned into little restaurants or shops, converted to tiny houses or used as part of a house.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ryan Hovatter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
Caboose part of Town & Country Market Fresh Buffet in Toronto.
Photo by Leonard G.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or used as part of a restaurant. This one was in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Caboose near Augusta Township, Belleville, Michigan.
Photo by Dwight Burdette<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I loved the caboose at the zoo. I wanted to grow up and live in a caboose. And people do.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Train passenger car house in Niles, Cayuga County, New York
Photo by Beyond My Ken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This isn’t actually a caboose. They turned a really long passenger train car into a house.<\/p>\n

What do cabooses look like inside?<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Freight Belt Line Caboose
Photo by Jack Delano
United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found these photos on Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Photo by Jack Delano
\nUnited States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
1968 C&O Caboose 3168 at C&O Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia
Photo by Jarek Tuszy\u0144ski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This caboose is at a train museum. Inside it looks sorta like inside a ship.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Interior Caboose Saskatchewan Railway Museum
Photo by Sri Mesh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is another train museum caboose. I see potential.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Caboose at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario
Photo by Shankar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a view inside the caboose at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Smith’s Falls, Ontario, Canada<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
Caboose at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario
Photo by Shankar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Caboose at KC Rail Experience Museum, Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Photo by Daderot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the only other photo I found on Wikimedia Commons of inside an old caboose. This is another train museum.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Restored Vintage Caboose on AirBnB
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/5549399<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cabooses on AirBnB<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The one above is in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Google Image Advanced Search for airbnb.com ><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Loose Caboose
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/26132872\u00a0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Loose Caboose is in Leavenworth, Washington.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Blue Caboose-Boston & Maine 491
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/3807567<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Blue Caboose is in Flat River, Prince Edward Island, Canada.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Lil’ Red Caboose \ud83d\ude42
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/7846081<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lil’ Red Caboose is in Lincoln, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Cap’s Caboose 30 minutes from Cheaha State Park
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/31807166<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cap’s Caboose is in Ashland, Alabama, 30 minutes from Cheaha State Park<\/p>\n

\"\"
Upscale 1926 C&O Train Caboose Tiny House Glamping
www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/17142206<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1926 C&O Train Caboose is not too far away from me, in Waynesville, North Carolina<\/p>\n

\"\"
Small covered back deck on Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Where do you buy a caboose?<\/h2>\n

You can buy a caboose on eBay. There are two of them listed right now.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vintage Rayonier Cupola Steel Caboose<\/strong><\/p>\n

10-feet wide x 20′ long enclosed
\n44.5-feet long, including outdoor decks<\/p>\n

Original wood doors, windows, metal deck in front and small covered deck in back.<\/p>\n

Vintage Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose with original wheels tracks<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
Front metal deck with overhang on Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Inside a Rayonier Steel Transfer Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the door that opens onto that deck. Above you can see the windows in the cupola.<\/p>\n

\"\"
1904 Great Northern Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This wooden caboose doesn’t have the wheels anymore. It is on blocks.<\/p>\n

1904 Great Northern Caboose<\/strong><\/p>\n

8-feet, 4″ wide x 24.5-feet long
\nCeiling 79″ to 83″ high
\nCupola 78″ x 60″<\/p>\n

1904 Great Northern Wood Caboose<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The caboose has two decks. One is on in the photo, the other isn’t attached, but it comes with the caboose.<\/p>\n

You can see the potential.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Inside the 1904 Great Northern Caboose on eBay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a view of the inside of the caboose.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Cabooses4sale.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

We purchase, then sell railcars and other equipment, so you deal with us as the equipment owner.<\/p>\n

www.cabooses4sale.com<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,26,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-other-small-houses","category-small-house-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/featured-caboose.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7321,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/nine-kinds-of-native-azalea\/","url_meta":{"origin":9298,"position":0},"title":"Nine Kinds of Native Azalea","author":"Carla","date":"April 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We decided on mountain laurel, rhododendron and azalea for all around the new house. My husband went to school with Richard Mucci. His wife raises native azalea. Cliff told me to take a look at the website: www.mountainmist-nursery.com and pick something out. 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