
It’s around 1967-1969 in Barberton where the Akron & Barberton Belt caboose is tied on to some cars.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
By 1973, the condition of the tracks in Marion used by Erie Lackawanna and Penn Central was rough as can be seen in this image of a westbound EL train. In the consist is a passenger car that probably is being ferried somewhere. No, the EL had not gotten back into the passenger business by running mixed trains. The Lake Cities, the last EL intercity passenger train, had ceased operating in early January 1970.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will resume offering caboose rides starting Saturday.
The caboose will be attached to the National Park Flyer, which departs Rockside Road station in Independence for a one-and-a-half hour roundtrip excursion.
The Flyer leaves Rockside Road on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m. and noon.
The caboose rides were last offered in early 2019 but were suspended in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Caboose ride tickets at $25 per person. Children under the age of 3 do not need a ticket.
The caboose, which can seat up to 10 peoole, features a functional wood-burning stove and a cupola.
The trips will be offered through May 1. Historically, the caboose has only operated during the winter and spring months.
They used to be on every freight train but then technology and labor reductions consigned them to a long list of things that used to be but are no more on America’s railroads.
But the caboose has a more romantic aura about it and was better known to most Americans than, say, an interlocking tower or trackside telephone booth.
Today the caboose is all but gone, primarily found on local trains. And even then it may not be a caboose per se but a shoving platform even if it used to be a caboose and still looks like one.
Shown is westbound Norfolk Southern local B23 in Goshen, Indiana, on the Chicago Line. The local originates in nearby Elkhart and works only as far east as Goshen before returning to the yard.
When I made this image on April 22, the B23 had two covered hopper cars and a caboose.
It may be battered and bruised but NS 555616 still has the classic look of a caboose and it’s still something out of the ordinary.
Various railroad related events are being planned for the Cincinnati area this spring.
These include resumption of service of the Cincinnati Dinner Train. Tickets can be purchased and other information is available at https://www.cincinnatidinnertrain.com/
The Cincinnati Railroad Club will participate in a National Train Day event on May 1.
CRRC board member Jim Corbett said the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad has invited the club to set up a booth about/for the club.
Excursions that day will depart at trains departing at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
On May 15, a restored Southern Railway steel caboose, X554, will be moved in a parade down Elm Street in Ludlow, Kentucky, to a location on city property next to the city’s rail viewing platform.
The Ludlow Railroad Heritage Museum is hosting the move to the location at 49 Elm St.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for May 31 at the caboose. It will be the first time the caboose will be opened to the public.
The event will be held between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and has been dubbed “Party on the Plaza” by the Ludlow Heritage Museum.
There will be food and drink options and museum merchandise for sale including green tee shirts with an image of the caboose.