Railpictures.ca - Rob Smith Photo: Perusing through the Canadian Trackside Guide a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by an entry indicating that there is an ex. Erie caboose on display in Chatham, ON. I found it on Google street view, and was initially appalled by the gaudy paint. Returning from week at a cottage today, we took a break off the 401 to go check out the caboose; mainly to see if it’s still there and in hopes it looked a little better. Nope, still horrendous. I’d love to know the story of how this Erie Dunmore caboose (and a fire truck) ended up on display next to an End of the Roll carpet store on the north side of Chatham. I suppose it could have come off the CASO when it was still operated by Conrail, but it was obviously trucked to this location. The trackside guide lists the car as “No #”. It’d be easy to figure out the car number had the “KarTrak” barcode tag not been painted over. Shortly after I took this photo the skies opened, so I wasn’t able to look around much. The interior looked mostly gutted, with a card table and chairs inside. Usually you see cabooses on display that are local to nearby railroads, so this Erie caboose sure isn’t what you’d expect to find in Southern Ontario. | Railpictures.ca – Canadian Railway Photography

Perusing through the Canadian Trackside Guide a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by an entry indicating that there is an ex. Erie caboose on display in Chatham, ON. I found it on Google street view, and was initially appalled by the gaudy paint. Returning from week at a cottage today, we took a break off the 401 to go check out the caboose; mainly to see if it's still there and in hopes it looked a little better. Nope, still horrendous. I'd love to know the story of how this Erie Dunmore caboose (and a fire truck) ended up on display next to an End of the Roll carpet store on the north side of Chatham. I suppose it could have come off the CASO when it was still operated by Conrail, but it was obviously trucked to this location. The trackside guide lists the car as "No #". It'd be easy to figure out the car number had the "KarTrak" barcode tag not been painted over. Shortly after I took this photo the skies opened, so I wasn't able to look around much. The interior looked mostly gutted, with a card table and chairs inside. Usually you see cabooses on display that are local to nearby railroads, so this Erie caboose sure isn't what you'd expect to find in Southern Ontario.

Caption: Perusing through the Canadian Trackside Guide a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by an entry indicating that there is an ex. Erie caboose on display in Chatham, ON. I found it on Google street view, and was initially appalled by the gaudy paint. Returning from week at a cottage today, we took a break off the 401 to go check out the caboose; mainly to see if it's still there and in hopes it looked a little better. Nope, still horrendous. I'd love to know the story of how this Erie Dunmore caboose (and a fire truck) ended up on display next to an End of the Roll carpet store on the north side of Chatham. I suppose it could have come off the CASO when it was still operated by Conrail, but it was obviously trucked to this location. The trackside guide lists the car as "No #". It'd be easy to figure out the car number had the "KarTrak" barcode tag not been painted over. Shortly after I took this photo the skies opened, so I wasn't able to look around much. The interior looked mostly gutted, with a card table and chairs inside. Usually you see cabooses on display that are local to nearby railroads, so this Erie caboose sure isn't what you'd expect to find in Southern Ontario.

Photographer:	Rob Smith [379] (more) (contact)
Date:	07/24/2021 (search)
Railway:	Erie (search)
Reporting Marks:	Not Provided
Train Symbol:	Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS:	Not Provided
City/Town:	Chatham (search)
Province:	Ontario (search)
Share Link:	http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=46154

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Photo ID: 44905

Map courtesy of Open Street Map

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7 Comments

rsmith

July 24, 2021 at 5:40 pm

I uploaded the wrong file… it’s not resized. You can delete this and I’ll resubmit. Me so sorry.
Stephen C. Host

July 26, 2021 at 12:49 pm

Looks fine to me Rob! No need pal
Eric May

July 26, 2021 at 9:00 pm

I stumbled across this in 2005. It looked the same.
rsmith

July 27, 2021 at 3:11 pm

That’s unfortunate! One day it’ll likely just disappear. Too bad, it’s a good looking caboose if it were restored to Erie or EL paint.
PRR5406

July 27, 2021 at 3:29 pm

Whoa, man! It’s like the 60′s again!
HunterBHolmes

July 29, 2021 at 8:22 pm

My former boss owns that car. It was purchased from a restaurant in Windsor On, and trucked to Chatham. He purchased it with the intention of turning it into an icecream stand, at one time it still had the machines inside. His daughter was to run the stand but she unfortunately passed away and it never came to be. I have asked him a few times if I could purchase the caboose. He owns a large scrap business and has no real interest in railways. At one point I had figured out the car’s number but have since forgotten. And the answer is no, he wont sell. He doesn’t let anything go… and I mean anything. so for the foreseeable future it will sit where it is.
rsmith

July 30, 2021 at 9:49 pm

Thanks for the information Hunter. A sad circumstance.

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