General
This cupola equipped wooden body caboose served as the rolling office of freight train conductors and their trainmen for over fifty years on the Soo Line Railroad. It was usually coupled to the end of a freight train and the place where the train crew used to ride between dropping off and picking up freight cars along their assigned route.
History
It believed that 130 was built by the Missouri Car and Foundry company although other wooden Soo cabooses of the same era were built by American Car & Foundry. Like George Washington’s axe with two heads and five handles, 130 was rebuilt and upgraded many times during its service life. Its wooden frame was upgraded with steel to become stronger as freight cars became heavier and trains longer. The original trucks (the pair of two axled bogies the car rests on) were also upgraded as more improvements were made. But the essence of the car was constructed at the same time Illinois Central’s Chicago Madison and Northern was building its bridge across the Fox River at Coleman, Illinois. After it was retired one of the stockholders of RELIC, our predecessor organization, purchased the car and it was shipped to our line on its own wheels. At first it was used as a bunkhouse for museum volunteers to stay overnight but later it became a walk-through display much like our Illinois Central caboose is now. It was always an oil lamp car, never having electrical lights installed while it was on the Soo Line. After our existing car barn was expanded in 1992, 130 was placed inside. Two volunteers who had a downturn in their construction business started to restore the car and replaced its roof, a major accomplishment. Then they had an upturn in business and unfortunately never got a chance to finish the job. In the meantime, other electric railway cars in the museum’s collection received much needed attention and 130 became a storage fixture in the barn. It is believed all the parts to reassemble the car’s end platforms are on hand.
Narrative
In stark contrast is our Soo Line steel caboose 117, the last reiteration of a North American railroad caboose so it is hoped that in the future after both cars are restored, so we can display the two eras of caboose construction of the Soo Line Railroad. It should be noted that the conservative Soo Line reused the car numbers when the wood cars were replaced with the modern steel cars.
Author: Joseph Hazinski, Curator