I checked into the Red Caboose Motel and was given a key to the New Haven caboose then put my luggage away and photographed the cabooses in the order that they are numbered around this unique property. Most of the cabooses came from the former Pennsylvania Railroad.
Red Caboose Motel HistoryIt all started with dare. Donald M. Denlinger, founder and president of the Mill-Bridge Craft Village (now Mill Bridge Village Camp Resort), had just placed a half-hearted bid on nineteen 25-ton N-5 cabooses being sold as surplus from the Pennsylvania Railroad in the summer of 1969. Six months later, during a late January blizzard, he received a phone call that would change his life forever.
475 tons of steel is hard to move in a blizzard, and Denlinger faced many heartaches and red tape along the way. But he remembered that while circumstances seemed humanly hopeless, there is someone above who, when we get to the end of ourselves, will direct circumstances ahead of our mortal minds limited ability to comprehend. Proverbs 3:5-6 states, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Don was a believer and he drew heavily on his faith in the years that followed as he built the Red Caboose Motel & Restaurant on a parcel of land along the Strasburg Rail Road.
Hard work, sweat, perseverance and prayer paid off and the official grand opening and open house was on Mother’s Day 1970. In just five hours that Sunday, over 4,500 people toured the caboose units and got lost in the nostalgic dream that was The Red Caboose. Tens of thousands of travelers, rail enthusiasts and even locals have stayed since, making The Red Caboose Motel & Restaurant one of the most unique tourist destinations not just in Lancaster County, but in the United States!
Caboose 2 painted as Wabash Railroad is Pennsylvania Railroad N5A number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 3 painted as Richmond, Fredrickburg and Potomac Railroad is Pennsylvania Railroad N5A number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 4 painted as Denver and Rio Grande Railroad is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 5 painted as New Haven Railroad, and the one I will sleep in tonight, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 6 painted as Pennsylvania Railroad caboose, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 7 painted as Delaware and Hudson Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 8 painted as Northern Pacific Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 9 painted as Alaska Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B 477398 built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 10 painted as Southern Railway, is is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 11 painted as Santa Fe Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 12 painted as Union Pacific Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 13 painted as Canadian Pacific Railway, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 14 painted as Lionel Lines 9239, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5C number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 15 painted as LGB Trains, is ex. Raritan River, nee Conrail C559, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 20 painted as Leigh Valley Railroad, is ex. Detroit, Toledo and Ironton 8, nee Reading 90723, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 21 painted as Reading Railroad, is nee Reading 928xx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 22 painted as Central Railroad of New Jersey Central, is Reading 92x80, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 23 painted as Maine Central, is Reading 92xxxx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 24 painted as Rock Island Railroad, is Reading 92xxx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 25 painted as Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is Reading 92812 built by the railroad in 1931.
Caboose 26 painted as Chessie System, is Reading 92xxx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 27 painted as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, is Reading 928xx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 28 painted as Seaboard Coast Line, is Reading 92xxx, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 29 painted as Strasburg Rail Road, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 30 painted as Southern Pacific Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
The Broadway Limited is Pennsylvania Railroad B60B baggage car, number, builder and year unknown.
Caboose 33 painted as Western Maryland Railroad, is Reading Railroad 92833 built in 1936.
Caboose 34 painted Florida East Coast Railroad, is ex. SOO 99000, nee Wisconsin Central 2 built by the railroad in 1891.
Caboose 35 painted as Great Northern Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 36 painted as Illinois Central Railroad, is Reading 940xx built by International Car Company in the 1940's.
Caboose 37 painted as Conrail, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5C number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 38 painted as Erie Railroad, is ex. Conrail 19903, exx. Erie-Lackawanna C899, nee Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 899 built by the railroad in 1953.
Caboose 39 painted as New York Central Railroad, has an unknown history.
Caboose 40 painted as Nickel Plate Road, is ex. Conrail 21144, exx. Erie-Lackawanna C308, nee Erie C308 built by International Car Company in 1953.
Caboose 41 painted as Norfolk and Western Railroad, is Pennsylvania Railroad N5B number unknown built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 42, history unknown, is the Red Caboose, for which this motel is named.
43, 44, 45 and 46 are all rooms in railway post office car painted as Chicago and North Western Railway, history unknown.
Caboose 47, history unknown.
Caboose 48 painted as Norfolk Southern, is Pennsylvania N5 caboose 477559 built by the railroad, year unknown.
Caboose 49 is a dark green unfinished caboose, history unknown. I will now take you inside my New Haven caboose.
The bed with twin drawers and lamps.
A look down the hall with television, refrigerator and door.
A comfortable chair with a microwave on a table beside it.
Table with lamp and two chairs.
The bathroom with toilet and shower under the cupola.
The sink and mirror are across from the bed. After taking pictures of the Strasburg Rail Road's last run of the day, I went to Casey Jones Restaurant.
I enjoyed a New York steak which was excellent. After dinner, I bought a Red Caboose Motel T-shirt and decided to go up into the viewing tower.
Following the signs led me to the former silo.
I paid 50 cents into a box before climbing the stairs inside the silo to the top.
The view looking west.
The view looking northwest.
The route of the Strasburg Rail Road looking east.
Looking southeast.
An Amish farm that had a large volleyball game occurring as I was photographing trains. I then descended the stairs.
An Amish horse and buggy making friends with horses on this farm.
I noticed it was rush hour with several Amish buggies on the highway north of the motel.
The view looking towards the Strasburg Rail Road from the Red Caboose Motel. I returned to my caboose, watched television and worked on today's stories before driving into Strasburg where I found a public phone to call home then returned to the motel for the night.
4/10/2007 I awoke at 6:00 AM and after packing, put the key in the motel key drop and drove back to the Harrisburg Airport. Traffic was light so I decided to fill the car in Elizabethtown then returned the rental car and took a taxi back to the Amtrak station in time for the 8:00 AM train to Philadelphia.
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