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The Red Caboose Motel 4/9-10/2007



by Chris Guenzler



I checked into the Red Caboose Motel and was given a key to the New Haven caboose. I 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.





Caboose 2 painted as a Wabash Railroad caboose.





Caboose 3 painted as a Richmond, Fredrickburg and Potomac Railroad caboose.





Caboose 4 painted as a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad caboose.





Caboose 5 painted as a New Haven Railroad caboose and the one I will sleep in tonight.





Caboose 6 painted as a Pennsylvania Railroad caboose.





Caboose 7 painted as a Delaware and Hudson Railroad caboose.





Caboose 8 painted as a Northern Pacific Railroad caboose.





Caboose 9 painted as a Alaska Railroad caboose.





Caboose 10 painted as a Southern Railway caboose.





Caboose 11 painted as a Santa Fe Railroad caboose.





Caboose 12 painted as a Union Pacific Railroad caboose.





Caboose 13 painted as a Canadian Pacific Railroad caboose.





Caboose 14 painted as a Lionel Trains caboose.





Caboose 15 painted as a LGB Trains caboose.





Caboose 20 painted as a Leigh Valley Railroad caboose.





Caboose 21 painted as a Reading Railroad caboose.





Caboose 22 painted as a New Jersey Central Railroad caboose.





Caboose 23 painted as a Maine Central Railroad caboose.





Caboose 24 painted as a Rock Island Railroad caboose.





Caboose 25 painted as a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad caboose





Caboose 26 painted as a Chessie System caboose.





Caboose 27 painted as a Burlington Railroad caboose.





Caboose 28 painted as a Seaboard Coast Lines caboose.





Caboose 29 painted as a Strasburg Railroad caboose.





Caboose 30 painted as a Southern Pacific Railroad caboose.





The Broadway Limited.





Caboose 33 painted as a Western Maryland Railroad caboose.





Caboose 34 painted as a Florida East Coast Railroad caboose.





Caboose 35 painted as a Great Northern Railroad caboose.





Caboose 36 painted as a Illinois Central Railroad caboose.





Caboose 37 from Conrail.





Caboose 38 painted as a Erie Railroad caboose.





Caboose 39 painted as a New York Central Railroad caboose.





Caboose 40 painted as a Nickel Plate Route caboose.





Caboose 41 painted as a Norfolk and Western Railroad caboose.





Caboose 42 is just a Red Caboose for which this motel is so named.





43, 44, 45 and 46 are all rooms in a CNW Railway Post Office Car.





Caboose 47 is a red wooden caboose.





Caboose 48 painted as a Norfolk and Southern Railroad caboose.





Caboose 49 is a dark green unfinished caboose. These are the cabooses of the Red Caboose Motel which you could stay in. I will now take you inside my New Haven Caboose so you can get an idea of what one looks like.





Here is the bed with twin drawers and lamps.





A look down the hall with TV, refrigerator and door.





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 of this caboose.





The sink and mirror are across from the bed. After taking pictures of the Strasburg Railroad's last run of the day, I went to the Red Caboose Motel restaurant.





I enjoyed a New York steak which was excellent. After dinner, I bought a Red Caboose Motel T-shirt and I decided to go up into the View Tower.





Following the signs lead me to the former silo.





I paid 50 cents into a box before climbing the stairs inside the silo to the top.





The view from the top looking west.





The view looking northwest.





The route of the Strasburg Railroad looking east.





Looking southeast.





An Amish Farm that had a large volleyball game going as I was photographing trains. I then descended the stairs back to the ground.





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 Railroad from the Red Caboose Motel. I returned to my caboose, watched TV and worked on today's stories before driving into Strasburg. 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 up, put the key in the motel key drop and drove back to the Harrisburg Airport. Traffic was light so I decided to fill up the rental car in Elizabethtown. I returned the rental car and took a taxi back to the Amtrak station in time for the 8:00AM train to Philadelphia.



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