WNYRHS CABEESE
Pennsylvania #477418
Class N5 - "Cabin Car"
Pennsylvania Railroad Caboose #477418 was acquired by the Society in the 1980’s and
is currently stored on the New York & Lake Erie RR in Gowanda, NY. The car has been in storage for many years and has not been restored as of yet, but will be when funding allows. I want to thank Tom Stackhouse for the photo of the car in service, and also for his efforts to contact Robert Johnson, a PRR equipment expert. Mr. Johnson supplied us with a fascinating history of the car, with some surprising twists.
The caboose is a Class N5 cabin car that was built at the PRR Altoona Shops on September 26, 1923 as part of an order of 100 cars in the 1923 PRR Car Program. For those that do not know, The Pennsylvania Railroad referred to their cabooses as cabin cars. The original PRR Historical Record Card indicated that the cabin car cost $3,285.82 to construct. The caboose was originally assigned to the PRR Central Pennsylvania Grand Division, Elmira Sub-Division and apparently spent its first four years of service based out of Elmira. In 1931, the car was shopped in Williamsport to have two wheels replaced.
In September 1943, the car was shipped to the Renova Car Shops. The original K triple airbrake valve was replaced by a modern Westinghouse AB brake, the Archbar trucks were replaced by more modern cast steel side frame trucks, and the cast iron wheels were replaced by wrought steel wheels. Four years later, the car was at the Pitcairn Freight Car Shops to have a complete overhaul. The railroad added the steel collision posts, replaced the plain window glass with safety glass, repaired the floor and replaced the couplers and draft gear.
In November 1954, the car was sent to Enola to be converted to express passenger service. The PRR applied the air signal and steam heat lines used on passenger equipment. These cars were used as crew rider cars on mail and express trains to deadhead crews. The May 1957 Cabin Car Assignment list indicates that the 477418 was assigned to the Chesapeake Region - Ebenezer Yard. Mr. Johnson noted that this listing was strange as the Ebenezer Yards were in the Northern Region. He speculates that this may indicate that the caboose was used on the Buffalo to Washington express trains. This adds a significant piece of local historic interest to the car.
However, we do know a bit more. In 1967, the car was renumbered again after the Penn Central merger to PC #4716. This number series indicates that the car was still in express service after the PC merger. In 1970, the car was renumbered to PC 30001, then to PC #19237 in January 1971. The car was acquired by Conrail and became CR #19237 and the last lnown repair date was December 23, 1977. The car was eventually disposed of to unknown parties before the Society acquired it in 1986 from Fran LeTeste.
As you have read, this car has had quite an interesting history with some great local flavor. I ask those with photo and slide collections to scour your pictures for the various car numbers mentioned to see if you may have pictures of the car in service.
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The WNYRHS, Inc. P.O. Box 416, Buffalo, NY. 14231-0416 is an independent organization and has no affiliation with any other local or national group. The Society is a fully qualified organization under 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all donations to the Society are tax deductible. This page last updated on February 7th, 2008 ©Copyright 1999 - 2008 WNYRHS Inc. all rights reserved