The all-American caboose
A look at former DL&W eight-wheel cabooses that went on to serve other North American railroads/Mike Del Vecchio
I
mages of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western’s eight-wheeled caboose were common all over the United States in the era of steam and first generation diesels for two reasons. First, Interna- tional Correspondence Schools, the mail-order education compa- ny that published the books that the railroads gave to new hires in nearly every craft, was located in Scranton just a lunch-time walk from Lackawanna’s shops, yards and mainline. The engravings
and illustrations in those
books are high quality, and it’s no surprise that many of the loco- motives and cabooses in those illustrations closely resemble those on the Lackawanna Railroad. These images were seen by almost every railroader or shop em- ployee hired before the full retirement of steam. The August 1938 cover of Railroad Magazine was based on an ICS illustration, and even famous PRR-artist Grif Teller featured one in his Book of T in 1947.
off. More than a dozen compa- nies, brokers and smaller rail- roads bought and in-turn resold them, or through mergers the cabooses wound up with new numbers and paint schemes. For the modeler, the result is more than 20 railroads and 30 paint schemes that can be applied to models. Switching railroads such as the Alton & Southern re- moved the cupolas so that locomotive headlights would shine over the roofs, and two Midwest- ern roads turned them into transfer hacks. The following is a
summary of the DL&W cabooses known to have found their way to other
rainspublished GRIF TELLER
Second, Lackawanna culture was to sell or reclaim any asset. Retired cabooses were generally sent to Keyser Valley to be sold
Eight-wheel DL&W cabooses on other railroads
Akron, Canton & Youngstown 58, 59 Both sold to the LS&I in April 1953 for $1,600 each.
railroads. The information is based on photographs and rail- road archives. The Erie-Lackawanna and Conrail are included in this summary.
The DL&W numbers are listed, if known. If anyone can
complete any of the unknown information, please contact the au- thor at
mdelvec952@aol.com.–MIKE DEL VECCHIO
GEORGE BERRISO: ST. JOE, FL; FEB. 20, 1967 CHARLES WINTERS: EAST ST. LOUIS, IL; CIRCA 1955
Apalachicola Northern X6, X7 and X8
CHARLES WINTERS: EAST ST. LOUIS, IL; CIRCA 1955
Alton & Southern 14, 15 Standard caboose with cupolas, 28, 29 Transfer cabooses without cupolas, possibly cut down from 14 and 15.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN JOHN C. LA RUE, JR.: CROSSETT, AR; APR. 26, 1969
Ashley, Drew & Northern 16 Steel sides and details identical to Mississippi Export 35 and FCSBC 4904.
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