Conrail Caboose

Conrail Caboose number 21230 was built in July 1978 by Fruit Growers Express. Only three cabooses of this exact type were ever built; one was wrecked and another scrapped. This one was donated to the museum by Conrail in 1997. Conrail was one of the last of the major railroads that used cabooses in regular service on long-distance freight trains, keeping them rolling until the mid-1980's. This particular caboose spent its final service days as part of Conrail’s Selkirk, New York wrecker train, which included former New York Central crane X-13. The crane was also donated to the museum along with other rolling stock from the wrecker train. The train would be dispatched to derailments to help clear the tracks and restore traffic on the railroad.