AARR Caboose pictures

This display is a companion to the Caboose Trek article in Volume 18 Number 3,  Fall 2002 issue of The Double A.  AARRT&HA President Dave Harrell spent a number of days last summer searching for cabooses which at one time or another had been part of the  Ann Arbor Railroad equipment roster.  What follows is a complete display of photos with some commentary for each one. 

One steel caboose, # 2846, was destroyed by fire and scrapped in Toledo, Ohio in 1984. Two cabooses are still missing; #2841 and 2842.  #2842 was traded to the DT&I and renumbered as its #124.

If you have any information on either of these, please contact Dave at: daveharrell@netzero.net

Click on photo number to see picture

          

1.                  #2823 is located at a private home 4470 7 Mile Road in Belmont, just north of Grand Rapids.  It is visible from the street and the owner, Rick Presswood was receptive to visitors.  It was constructed in 1925 by the Ann Arbor Railroad and is made of wood.

 

2 & 3.  #2813 (renumbered as AARR #4613 for maintenance of way work) is located at Northern Scuba, on M-22 just north of Traverse City.  It was on the Leelenau Scenic Railroad (LSRR) while that operated and is now derelict.  The first picture shows it when it was in operation on the LSRR in 1991 and the second picture shows it at its current location. It was built in 1887 by the N.S.R.S. Company and is made of wood.

 

4.                  #4614 is currently located at the old AARR passenger station in the 400 block of S. Ashley St. in downtown Ann Arbor, and is used as part of the play equipment for a Montessori School that occupies the station.  It was a wooden maintenance of way car with no cupola and appears to have been converted from a boxcar.

 

5.         #2830 is located on the north side of  M-32 about 16 miles East of Grayling, MI.  #2830 through #2839 were built by the Wabash Railroad  Decatur, IL shops for it’s then subsidiary, the Ann Arbor Railroad in 1952.  It was transferred to the Manistique & Lake Superior Railroad in 1957 and renumbered #8.  The M&LS was a wholly owned subsidiary of the AARR.  When the M&LS was shut down, the caboose came back to the Annie and was restored to its original number.  It was the AARR’s first steel caboose.  It was traded to the DT&I in 1965 and renumbered #121.

 

6.                  #2831 is located in Traverse City about 1/2 mile east of the Dinner Train station, and is owned by the Railroad Historical Society of Northwest Michigan.  It is accompanied by an AARR boxcar.

 

7.         #2832 is located at the Grand Trunk / TS&M railroad station museum in Sparta, MI  It has been restored by owner Jim Lindh to its original paint scheme and lettering as it was shortly after it was delivered by the Wabash Railroad.

 

8.         #2833 is located at the Clover Leaf Depot and museum in Malinta, Ohio.  It was traded to the DT&I and renumbered as its #125.  It is restored to the DT&I paint scheme.

 

9.         #2834 is located at a small shopping mall in downtown Zanesville, Ohio.  It has no railroad markings and is numbered #231.  After the State of Michigan had purchased the AARR, it sold this caboose to the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation (the Pere Marquette 1225 group) in 1983.  That group in turn sold it in 1985 to get coal for their locomotive, and somehow it found its way to Zanesville.

10.              #2835 is now an ice cream shop at the Pride & Country Village on M-46, 2.7 miles east of I-75 in the Saginaw area.  It has been extensively modified internally and painted in red and cream colors and has no railroad markings. 

 

11.       #2836 is located at the Wendt Crane Service yards on Elder Road in Mishawaka, Indiana.  It is owned by the family.  This caboose was traded to the DT&I and marked as its #122.  When the DT&I was acquired by the Grand Trunk, the caboose was numbered as DT&I 122, and remains in that paint scheme today.  It spent some time at a campground before being moved to its current location. 

 

12.       #2837 is located at the home of Lee Hirth on Donovan Road in Dexter, MI.  Lee has restored it to its paint scheme from the time when the Michigan Interstate Railroad owned it.

 

13.       #2838 is owned by the Bluewater, Michigan Chapter of the NRHS, and is located in the CSX roundhouse in Saginaw, MI.  It continues to be in the Michigan Interstate Railroad “Ferry in a Fog” paint scheme.

 

14.              #2839 is owned by Steve Zuiderveen of Baltimore, MD.  In the summer of 2002 it was located at the yards of the Western Maryland Railroad in Ripley, WV.  It had been moved there on roller bearing trucks for major repairs.  It continues to be in the Michigan Interstate Railroad “Ferry in a Fog” paint scheme.

 

15.       #2840 is most often located in the Indiana & Ohio Railroad yards in Springfield, Ohio. It is the only AARR caboose still in regular service, and is used as a transfer caboose by the I&O RR.  This caboose was traded to the DT&I and renumbered as its #123.  It is still in the DT&I paint scheme.  Cabooses #2840 through #2846 were built for the AARR by the International Car Co. at its Kenton, OH plant.

 

16.       #2843 is located on the farm of Dale Fosdick on Austin Road 2 miles west of Saline, MI.  After the State of Michigan acquired the AARR, it sold this caboose to the Art Train, based out of Ann Arbor, and the caboose put many thousands of miles on trailing the Art Train around the country.  The Art Train organization sold it to Mr. Fosdick.  It is without railroad markings and is located on a former LS&MS trestle and right of way in the middle of one of Mr. Fosdick’s fields.  It is visible from Austin Road.

 

17.       #2844 is located next to the Amtrak station in Lapeer, MI.  It was traded to the DT&I and renumbered as its #120.  It has been restored to the DT&I paint scheme and is on display at the station.

 

18.       #2845 is on display at the Ann Arbor Railroad station and museum in Shepherd, MI.  It is displayed along with AARR RS-1 #20.  The caboose has been partially restored to its original paint scheme when the AARR was owned by the Wabash Railroad.

Credits:   All but the first picture of #2813 were taken by Dave Harrell.  The #2813 picture was taken by Fritz Milhaupt.  The following persons were instrumental in finding the cabooses:  Dave Zelisse, Henry Burger, Sam Breck, Roger Kilpatrick and James Baker.