919 Old Henderson Rd.
NW Columbus
614-324-5930
9am to 5pm

 
Look for the caboose!
And the Depot!

The Depot
Rail Museum
Event Facilities
 

You know you've arrived when you see InfoDepot's
Central Vermont CV-4007 Caboose

Visitors by appointment are welcome

For more than a century, the last car on a train was the caboose. A little shack on wheels, it served as office, bedroom and kitchen for the train crew. Its cupola was an observation deck from which the brakemen watched the train for shifting loads, overheating wheels and other problems.

Caboose is an old sailing term meaning a kitchen set up on the deck of a ship; it came to mean any portable or temporary shelter. The railroad caboose undoubtedly began as a tent or shelter set up on an old flatcar.

Converted boxcars were also used until the 1860s, when nearly every line had its own caboose design. Made of wood or steel, cabooses weighed about 25 tons and often saw 50 years of use. Their crews called them “crummies”, “cabs” or other slang names.

This caboose has three bunk beds, a stretcher, a cooking and heating stove and a desk for the conductor to do freight-related paperwork. The crew was five to six men. Most of these were brakemen, who pre-1930’s had to climb atop the moving train and tighten wheels atop each car to secure its brakes.

Cabooses have now been entirely out of production in the U.S. for more than 10 years.

The Central Vermont CV-4007 Caboose was built in Vermont in 1909. This authentic wood rail caboose was last used on the Cadillac/Lake City Railroad. Previously, the Central Vermont "–4007" faithfully followed the tracks through New England and Eastern Canada – with the conductor, brakeman and flagman sitting in the rear cupola to ensure the safety and order of the railroad. It was refitted in 1925 with some of the decade’s most modern conveniences including suspension, new brakes and an icebox.

Afterthe modern railroads lost their need for the captivating reminders of days past, in 1972, the caboose found a new home in Mason, Michigan at the residence of Bill and Judy Husband. The Husbands are avid train enthusiasts and collectors who maintained the caboose as a premier showpiece at their personal train museum. For more than 28 years, they proudly displayed the CV-4007 to visitors from around the world.

Then in June 2000, it was purchased by Barry Fromm, co-founder and CEO of InfoDepot, LLC. Mr. Fromm brought the CV-4007 to Columbus, Ohio, where it now resides at the InfoDepot Business Center for visitors to enjoy for many years to come.

The 4007 is in near perfect condition, authentically furnished and
just one piece of the charming train motif at the InfoDepot.

Top | Home