The Little Red Caboose ＃6100 (Crossville, Tennessee)

 caboose, 1963_construction, 1960s construction

Part of the Crossville Depot

The Little Red Caboose serves as a museum at the depot and pays homage to the role the railroad played in Crossville's early years and growth. Downtown Crossville, Inc. launched the project to bring a caboose to the downtown landmark in 2008, and located the caboose in Whitwell, Tennessee. They purchased caboose for $4,000 and it was brought here in 2009. It took four years to restore the caboose and made its debut in August of 2013.

The DCI, Isabele Condra, the City of Crossville, the Rotary Clubs and countless others played a part in renovating the interior of the caboose.

The Little Red Caboose #6100 was made in Kentucky in 1963 for the Chicago Eastern Illinois Railroad. CEI ceased operations in that same year and the Caboose was then sent to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N).

The Caboose generally carried a conductor, brakeman and flagman. Before the era of automatic air brakes, the engineer signaled, by whistle, when he needed to slow down or stop. the rear end brankman's job was to climb over the moving train and make his way forward, twisting the brake wheels atop the cars with a stout club. Another brakeman riding in the engine would work his toward the rear. Once the train was stopped, the flagman would descend from the Caboose and walk back a safe distance with lanterns, flags and other warning devices to stop any approaching trains.

Once underway again, the Caboose or "rear end" crew would sit in the bay windows and watch for smoke from overheated wheel journals, called "hotboxes," or other signs of trouble.

Despite the Caboose's many derogatory nicknames, including crummy, doghouse, bone breaker and snake wagon, trainmen took great pride in their Caboose. It was after all, their home away from home. Today the ends of trains are mentioned by remote radio devices making the Caboose obsolete. Courtesy: thecrossvilledepot.com/Page.aspx?page=Caboose

Read more
www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/caboose-fi...
www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/lifestyles/come-see-t...
www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/all-aboard...
www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/woo-woo-ci...
crossvillemrc.com/model-railroad/?currentPage=7
www.downtowncrossvilleinc.net/Pages/TheCaboose.aspx