The Quest
The Quest
I noticed that a caboose had been set up for display at the entrance to a farm. It caused me to ask myself: who else has such a caboose and where are they? Thus, began my quest to find all the stationary cabooses in Tennessee.
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The Dilemma
The Dilemma
I immediately encountered a problem as my search for stationary cabooses began: what is a stationary caboose? Does it include cabooses at railroad museums which are used for nostalgic train rides? Does it include cabooses which are for sale? Does it include cabooses converted into a place of business? Does stationary really mean the caboose will never move again?
The Solution
The Solution
I decided to set some boundaries. I defined a stationary caboose as being a caboose which is not intended to be put into motion, not run along a train track, any time soon, if evermore. This ruled out a good number of cabooses which belong to Tennessee railway museums and are used during train rides. I considered these to be captured cabooses rather than stationary cabooses since they stay in the train yard of a museum where they are moved around ever so often.
With my dilemma solved, I was now ready to find and count the stationary cabooses in Tennessee.
The Search
The Search
The internet reveals far more than it should. I used this susceptibility to find stationary cabooses in Tennessee. A simple query of cabooses in Tennessee opened several avenues of research. I found these three websites to be of the greatest help:
Waymarking.com has a special category of cabooses and the GPS coordinates of each caboose. This was low hanging fruit and easy finding, but did not yield a large number of cabooses in Tennessee.
RR Picture Archive.net is a vast repository of railroad pictures, contributed by users, and has a special category for its 14,000+ caboose pictures. The caboose pictures cannot be sorted by state, so it took some time to pick through and find the pictures of Tennessee cabooses. The user notes on many of the pictures helped pinpoint where the cabooses sat. Many of the pictures had nothing more than town and state. Nevertheless, each caboose then had to be found via google map view and its coordinates recorded.
Flickr.com was easy enough to search and had a wealth of Tennessee caboose pictures (about 1,100). Some pictures had map locations but most did not. Again, each caboose had to be found on google map view and its coordinates recorded. (Hint: search for caboose Tennessee and sort by date uploaded. Also look for albums of cabooses.)
Railroad enthusiasts have complied online rosters of the rolling stock and cabooses of many of the old railroad companies such as Illinois Central, Southern and Norfolk & Southern. I scoured through these lists with lots of results.
Lastly, I searched the internet for abandoned cabooses, airbnb cabooses, restaurant cabooses, park cabooses and such. Links leading to other links and yet more links revealed some real gems of cabooses not found anywhere else.
I kept a list of Tennessee cabooses posted on the internet but which I could not locate on google map view. In the end, I whittled the list down to three cabooses which I believe are truly there, somewhere, but I cannot find.
The Data
The Data
It is possible to record too much information, and I have been punished enough for this in the past to know not to do this with cabooses. Yet, I was tempted.
There are three things of critical importance when describing a caboose: its type, its make and its heritage (the railroad companies who once owned it).
Being a stationary caboose, I added its location, its current markings, its current use, its current owner and its public accessibility. To what degree the caboose had been modified and/or attached to another structure was recorded as well. The condition of the exterior and interior were noted as well.
In total, I recorded 30 data fields for each stationary caboose I found in Tennessee. For those who are curious about how some of the data fields were defined, click here.
Street Views?
Street Views?
My plan is simple: to photograph every stationary caboose in Tennessee that I can. Until then, I will have to rely on Google street views to provide the images of stationary cabooses which I have not yet snapped for my own. Google graciously relaxes their copyrights on street view images which are embedded into a website. I have acknowledged Google in each street view image anyway, as a courtesy.
The Future
The Future
I will continue to add any and all new stationary cabooses found in Tennessee. I will also remove a caboose when that caboose is no longer where it used to be.
Stationary cabooses sometimes move. Town and cities move their stationary cabooses to other towns and cities. Businesses sell their cabooses. Home owners do the same (or their heirs do). But by in large, I have noticed that stationary cabooses traded in Tennessee tend to stay in Tennessee. It might have something to do with the thousands of dollars required to move a 50 ton caboose just a short distance.
If you discover a stationary caboose NOT already shown on the map of this website, please let me know via the email shown below. In the same vein, if you notice a caboose missing from your town or city, please let me know. I am gratefully appreciative for any assistance in keeping a current list of the stationary cabooses in Tennessee.
Contact Me
Contact Me
Please email me at: albritrain@gmail.com
Please let me know if you know of a stationary caboose missing from the map on the Home Page. Or, a caboose missing from where it once was.
Also, feel free offers comments or ask questions regarding the contents of this website.
Happy caboose watching!
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