Train Caboose

Train Caboose. . In the "heyday" of railroads, the caboose served many functions for the train crew. It served as their office, restroom, sleeping quarters, and sometimes the kitchen. The office area contained the shipping papers called manifest which detailed what was on board each rail car and where it was to be dropped. The elevated seating area allowed the brakeman or other crew members a birds eye view of the train ahead. The red brake valve was close at hand for quick action in the event of an emergency. The restroom is equipped with a pressurized water tank but as you may notice the caboose, which was built long before environmental concerns, has no waste holding tank! A generator pulled by a belt to the axles provided power for the multi purpose caboose. The age of computers for tracking loads and the reduction in the size of train crews brought an end to the service of most cabooses. , The caboose was moved to Fiddlers Grove with the assistance of the Nashville and Eastern Railroad and McCord Crane Service in the spring of 2007. The crane made its way by truck along the bypass under the escort of the Wilson County Sheriff's Department and the Lebanon Police Department to its present location where it stands as a proud reminder of the Golden Age of Railroads. , The train caboose was given to J. D. and Ann Floyd by the Greater Gulf State Fair in Mobile. Ala. , J. D. and Ann Floyd donated the caboose to Fiddlers Grove in memory of Billy Baxter in 2007.