Reading Caboose #92830
Freshly painted #92830 pictured with #92936 in the late 1980s. Photo by Mike Hartman.
Between 1924 and 1948 the Reading built nearly 300 eight-wheel cabooses to replace their previous generation of four-wheel cabooses. The new eight-wheel caboose design became known as the "Northeastern" caboose because the basic design was copied by numerous northeast railroads including the Lehigh Valley, Lehigh & New England, Jersey Central, Western Maryland and others. More than 600 Northeastern cabooses were produced in addition to those built by the Reading. All of the Reading cabooses were built in-house at the Reading car shop in Reading, PA.
Reading caboose #92830 was the lead unit in a batch of 25 cabooses built in 1936. The batch of 25 was class NMj #92830 - #92854. NMj was the first class of Reading cabooses built on Duryea cushion underframes. The trucks have CNJ markings because they were built from a combination of new and used parts, some of which came from the CNJ.
Caboose #92830 was retired around 1969. Reading Conductor Forrest Trittenbach, who worked the Perkiomen Branch, arranged for #92830 to be donated for display at a park in Emmaus. Unfortunately the caboose became a hangout for delinquents and proved to be a liability. The caboose was next acquired by Railways to Yesterday, but there was no room for it at Orbisonia. So it was moved and stored by McHugh Brothers Heavy Hauling of Penndel, PA. Railways to Yesterday never utilized the caboose and in April 1986 it was again moved from Penndel to Kempton.
Shown below is a picture of #92830 during the McHugh Brothers move. The Reading repainted many, but not all of their cabooses in the new green and yellow scheme. But there are numerous discrepancies between the paint job shown below and the one that would have been applied by the Reading. The most obvious discrepancies are the yellow cupola and the brown roofs and end platforms. The caboose was probably retired with its original red and brown paint and then unauthentically repainted after being put on display.
McHugh Brothers moving #92830. Note the unauthentic green and yellow paint job.
Caboose #92830 was delivered to Kempton on April 3, 1986 and craned to rail the following day.
April 4, 1986.
The caboose is somewhat unique in that it escaped modernization before being retired from the Reading. Many Reading cabooses were subjected to a variety of modernizations which may have included aluminum window frames, blanked over windows, cut-down ladders & roof walks, higher end rails, oil heaters and electric lights & markers. While these additions may have been practical, they made for an ugly caboose. As such, #92830 has been preserved in a more charming as-build condition.
Also of note is that the wheels were welded to the rails while on display at the park. This made for a clunky ride. But since coming to the WK&S the wheels have been slowly re-contoured thanks to a set of special abrasive brake shoes.
The book "Reading Company Cabooses" by John W. Hall has quite a bit of information on this particular class of Reading caboose including engineering drawings, construction photos and in-service photos. Many of the photos are specifically of #92830.
A b&w portrait of #92830 from November 1990.
Restored interior.
Restored interior.
Restored interior.
Each side of the cupola has a single continuous bench seat running the length of the cupola. I don't know the logic of this arrangement, but it's not a particularly comfortable place to sit. The other WK&S Reading caboose #92936 has two opposing seats on each side of the cupola which make for a more enjoyable ride.
Restored interior.