According to Larry Goolsby of the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Historical Society, the ACL began building a new caboose fleet in the early 1960s, replacing wooden cars. Construction took place at the Waycross, Ga., shops, repurposing outdated steel boxcars to create the new cabooses.
The first caboose, No. 0600, rolled off the assembly line in November 1964. “The 0600 not only introduced steel cabooses to the Coast Line, but also a new paint scheme of bright orange with black lettering. The cars also carried the ‘Thanks for Using Coast Line’ slogan then in vogue in the company’s advertisements,” Goolsby says.
No. 0635 was acquired by the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation from a private owner and was painted for the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway, a short line jointly owned by ACL and Norfolk & Western. Museum volunteers, led by Michael Stovall, have now restored No. 0635 to its “as delivered” paint scheme.
The car can be seen in the yard on the south end of the museum when not in service as part of the Caboose Train, which runs during special events. The Caboose Train will be pulled by steam on April 4.
For more information, go to www.nctrans.org.
