Reading Caboose #92936
Caboose #92936 is probably my favorite piece of equipment at the WK&S. When I was a kid, this is where you'd find me. The cupola was neat, but I spent my time standing in the back door watching the steam locomotive drag the train to Wanamaker. And I remember having this odd childhood facination with couplers. If I wasn't watching the steam engine I was staring down at the couplers.
Coupling between open car #10381 and caboose #92936.
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 #92936 was part of a batch of 50 composite cabooses built in 1942. The batch of 50 was class NMn #92930 - #92979. Class NMn was unique in that the exterior walls and roofs were sheathed with wood instead of the usual sheet steel which was considered critical war material at the time. Except for the wood exterior these cabooses were similar to all the other Reading Northeastern cabooses produced before and after. Actually this batch of composite cabooses numbered 58. The Reading built an additional eight examples for the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway.
The wood exteriors were susceptible weather and expensive to maintain. Class NMn was short-lived. Most were retired in 1963 and eventually scrapped. Coincidently, the WK&S was formed in 1963. The timing was perfect and the WK&S ended up with a special piece of railroad history. Early retirement meant that this caboose was not modernized. Many modernized Reading cabooses were downright ugly. So not only did #92936 find a new home, it was preserved in its as-built condition.
During the early history of the WK&S most equipment including caboose #92936 was lettered for the WK&S. As I recall the end platforms and underframe were also painted black. Eventually the caboose was returned to Reading paint including the proper brown end platforms and underframe.
An older shot (early 1970s, maybe) of #92936 lettered "WK&S".
The wood exterior gives this caboose an "old-time" look. But it's actually six years newer than the railroad's other Reading caboose, the steel-sheathed #92830. If you like Reading cabooses, go hunt down the book "Reading Company Cabooses" by John W. Hall.
End view of #92936.
Over the winter of 2003/04 #92936 received an interior refurbishing. Repairs were made to the lockers, walls, water cooler, and cushions, followed by a complete interior paint job. The color scheme is a light cream with brown, as originally found in this class caboose. The results are shown in the four pictures below.
Restored interior.
Restored interior.
Restored interior.
Restored interior.
During the summer of 2005 the east side of #92936 received much attention. The leaking cupola was repaired and the exterior sheathing was replaced. As always, this wood-sided car is a high-maintenance piece of equipment.
Exterior restoration work.
October 2005, fresh paint!
Again during 2011/12 #92936 returned to the shop for another round of exterior wood, a new rubber roof and fresh paint. This time the caboose emerged with a less authentic black-painted underframe and end platforms.
2012, fresh paint!