Driving home tonight I saw an honest to goodness real working caboose! I can't recall the last time I saw one. It was in Alexandria, VA. I had to wait for a NS train to cross the George Washington Parkway with a bunch of coal cars and two boxcars, one of them still painted for the Southern (with no graffiti). Everyone else seemed a tad impatient, but I was quite willing to sit back and wait for this to roll by.
It was a cupola caboose. It was getting dark and was tough to see the paint scheme but it given the caboose design it had to be of Norfolk & Western ancestry. Painted red, but I couldn't see any markings. I've seen exactly one other caboose on NS in my life. It was down in Radford, VA, and it was also a Norfolk & Westen cupola caboose. Looked like at one time it had been white, but the color when I saw was basically rust. You could just barely see the NW letters on the side. I remember that most of the windows were covered with those steel plates also. I always thought it would make an interesting model.
I have seen a few around Salisbury, NS... I guess working the locals. I have not seen anywhere else on the line Harold
Last nights was on a local which was heading to Robinson Terminal which is along the Potomac. I think the Washington Post gets paper there. There is also some kind of plant (power plant maybe, not sure, need to check it out) where all those coal cars were going.
