Caboose #12 is finally at home in Oyster Bay. The ex-Long Island Rail Road caboose made the final leg of its journey home to Oyster Bay on May 13 and 14.

The caboose, built for the LIRR in the 1920s, was retired in the 1960s and sold to the Branford Electric Railway in East Haven, CT where it was used as a bunkhouse. A few years ago, Branford, now known as the Shore Line Trolley Museum, found that it no longer needed the caboose and accepted the request of the Friends of Locomotive #35 to purchase the car. A fund-raising campaign was begun by Friends member K. C. Madden, and within a couple of years the funds were in place to purchase the caboose and relocate it by truck to Long Island.

On June 26, 2002, the caboose was loaded onto a flatbed truck and moved via highway and Cross Sound Ferry to Syosset, where it was to be stored within the grounds of the Town of Oyster Bay facility until such time as the Oyster Bay museum site was ready to receive it. It should be noted that were it not for the expertise of Mr. Bill Wall of the Shore Line Trolley Museum, this move might never have happened as he orchestrated the entire move and resolved all issues that cropped up along the way.

Fast forward to late April 2003 and we find that the caboose was repeatedly being vandalized by a band of youths breaking windows, destroying interior furnishings and worst of all, attempting to set fire to the all-wooden car. Thus, it became necessary that the caboose be moved to our museum site long before originally planned.

With just over one week's planning, the resources were assembled through the Town of Oyster Bay Highway Department and the Friends of Locomotive #35 to execute the move to Oyster Bay. Volunteers from Locomotive #35 assembled on May 13 to load the caboose on a trailer provided by the town and very early on May 14 the move was made.

With a minimum of experience but a wealth of determination, the members of the Friends of Locomotive #35 along with the Town of Oyster Bay proved once again that anything can be done if you really set your mind to it. The caboose now resides at our museum site adjacent to the LIRR yard at the end of Route 106 in Oyster Bay. It will undergo a complete restoration commencing immediately and can be viewed either from the street or by appointment. We may be reached at www.lirr35.org or by e-mail at LIRR35@aol.com. We may also be contacted at:

Friends of Locomotive #35 Inc.

PO Box 335

Oyster Bay, NY 11771

Caboose #12 is only the second piece to be moved to the site for inclusion in our collection, the first being the currently dismantled Locomotive #35. Other pieces will come once the site is prepared and trackage laid out. With two historic pieces now on the premises, the Railroad Museum at Oyster Bay is already taking shape.