Dan - this is a very nice photo of a very interesting piece of equipment. Chicago & North Western shop crews actually built this Transfer Caboose - and several others like it - out of an old flatcar and fastened the cabin to the car. They were truly an interesting bit of "Kit-Bashing" results. It is sad though, to see this Transfer Caboose sitting in the weeds, near the end of the use of the Caboose by railroads in the mid to late 1980's - thank you to the Florida East Coast for creating the FRED that is used today - the FEC killed the caboose. All because of "saving money" by not having to pay crews that they could lay off, or force into retirement, or transfer to other railroad departments and jobs. And even a lot of those jobs are now gone!
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