Cats may or may not have nine lives, but with the right care and restoration—and a little bit of good timing—a certain train cabooses might. The caboose that was for almost 30 years the barn-red local landmark at Landon Lumber in Madison is being retired from use as an office, and will be put back on the tracks at the Essex Steam Train after repair and restoration by the Friends of the Valley Railroad.

Jim Landon, who recently turned 90, remembers the days when Landon Lumber would receive stock by rail that would have to be unloaded by hand within three days. He also remembers picking out the railcar with his wife Clare in Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Conrail railroad was selling off cars in a scrap auction in 1988 when Landon decided to purchase it.

We “went down to Redding, Pennsylvania—there was track after track of these rusted old things, each one worse than the rest,” he said. “We crawled around most of them to pick out a good one.

It was delivered by rail itself to the company’s railroad siding in Madison before being refurbished by Jim and his sons, Drew and Marc Landon, who currently own the business. The three stripped down the insides to make room for office space and a sales counter, and sandblasted and did repair work on the outside before painting it the signature red color with white Landon lettering.

“We were on the railroad, and we thought it would be unique to have [the caboose],” Jim Landon said in explanation of the purchase. “I think a lot of people know it.”

Used as an office since 1989, the wheels and their couplers—known as trucks—were eventually given away to a local train enthusiast for a project, and the car sat in a hole in the lumber yard so that it was easily accessible to customers. Eventually, however, the caboose needed more repairs than could be done on site, and it was also time for a new office.

“It’s mixed feelings,” Landon said of letting the caboose go. “I hate [losing] it, but it got so they couldn’t use it. I enjoyed it.”

A connection was made between Landon Lumber and the Friends of the Valley Railroad, and plans were made to send the railcar on the next stage of its journey.

“They’re going to refurbish it and bring it back. If we just put it to the side some place it would be covered in vines in a short period of time,” said Drew Landon. “It’s all steel, and wood on the inside. Fixing it takes a lot of metalworking, cutting away rusted-out pieces—they have all of the capabilities to do all of that up there, and it’s kind of a nice end for it, and a nice continuing history for it.”

Even without the trucks, the caboose weighs between 28,000 to 30,000 pounds; it was loaded onto and transported by freight truck up to the workshop at Essex Steam Train and Riverboat by volunteers from both Landon Lumber and the Friends of the Valley Railroad, a nonprofit, volunteer branch of the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat.

Four forklifts working in unison lifted the car as a specialized freight vehicle—a double-drop stretch trailer—backed up under the car. The caboose was then lowered onto blocks and secured for the journey.

The company is still family owned and operated, and three generations of Landons were on hand to say goodbye to the caboose.

“It’s been a part of us for a while, but it’s got a good story and it’s going to a better place,” said Marc Landon.

The departure of the caboose doesn’t mean that Landon Lumber is losing its whole train motif—the new office building is based on the original East River train station that used to be on the location.

The chance to rescue an iconic bit of local history is what excites Brendan Matthews, a longtime Landon Lumber customer as well as a board member at Essex Steam Train and a 28-year volunteer with the Friends of the Valley Railroad.

“Not only has it had a history here in Madison, but it is an original New Haven Railroad Caboose, which was the freight railroad that ran all the trains on the shoreline back in the day, and the Essex Steam Train, the line it ran on was a branch line of the New Haven Railroad,” said Matthews. “Now it’s going to continue its life in a different way. We want to tell the whole story.”

Refreshing a Classic

The caboose, built in 1942, was transfered from the New Haven Railroad to Penn Central to Conrail, and by the ‘80s was scheduled to be cut up for scrap. In its new Essex home, it will be put back on its original, but restored trucks, and will get a complete exterior restoration this year before being put back on the rail. It’ll be repainted in its original New Haven Railroad orange color, though it will retain its Landon Lumber lettering.

“The longer-term plan is to try to recreate all the interior, but we don’t have immediate plans yet,” said Matthews.

Restoration work is conducted year-round by the 80 or so volunteers who make up the Friends of the Valley Railroad in the big red workshop at Essex Steam Train.

“Everyone has their own reasons for why they volunteer, but most of us love trains. Some people just want to get away, get some good stress relief. There’s a satisfaction you get when something goes out of the shop,” said Matthews. “To see this stuff come back to life looking as good as it did the day it came rolling out of its shop—and they’re usable, they’re in service, we carry passengers on them, everything works on them—it’s just rewarding.

It is a point of pride for the volunteers that, though they have many historic pieces, everything runs and operates. Matthews credits an old shop foreman, Dave Conrad, with saying “If it was made by man, it can be fixed by man,” and the current volunteers have adopted the same attitude.

“It’s keeping history alive, it’s preserving knowledge,” continued Matthews. “This technology would be lost if we didn’t continue to pass it down, because nobody is doing it anymore. If nobody continued to restore this, that technology would be lost after that generation died. By continuing to have volunteers and recruiting new volunteers, we’re keeping this technology alive.”

Anyone can volunteer with the Friends of the Valley Railroad—no experience is required. Volunteers begin with simple tasks such as painting and those who want to learn more will be taught. As restorations typically need to be redone every 15 to 20 years, there is always plenty of work to do, and all of it is completed on site. Those who are interested in joining should visit www.friendsvrr.org and fill out the volunteer form, or just show up to the workshop on Wednesday nights between 6 and 9 p.m.

To see the Landon Lumber Caboose in its restored glory, and to become a part of its latest life back on the tracks, head down to Essex Steam Train and Riverboat (essexsteamtrain.com); the volunteers’ goal is to have it back on the tracks within the next year.