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| Caboose #608 was a survivor, lasting into the era when
most wood cabooses had been replaced by new steel cars.
This caboose had a long career on the railroad. Originally Great Northern cupola caboose #90058, it was was acquired October 1925 likely from Chicago used equipment dealer Hyman-Michaels Co. which sold other cabooses to the GB&W in this era. Renumbered #608 on the GB&W, it was soon rebuilt with a steel underframe and the roof cupola was replaced with steel bay windows in the late 1930s. It became road caboose #X-08 in 1949, but upgraded and returned as a road caboose in 1954. It remained in use until 1969 when the car was stripped and its frame re-used for new steel caboose #608. By that time there were probably no vestiges of Great Northern features left on the caboose. The disposition of caboose #608 is unknown; the last photo I've seen of it in its rebuilt steel configuration was from 1979.
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From the collection of Mark Mathu.
