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OPINION
I like driving down Santa Fe Ave. in Fountain to see the caboose. I remember when it first came to town. It actually got lost. It came in on a truck, rather than a train. The driver did not know where Fountain was. After driving up Ute Pass as far as Woodland Park, he stopped and asked for directions! The next day, it was delivered out on C&S Road. It was out there several years. The owner even tried to sell it to a railroad in 1988 or ’89, but it has a problem, and they could not use it. A few years later, negotiations finally put it where it sits now. I have a caboose too, as some of you may know. I bought mine even before the Fountain caboose was news. I was on TV some ten years ago when I had to move from my old home. My neighbors thought it would ruin the neighborhood. It did not, and many drive right past it and hardly even notice it. I use mine as an office and studio to do artwork. I used to be able to see the railroad from it in my old location. It was fun to wave at passing trains from the cupola. I miss seeing trains with cabooses. It has been twenty-five years since the railroads stopped using them on main line trains. It was replaced by a little computer box with a light on it. A hundred years ago they were the train crew’s home away from home. The Conductor had his office in the caboose. He could watch movement of the train from his high cupola. Brakemen would sometimes have to climb up on the cars and set the brakes by hand. One or more stayed in the caboose until needed. Sometimes one was up in the engine. The crew in the engine, a fireman and engineer, might have to take shelter in the caboose if the train was stuck in bad weather, but they had to get there. My caboose was built far up in North Dakota. It had space to sleep four, or more in an emergency. There was something missing, a kitchen, but it did not stop the crew from cooking on the stove. Many a pot of chili or coffee was brewed on the stove in my caboose. On a cold winter night, I still crank mine up and write or draw. It is easier in mine, because it is not bouncing around. In my old neighborhood some of the folks would even drop in with cake or pie to go with the coffee. Where it sits now the trains are a mile away, but I still hear them. Many of the railroaders today missed out on the experience. |
