WELCOME TO OUR CLUB
Bunker Hill Train Club
Located in Bunker Hill
Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia
NAVAGATION
TRAIN SHOW
B&O CABOOSE
RESOURCES
B&O Caboose Restoration
B&O Railroad Class I-5BA Caboose
In the 1930s, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad started trying out fresh car designs to cut costs and ensure job security for their employees. Among the various designs, and one that became a signature design for the B&O, was the wagon top design.
In the years 1935 and 1936, the B&O decided to use this particular design for around 7 cabooses, each with its own unique features. These initial designs were called I-5. Then, in 1941, the B&O introduced an improved wagon top design for a brand new, all steel caboose, which was named the I-12 wagon top caboose. In total, the B&O had 125 of these cabooses built in two different batches. The first batch of 100 I-12s was constructed in 1941 at the Keyser, WV shops and were numbered from 2400 to 2499. The remaining 25 cabooses were built in the same shops in 1945 and were numbered from 2800 to 2824.
One of our projects is restoration of a B&O Class I-5BA Wagon Top Bay Window Caboose.
The B&O Class I-5BA Wagon Top Bay Window Caboose, which was gifted to the BHTC by the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum at 300 S. Burhans Blvd. in Hagerstown, MD, is one of just three in its series and was not scrapped.
The caboose’s exterior is currently in decent shape, and we aim to restore it to its original 1939 B&O paint scheme. Unfortunately, the interior was damaged by a fire while stored at the Potomac Eagle Railroad in Romney, WV. Our goal is to transform the interior into a space for showcasing railroad artifacts and educating visitors and school groups about Operation Life Saver.
We were fortunate to receive a grant from CSX Corporation in 2010 to secure track for the caboose. To finish the restoration project, we estimate that we will need around $16,000.00.
