The Caboose was donated to the Historical Society by the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (EG&E or “the J”) after many years of active service in the area. The Caboose was built in 1956 and donated to the Museum in August 1994. At that time EJ&E had 21 cabooses but only needed 6. This Caboose was delivered to the siding in Stockdale. In August 1994 it was moved to the county parking lot at Franklin and Illinois Avenue. Finally in March 2005 it was moved to its permanent location at the Libert St. railroad depot/Grundy County Chamber of Commerce.
The Caboose weighs 90,000 pounds. It took two cranes and two trucks to get it onto a lowboy semitrailer for its move up Liberty Street. Wheel assembly was moved separately to avoid any contact with overhead utility lines.
The EJ&E was a short line that skirted the perimeter of the Chicago area, basically running from Waukegan, IL to Gary, IN. It crossed or connected with every other railroad going into Chicago. It operated from January 1, 1889, until January 1, 2013, when it was sold to Canadian National. It was 125-150 miles long, designed as a belt line around Chicago connecting all the principal railways centering there and providing a cheap and rapid means of traffic interchange between them.
The Illinois River Line of the EJ&E ran south from Caton Farm to Minooka, Morris, Devine Station, and ended in Goose Lake. It stimulated growth and prosperity in Joliet and the Grundy County coalfields. It replaced the wooden bridges with steel ones over the Illinois River at Devine and Mazone River near Coster in 1896. By 1972, EJ&E served Amax Aluminum, Dresden Station, Northern Petrochemical in Minooka and Reichhold Chemical in Coal City .
EJ&E began passenger service in January 1889. The line stopped operating passenger trains in 1907 but continued its passenger service until 1909. During those last two years passengers were transported in the caboose.
The caboose was always the last car on the train, but this was the headquarters of the train–it was the conductor’s office! The conductor was responsible for every car. He had to make sure the train was running safely. From the caboose he could see everything ahead of him.
The cupola is the lookout where the conductor could see all the way to the front of the train. Up there he could see any possible problems–like derailment from a slack coupler. He could also wave to spectators waiting at the station!
It was the brakeman’s job to walk the length of the train and make sure the air hoses were properly connected from car to car. When he reached the caboose, he signaled the conductor by swinging a lantern. Then he would climb aboard the caboose and the train would begin rolling down the track.
Until the 1980s all freight trains were required to have a caboose and full crew for safety. Now they have been replaced by FRED–the flashing rear end device that can detect the train’s air brake pressure and report any problems back to the locomotive. It can also detect train movement at start up and radio that information to the engineer so he will know all the slack is out of the couplings and additional power is automatically applied if necessary. The FRED also has a blinking red light to warn any following trains that there is one ahead. When FRED was introduced, the conductor moved up to the front of the train with the engineer. The caboose was no longer needed.
The Caboose is open for tours on Morris Cruise nights. It opens around 4:00 and closes around 7:00. The Caboose is available for private tours. Contact the Museum to set up a date and time.
