Bennington Station Caboose - Bennington, VT
N 42° 52.879 W 073° 11.943
18T E 647076 N 4749208
This caboose is located at the historic Bennington Station at 150 Depot Street in Bennington, Vermont.
Waymark Code: WM657F
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 04/05/2009
Views: 7
The old station is now the Historic Bennington Station Restaurant & Lounge, and the old caboose is now used as an ice cream and lite fare food business. Information about the historic Bennington Station where the caboose is located is available on the internet
(visit link).
The following history of the caboose is from a local paper handout that is online in PDF form (visit link):
This center style cuppolo caboose was originally built in 1927 for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was in service for about 14 years, when it was sold to Conrail. The caboose continued in service until 1972. At that time it was no longer a necessary car in the modern train service. In 1975 an eccentric named Colonel Brown purchased the
caboose and additional cars and established a menagerie of circus animals and circus style shows. He opened the exhibit to county fairs and towns in rural northwestern New York. The Colonel wintered the exotic animals (elephants, lions, etc) at his farm in Parish, NY. In May of 2001, the Colonel, now well on in years, decided to sell off the circus train. The Bennington Station purchased the caboose and had it transported to Bennington. The caboose was restored to its original condition and retrofitted to accommodate an ice cream and lite fare food business at the site of the Historic Bennington Station Train Depot. In October of 2001, the Caboose was presented the 2001 Recognition Award for an outstanding contribution to downtown Bennington.