QUICK FACTS

Model: Conrail class N-20 wide vision caboose
Built: August 1970
Builder: International Car Company, Kenton, OH
Past Owners: Reading, Conrail, CSX Transportation
Current Owner: The Garbely Publishing Company (leased to and operated by TOYX, Inc.)

Caboose No. 22130, a standard “wide vision” caboose, was built in August 1970 by the International Car Company of Kenton, Ohio, one of 20 identical cars built for the Reading Company. The car originally wore Reading No. 94103, and it served this primarily coal-hauling railroad throughout the eastern Pennsylvania anthracite region. The Reading Company declared bankruptcy on November 23, 1971, joining several other railroads in the northeast in a similar state of perilous finances. On April 1, 1976, six of those railroads were combined into the federally-created Consolidated Rail Corporation, better known as Conrail, which also took over the Erie Lackawanna Railway and its route through Port Jervis.

Ten of the Reading’s 20 wide vision cabooses (Nos. 94100 to 94109) were conveyed to Conrail (becoming Conrail caboose class N-20). The other ten (Nos. 94110 to 94119) were given to the Delaware & Hudson Railway as part of a large federally-organized expansion of that railroad, an attempt to foster local competition to the merged Conrail system.

Renumbered out of order, the former Reading No. 94103 became Conrail No. 22130 (the class car for the N-20 series), and it was painted Conrail blue in June of 1976 at Conrail’s shop in Meadville, PA. This car wore a unique variant of Conrail’s standard caboose scheme; it was the only N20 class caboose to have the “CONRAIL” lettering placed along the roofline, rather than just above the road number as specified in Conrail’s painting diagrams. No longer confined to former Reading trackage, the No. 22130 roamed the new Conrail system, although it appears to have stayed fairly local to eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey for most of its Conrail tenure.

On December 31, 1979, the Federal Railroad Administration mandated that all cabooses would be required to be retrofitted with FRA Type II bulletproof glass by June 30, 1984. Since steel was cheaper than the specialized glass, Conrail opted to remove and plate over any unnecessary windows on their cabooses. The No. 22130 was no exception, and around December 1983, the car lost two of its three windows per side and one of the two windows on each end. All other windows were replaced with the new FRA glass and aluminum frames. The work was fittingly performed at Conrail’s former Reading Company freight car shops in Reading, Pennsylvania, this car’s “home shop” under its former owner. The No. 22130 was not fully repainted, but instead was simply spot painted where new plates were welded over the old window openings.

In 1997, the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation acquired ownership of Conrail, with Norfolk Southern acquiring 58 percent and CSX acquiring 42%. On June 1, 1999, Conrail was split between its two new owners, and the No. 22130 was one of the cars conveyed to CSX. Re-stenciled as NYC No. 22130 to avoid numbering conflicts with other cars already on the CSX roster, the car was transferred to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to live out the remainder of its years as a shoving platform on local jobs in the area. All of the car’s remaining windows were removed and plated over by CSX around 2010.

In 2018, members of The Conrail Historical Society began a dialogue with CSX Transportation regarding the future of this car, by then the only remaining N-20 on the CSX roster. In early 2019, CSX pledged the donation of the car to The CRHS once it was removed from active service.

The car remained in service for CSX for 21 years - almost as long as its 23-year life in Conrail service. However, in its 44 years of service after being conveyed to Conrail, the car never received another coat of paint, and it wore its battered, original 1976 Conrail blue until it was finally retired from active CSX service in the summer of 2020.

CSX Transportation donated the No. 22130 to The CRHS in August 2020, and also donated the required mechanical inspections and repairs and the transportation of the car from Tennessee to New Jersey. The car was subsequently moved October 3-4, 2020 to temporary storage between Hawley and Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. It was moved to Port Jervis on November 17, 2023, where it is now on display.

On September 6, 2024, the CRHS traded the No. 22130 to The Garbely Publishing Company for Conrail caboose No. 21292. Under GPCo ownership, the No. 22130 will remain in Port Jervis on display as an example of the hundreds of Conrail cabooses that operated through Port Jervis between 1976 and 1999. The exterior was restored to its 1976 Conrail paint scheme by GPCo staff and was completed on October 19, 2024. The interior is still under restoration. This car will be used for TOYX’s annual Toys for Tots trains and for other volunteer or event needs.