Courtesy of Red Caboose Getaway B&B

Courtesy of Red Caboose Getaway B&B

You can purchase a caboose from several brokers or even government liquidation services. Most railroads stopped using them around the 1980s, and quite a few went to scrap, so the prices of the ones that are left have increased. They can be very heavy at around 25 tons, and around 15 feet high  if equipped with cupola. They are usually around 10 feet wide and 30 to 40 feet long. Cabooses are made of heavy steel (most wood cabooses are long gone) and their condition and value vary widely. What you want to look for is a refurbished caboose or a caboose that is railroad surplus. You will have to pay to have the caboose moved by rail or truck to your property.

Rail Swap

Rail Merchants

Cabooses 4 Sale

Ozark Mountain Railcar

Courtesy of Cabooses 4 Sale

Courtesy of Cabooses 4 Sale

Courtesy of Craigslist

Courtesy of Craigslist

If you want to try living in a caboose, I found this post on the New Hampshire Craigslist for a caboose for rent. For $250 a month and a $250 deposit, it comes with water and sewer included.

Courtesy of Red Caboose Getaway

Courtesy of Red Caboose Getaway

Before you choose to buy a caboose, why don’t you stay in one? There are dozens of hotels and B&Bs that have turned railcars and cabooses into small rooms or cottages.

Caboose Hotel Directory

Red Caboose Motel

Red Caboose Getaway B&B

Heavenly Acres Campground

Featherbed Railroad

This caboose near my home has been used as a guest house.

Additional information on the train caboose

A caboose turned into a private home

The Colorful Caboose: The history of the caboose

The Greenest Dollar: Homes made from old cabooses

Jim’s Caboose Restoration

Waymarking: Train Cabooses

Caboose Nut

Courtesy of Waymarking

Courtesy of Ozark Mountain

Courtesy of Whathanasius

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

I recently re-watched the movie, “The Station Agent”, and afterward began fantasizing of living in an old train depot. Finn (Peter Dinklage) is a man born with dwarfism who loves trains, and is willed an abandoned train depot by his elderly employer. I thought that a small, restored train depot would make a perfect tiny house, especially if you don’t mind the sound of trains.

Finn’s depot was filmed at the Newfoundland train station in Dover, New Jersey. I found a few other beautifully designed train depots in the area that have been converted into museums or historical markers.

The train depot used to be a visitor’s first view of a new town as the train they were on came chugging into the station. According to the Railroad Station Historical Society, railroad stations are designated locations along railroad lines to serve the handling of passengers, freight, and other commodities; as traffic control, maintenance, and/or communication centers.

Newfoundland Depot, New Jersey

Bonegap Depot, Illinois

Hoschton Depot, Georgia by ChapterHouseInc. and Waymarking.com

Often stations were marked by buildings including depots, towers, and maintenance facilities and almost always by a sign visible from the tracks. The word “station” is often used interchangeably with “depot”, but it refers to much more or less than a depot. The word “depot” is appropriate for a structure serving the public at a station.

We would love to hear of any train depots or other structures near you that would make a wonderful tiny house: a silo, an old train car (a la Maude from “Harold and Maude”), an old barn, a firestation or even a lighthouse.

Ashland Depot, New Hampshire by the Grafton County Historic and Genealogy Society

 Oberlin Depot, Ohio by Ohio Bikeways

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