LLANO RIVER RAILROAD
&
LLANO RAILROAD
MUSEUM
Non Profit 509(a)2 Public Charity
Non Profit 509(a)2 Public Charity
Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Caboose #3304
C&O #3304 is an all-steel, wide-view caboose. In 1968, a C&O official ordered 100 of these cabooses from the International Car Company of Kenton, Ohio, Numbered 3201-3360. They were the first of the extended vision cupola design. These were the first to feature all-welded car bodies and the first to ride on roller-bearing trucks. #3304 rolled off of the assembly line in August, 1970 and was delivered to Hinton, West Virginia. #3304 was not constructed with a roof ladder or roof boards as they were determined to be dangerous. #3304 worked behind coal trains until 1998, when the electrical cabinet caught on fire and the car was removed from service. #3304 was purchased by the Longhorn Railway Company of Austin, Texas and saw service on granite aggregate trains from Granite Mountain to Giddings, Texas. #3304 was then purchased by the successor, Austin Terminal Railroad Company, who then abandoned #3304 in Llano after they went out of business in 1998 due to poor track conditions.
After decades, the paint on caboose #3304 transitioned from its original blue color to yellow when it was transferred to the Chessie line and then to red by the Austin Terminal Railroad Company.
The color and logo of Caboose #3304 has been completely restored to its original blue C&O color. The interior was also restored, showing the crew quarters and conductor desk. The caboose is available for touring Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-5:00.
In October 1954, the Long Island Railroad placed an order for twenty-five 120-seat commuter coaches (#2901-2925) for locomotive-drawn trains. The cars were made at the Pullman Standard’s Osgood Bradley plant in Worcester, Massachusetts. Coach #2906 was delivered in June, 1955. The #2906 soldiered on in commuter service behind diesel locomotives until fall, 1999 when the P-72’s were replaced by C-3 bi-level coaches in the railroad’s new DE/DM diesel fleet. Coach #2906 made two round-trip excursion runs from Llano to Kingsland in 2007. #2906 currently is owned by the City of Llano as part of the Llano Railroad Museum. The car is now our primary preservation project starting with seed money from the National Railway Heritage Society. Planned future use is as a meeting/music venue.
