Caboose Camping

This has been the nicest caboose camping trip we have taken. A steam engine excursion train in Durbin, West Virginia

We had the last caboose.

The station

The inside was amazing.

Oh, she's a beaut., Debilu. I'd like to hear all about your caboose camping experience. W. VA must be beautiful right now.
Laurel

Opposite side

Thanks Laurel, stay tuned!
Everything you needed was there, small stove and fridge. Shower and bathroom. Slept 6, but it was just the 2 of us.

Cupola, nice view from up there.

Fall touches in the decor. They had DVD's, and current magazines, a variety for every taste.

This is where we headed.

Hanging out on the back of the caboose.

They said it was just past peak, but I thought it was still great.

The tracks were along side the Greenbriar River, as was the final camp site.

All those people in coach while we were in our own private caboose.

Cupola window view

Mountain views.

Passed a couple farms along the way.

We passed this suspension bridge that we would later come back and walk across.

The foliage was spectacular.

This was the camp site where they dropped off the caboose. Nobody around after the train left.

This is fantastic! Where did you go? How long were you gone? What did you see?

I am aware of caboose camping. We have friends who have redone cars to hitch. I've never done it, but it looks like a great trip. I spent summers away from home, and traveled by train alone, starting when I was eight. I was put in the charge of the porter. Such fun to go up and down the various cars and hang out in the freight cars ('cause the porter is also in charge of the cargo). The porter was my "kidsitter". Then I got to have a fancy dinner, with flowers, at my own table.
L

The river was a little dry.

That sounds like fun Laurel. DH is a train geek, so we do a lot of excursion train trips. This one was in Durbin, WV. It was only a 40 minute train ride from station to camp site, the shortest we've done. But the caboose was nicest, and so were the people. We only reserved the caboose 1 night, then asked about a month ago if we could stay a second night, and a reservation service (too bad they used them) told us we couldn't as there was no train on Monday to bring the caboose back.
We were early, and were chatting with a gift shop owner, and she told us "Oh, I bet Al will come pick up the caboose on Monday with the small diesel engine - just go ask"
Sure enough they made special arrangements to let us stay 2 nights.

Campfire, they had a bunch of wood stacked up on the end of the caboose.
We only had to bring food and clothes, they had dishes, utensils, pots and pans, coffee, tea, cocoa, grill, lawn chairs, linens, towels.

Another view of the site

Looking out the cupola window.

There were some trees that lost all their leaves. You can just see the moon over the trees.



This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 7:40 PM

It was very relaxing, got a little cold at night, but there was a propane heater that kept it toasty.

This was the train leaving us behind.

DH jokingly asked me if I would go get the Sunday paper, but when the train came on Sunday morning, they brought us the Sunday paper. The excursion train ran twice a day, so they would stop a little ways away from our site, and give people a chance to get out, have lunch or check out the river. Each time they came, they would ask us if we needed anything. So we weren't totally alone in case of emergency, twice a day for 20 minutes the train was there.

Deb - I've never heard of Caboose camping before but it sounds like a lot of fun. What awesome scenery with pics that are equally awesome. I'm glad you got to spend another night in such a pretty setting. Thanks for sharing. Eleanor

We did a lot of walking, and saw this apple tree.

Thanks Eleanor. This is the 3rd different one we've done, and a total of 9-10 times so far. Last year in Cass WV, atop the mountain was probably the prettiest view, but this one was the nicest caboose and the nicest people.
Here we are walking across the suspension bridge.

This bridge, pretty shaky looking and feeling, crossed the river near someone's house. On one side of the river was a gravel road, where they would park their car, then cross the bridge, and they had a tractor and cart on the other side to go back to the house. I was nervous crossing it once.

A sun lit tree.

Monday morning, just 2 guys came on the diesel engine to bring us back. They asked DH if he wanted to ride in the engine, which of course he did. I could have too, but I was happy in the caboose.

They stopped the train and picked some apples on the way back. They sent us home with a bag full.

Spectacular trip. I'm envious. How cool that DH has this vision and you share it.
Laurel

I never heard of this, so cool.

Thanks Laurel and Jen. I can pretty much go anywhere I want as long as there is a train involved. Actually some of the nicest, most scenic trips were train excursions. DH gets train magazines and travel books where he finds these things.