he Southern Railway's use of steel bay window cabooses dates back to the later World War II period, when the wartime surge of freight traffic proved too much for the railroad's aging wooden caboose fleet. Although Southern rostered several series of subsequent steel cabooses with high-rise cupolas — the typical American caboose design — the steel side bay window configuration would come to dominate the Southern's rosters all the way into the Norfolk Southern merger. Bay windows cabooses had the advantage of future-proofing: As freight car heights increased over the decades, the side-mounted bay windows ensured crew members working the rear of trains would always have forward visibility regardless of equipment heights. Although other mainlines also used this bay window features, Southern's practical low-slung and angular car body with its specific window arrangement proved to be a unique and recognizable calling card across in American mainline railroading.

Southern's bay window fleet fell into two large categories. The first included older steel bay windows built in the 1940s and 50s and then rebuilt in subsequent eras, sometimes twice, by the railroad itself at its Haynes Shops in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The second included bay windows built in the 1969 to 1974 period by Gantt Manufacturing of Greenville, South Carolina. Another built-new series would come in 1980 from contract car builder Fruit Growers Express in Alexandria, Virginia. Complete bay window rosters are difficult to find, but our research indicates that Southern's cabooses fell into the following numbering series and assignments:

Different number series featured slightly different details, including roof lines, trucks, window size and placement, and overall length ... but the basic design pattern remained consistent: a low-slung boxy carbody making use of side bay windows instead of a tall cupola. Standard features included porthole windows on the ends, square aluminum-framed windows in the sides, cantilevered hand brake mounts, drop down steps mounted under the frame, and padded bi-directional seating inside the bay windows. Most cars included axle-mounted generators for producing electricity for recharging batters for crew lights and radios. Some models utilized roof-mounted solar panels to power rear-end lighting. For a period in the 1960s, the railroad painted its bay windows in a darker railroad brown; however, later the entire fleet would become known for its bright red paint tone. Cabooses assigned to local freight service were usually identifiable by bay window sections painted in yellow. A rebuilding programs of the early 1970s prompted a renumbering scheme, after which all but five cars received 3-digit numbers preceded by Southern's much utilized "X" — indicating service and work cars.

Southern's Haynes shops refurbed and repainted the fleet through the 1970s. Most cars remained in service on the Southern up to (and some through) the Norfolk Southern merger in 1982, which took place in the same era when state and federal laws relaxed and mainline railroads were beginning to abandon the use of cabooses on freight trains. Many were scrapped when retired from service. By our count, at least 175 bay windows survive today. A precious few can be found around the Norfolk Southern system, either as "shoving platforms" for switching moves or on display on railroad property. Many have been preserved at railroad museums around the southeast. Over 100 cabooses were donated or sold to local municipalities and organizations, and can still be found today on outdoor display in various states of repair. The bulk of these sites are in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. A few cars have still enjoy active use in the employment of tourist railroads or freight shortlines.

Our quest to photograph and document all the surviving Southern bay windows reveals four categories of survivors, each with its own set of features and details.

category 1 — original bays never rebuilt

A handful of bay window cabooses survive that were never rebuilt by Southern's Haynes shops and therefore preserve the original look of the fleet when first introduced in the late 1940s. Most of these were donated by the Southern itself well before the end of cabooses in mainline service and before the Norfolk Southern merger. Spotting features include: four side windows in the carbody (excluding the bay windows), small awnings over window openings, riveted seams instead of welded panels, circular rotating red/yellow signs on the ends providing flag protection, roof walkways running the length of the carbody, end-mounted ladders for access, and generic freight car trucks. All such cars retain their original four digit car number.

category 2 — original bays rebuilt by haynes

Although a minority group among the survivors, a good number of rebuilt bay windows are now on display around the southeast. Like those in category 1, above, these cars were constructed between 1949 and 1952. They had riveted steel bodies with two windows on each side of the bays, four total on each side of the car. Southern's Haynes Shops on Spartanburg, SC, rebuilt most of these cabooses in several stages in the 1960s and 70s. Spotting features of these rebuild programs include: blanked-over side windows nearest the bay outcroppings on both sides of the car, mounts along the centerline of the roof where walkways were previously attached, various welded patches along the carbody, and a slightly shorter carbody length when compared to the new cars in category 3, below. Sometimes a handful of original rivets can be spotted in certain steel seams, especially along the roofline. Curiously, a few rebuilds never received three-digit car numbers in the fleet renumbering scheme of the 1970s.

category 3 — bays built new by gantt and others

The majority of survivors were constructed during the 1969-74 period through a contract with car builder Gantt Manufacturing located in Greenville, SC. These cars incorporated all the alterations that Haynes Shops had made in rebuilding most of the original fleet, and would become the core of the modern Southern fleet. Spotting features of the Gantt cars include: slightly longer carbodies than the original bays, no blanked-over window frames on the car sides, and Barber roller bearing caboose trucks with an axle-mounted generator on one side of the car. Confusing these spotting features is the fact that the first batch of Gantt cars were built with roof-mounted walkways, but these were soon removed and all subsequent batches came out of Greenville with clean rooflines. Nevertheless, a few surviving Gantt-built cars still have visible roof mounts. Early Gantts came new with unpainted (silver) roofs and red carbodies, but subsequent productions and later Southern repainting programs gave most of the fleet an all-red carbody, including the roof.

category 4 — bays assigned to local service

A subset of both rebuilt and new bay windows were assigned by Southern for local freight service instead of mainline running. The most obvious spotting feature in this category are the bay window sections painted in yellow. But other mechanical features also delineate this group, especially roof-mounted solar panels (or surviving brackets where panels are missing) installed to power marker lights during during switching operations on the mainline. Therefore in this category of cars, there are no axle-mounted generators or vented car-side battery compartments or charging ports. Although some Gantt-built local cars did ride on the same Barber caboose trucks as all of the mainline cars, many local bays rode on some type of generic freight service truck. And handful of local bays survive on display, at museums, or in private ownership. Confusing the matter of local spotting features is the fact that a few mainline cars have had their bays painted yellow for display. In these cases, road numbers, generators, and battery compartments serve to clarify original classifications.