Bay Windows in North Carolina

outhern #X335 is parked on display at the depot in Kernersville, North Carolina, east of Winston-Salem. The depot sits along Norfolk Southern's Greensboro to Winston-Salem mainline. As of 2020, this caboose appears almost exactly as it would have at the point of its mainline retirement. It retains its original red paint scheme, authentic lettering and numbering, and even sports the outdated vertical barcode placed on Southern's cabooses when visual scanning technology was used on freight cars for car routing. X335 is marked for Ganntt Manufacturing, built in Aug of 1976.

outhern #X758 spends retirement outdoors at the Murphy River Walk in Murphy, North Carolina, west of Asheville. The caboose sits on a short section of what remains of the Louisville & Nashville's branch to Murphy from the "old main" in Blue Ridge, Georgia, to the southwest. The bay window shares track with a retired Southern steel boxcar, and both sit near the former L&N depot located along the scenic Hiwassee River. Here the L&N branch met the Southern's famous "Murphy Branch" over from the mainline in Asheville. Although abandoned as far west as Murphy, large portions of this beautiful line are still active with tourist hauler Great Smoky Mountain Railroad and shortline Blue Ridge Southern. Southern #X743 is in excellent physical shape and enjoys an authentic caboose red paint job. A City of Murphy decal has been applied to the window bay. However, the car's lettering and numbering are no longer prototypical, and yellow has been applied in ways that differ from Southern's official scheme — including a stripe along the roofline. Additional windows have been added to both sides of the car, in the spots where openings from previous windows were blanked over in Southern's caboose rebuilding process. For many years, Murphy's bay window was home to the Valley Model Railroad Club, which built a N scale layout inside. When the club disbanded in 2023, the caboose was turned over to the Cherokee County Historical Museum.

outhern #X581 is perfectly restored on display at the Old Fort Train Station in Old Fort, North Carolina, east of Asheville. The beautifully renovated depot sits adjacent to Norfolk Southern's secondary mainline between Winston-Salem and Asheville, a route that includes the famous Southern Railway "Loops." Old Fort marks the start of the westbound ascent to Asheville. Caboose #X581 has been immaculately restored to represent mainline-assigned bay windows, including data markings and safety slogans on the frames at the steps. Built new in 1971, the car does not have the welded-over windows in the side walls often found on older, rebuilt models.

outhern #X777 resides outdoors on the grounds of the Port o' Plymouth Museum on the Roanoke River waterfront in Plymouth, North Carolina, bear the Albermarle Sound. The museum inhabits the former Atlantic Coast Line depot, which served Plymouth on a branchline east from the mainline in Rocky Mount. The mainline of the original Norfolk Southern Railway passed through Plymouth, after crossing the Albemarle Sound on its famous wooden trestle to the northeast of town. In addition to the depot and the bay window caboose, the museum grounds include a 40' steel boxcar, a waterfront dock, and a replica of the Confederate ironclad Albermarle. As of 2024, Southern #X777 is in poor cosmetic shape, badly in need of a new paint job, lettering, and detailing. The handrails and brakewheel assembly have been removed on one end to accommodate the museum's decking, and several patches have been added to the carbody. This caboose was rebuilt from an older steel bay window, as evidenced by the blanked-over windows and the shorter body.

outhern #X648 is beautifully preserved in the large rolling stock collection at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. It features accurate lettering and numbering, car data markings, safety slogans, and yellow highlights on steps, grab irons, and accessories. X648 joins a number of other former Southern equipment and locomotives in the museum's large collection: appropriate, as the current facility is on the site of the former Southern Railway Spencer Shops.

outhern #X453 sits outside on a display track in Weldon, North Carolina, north of Rocky Mount, near the Virginia state line. The busy Atlantic Coast Line (now CSX Transportation) east coast mainline passes through Weldon, but the caboose rests closer to the former Seaboard Airline secondary route over to Raleigh — now out of service past Roanoke Rapids. Weldon was once the northern terminus of the historic Wilmington & Weldon Railroad railroad. Opened in 1840, the line was then the longest railroad in the world with 161 miles of track south to Wilmington. Weldon's bay window caboose honors the town's rich railroad past, despite the fact that Southern Railway never served the area. As of 2024, car #X453 is in poor shape, deteriorating in an overgrowth of nearby trees. The caboose still bears its Southern caboose red, but its carbody is in poor shape and lacks all lettering, numbering, and marking. A wooden stairwell has been placed on one end, and the interior still retains signs or previous attempts to interpret the town's railroading history. Nearby, the Weldon Memorial Library inhabits the turn-of-the-century union depot: once served by Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line.

outhern #X488 survives in the caboose collection of the Craggy Mountain Rail Line, a small museum and tourist operation in Woodfin, North Carolina, just north of Asheville. CML restored the caboose in 2011 and developed its own attractive Operation Lifesaver paint scheme for the car based on models painted in a similar style. One side features bright caboose red accented with gray safety striping; the other side features the reverse pattern, gray with red striping. The roof is painted silver. Despite this radical change in appearance, several Southern-era features are preserved, including safety slogans on the frames at the steps, drop down steps, and the car's axle-mounted outboard generator.

outhern #X582 has been perfectly restored by the Craggy Mountain Rail Line and provides an exemplary specimen of Southern's mainline bay windows from 1970 onward. Only the addition of swinging safety gates on the end platforms alters the in-service look of the car. CML volunteers sandblasted the car down to its carbody and reapplied primer, red paint, yellow highlights, and authentic stencilling and data markers. This caboose and sister #488 (above) are often used on the museum's short tourist trains.