Bay Windows in Tennessee

outhern #X394 is beautifully restored and displayed under a pavilion along the banks of the Holston River in Bluff City, Tennessee, halfway between Johnson City and Bristol. The car bears accurate lettering and markings, and wears the authentic red and yellow paint scheme given to cabooses assigned to local freight service.

outhern #X732 has been preserved in the city of Bristol, Tennessee, for many years, but more recently joins Southern coach #810 "Bristol" as the anchor for the Wes David Greenway rails-to-trail conversion. Originally the Virginia & Southwestern Railway, the trail follows a short section of the line that became Southern Railway secondary. As of 2021, the caboose is in good shape and bears the authentic red paint scheme with yellow accessories. However, the roof has been painted black and the lettering and numbering is not the original font.

outhern #X519 is perfectly preserved in the rolling stock collection of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in East Chattanooga, Tennessee. One of two bay windows at the museum, the car retains all of its authentic features and lettering. Although cabooses are not normally used in the museum's daily excursion trains, the car is capable of service at any time.

outhern #X718 is stored in the offsite rolling stock collection of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. As of 2019, the car retains its caboose red color scheme and authentic lettering and numbers (sans data markings), but the windows have been barred with welded metal strips. X718 offers evidence of additional square windows in the side walls, blanked over during railroad rebuilding programs. Prior to its arrival at TVRM, this caboose was displayed for many years in a park in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, north of Chattanooga.

outhern #X669 is on display outdoors at the small Veterans Memorial Park along North Main Street in Jellico, Tennessee, just blocks from the Kentucky state line. Jellico is on a Norfolk Southern branchline from Knoxville that terminates in nearby Clairfield. This car is a Haynes Shops rebuild with blanked-out inboard windows and an older style roofline. As of 2024, the car wears a generic red coat of paint with accessories and window frames painted yellow. No Southern lettering, numbering, or technical data has been retained, but the car is marked under the bay window as X669. The axle-mounted generator is missing, but the smokestack and other accessories are in place.

outhern #X450 is perfectly preserved at the Chuckey Depot Museum alongside the Norfolk Southern mainline in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee. For many years after its retirement, the car was preserved at the nearby Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum. The NRHS chapter overhauled the car and it was placed at the new depot museum trackside in Jonesborough. The caboose is a nearly perfect example of Southern's bay windows in road freight service, including authentic lettering, markings, data, aluminum window frames, and yellow highlights.

outhern #X530 is preserved on display at the Old Smoky Railway Museum in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. The museum is located at the magnificent former Southern Railway station adjacent to the downtown Norfolk Southern yard, and the bay window joins two other cabooses along with several passenger cars to form the small collection. X530 retains all the authentic features of a road service bay window, including correct lettering and markings and yellow highlights.

outhern #X242 is nicely preserved outdoors in the Newport City Park in the river town of Newport, Tennessee, east of Knoxville. Although the caboose is not situated trackside, Newport remains a railroad town along Norfolk Southern's Knoxville-Asheville mainline. Despite missing its data markings, the car retains authentic lettering and numbering. The permimiter of the frame and the end platforms have been painted black, and white Southern Railway seals have been added to the bay windows.

outhern #X324 is preserved in the rolling stock collection of the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, west of Knoxville. The car retains its original caboose red paint scheme with yellow highlights, but has born different reporting marks in recent years. First assigned to the museum as SARX #324, as of 2021 the car bears the marks WRRX for Walden's Ridge Railroad. It also retains a label for nearby Knoxville & Holston River Railroad. Otherwise, the caboose bears all the standard features of a bay window assigned to Southern road service.

outhern #X574 is preserved on display at the public library in Oliver Springs, Tennessee, west of Knoxville. The caboose sits on a short display track adjacent to the library building, about a hundred yards from the Norfolk Southern mainline to Knoxville. As of 2003, the caboose retained its authentic caboose red, yellow markings, lettering and numberings, and data marks, but as of 2021 the caboose has been repainted with only its number and few other markings retained. Not always present on displayed bay windows, 574 retains its axle-mounted generator for lights and radios.