Locomotive Living Could Be Yours With This Train Car Home in Conway, NH

All abode!

By Madeline Bilis· 10/10/2017, 2:25 p.m.

Photo by Joe Martin

For most New Englanders, a visit to the Conway Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire is a relatively short-lived experience—you chug along in an old-fashioned train car for a few hours, take in the views, then head into town for some taffy. But now, for the die-hard train enthusiast, the old-timey joy never has to end.

A red caboose on a side track of Conway’s Scenic Railroad recently hit the market for $51,500. According to its listing, the train car is “not for everybody but it sure is a great opportunity for a vacation home if you have just a speck of adventure in your soul.”

At 31 feet long and just eight and a half feet wide, the train car is extraordinarily tiny. Yet the 228-square-foot caboose manages to sleep five, thanks to seats in a cupola that convert to beds, as well as a fold-out queen bed. There’s also a kitchen, a bathroom with a toilet and a shower, a living room, baseboard electric heating, some shelves and cabinets, and a dining area.

“It almost feels like you’re on the inside of a boat,” says David Cianciolo, the listing agent with Badger Realty. “It’s compact. It’s very sensible in how it’s laid out—there’s no room for clutter.”

It seems the art of living small was alive and well in 1910 when the red boxcar was built in St. Albans, Vermont. For about 60 years, the car traveled on Central Vermont’s railroad to New London, Conn., crisscrossing southern New England. At the time, cabooses like this one served as unsophisticated living quarters for conductors and rear brakemen.

In 1974, the caboose was sold to a family who renovated both the interior and exterior of the boxcar, restoring it to its original 1910 color scheme. Now the train car in all its restored glory could be your new summertime hangout.

Have a few thousand dollars to spare? Check out more photos of the caboose below and see the listing here.