Caboose Behind Love Point Cafe

Reportedly there's an old caboose located behind the Love Point Cafe in Stephensville, MD, that's in dire need of restoration. Does anyone have any information on this caboose? The location is near the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Railvet-do you know anything about the heritage of this caboose? Six or seven years ago, the fledgling La Plata Train Station Museum was in search of a caboose to put on display. Then museum cuator (and current La Plata town councilman) Wayne Winkler showed me a couple of photos of a caboose that was available on the eastern shore. It looked like an ex-Pennsylvania RR caboose and as I remember appeared to be in rather sad shape.

If I remember correctly, the asking price was $5000, not including the cost of having the car trucked to Charles County. Of course, this may not be the same car in question.

Internet searches have been fruitless-searching for the Love Point Cafe provided a website that simply stated that the Cafe was closed for business.

A Kent Island website http://www.kentisland.cc only yielded a photo of a small station listed as a "railroad museum".

http://www.kentisland.cc/gif/rrstation.jpg

I will see if I can get some pictures of it on Wednesday or Thursday as I drive past there daily.

I think the caboose in question appears in this google aerial photograph
.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the caboose's heritage. I haven't seen it yet myself, and I live a couple of hours away from the site. I'll check back with the guy who told me about it and see if he has any more information on it.

The Love Point Cafe is listed as 401 Love Point Rd.

This article notes the restaurant closed.

www.0hioforeclosures.com/baytimeslovepointcafe.pdf

According to other online postings, the owner was $51,000 in debt and the quality of the food had been on a steady decline. No mention, though, of the caboose said to be in the rear.

The caboose is not on the restaurants property, it’s in a park.

I will let the images speak for themselves.

Thanks for the photos, John. Obviously NOT the same caboose Mr. Winkler showed me photos of several years ago.

Hi,

This caboose was retired in 1967 and, at some point after, went to Severn, MD, about 20 years later it moved to a Garden Center on Veterans Hwy. & Harpers Mill Rd. in Benfield/Millersville, MD, from where it departed less than 2 years ago. It appears it has received little TLC since arriving in the park in Stevensville, MD! Considering the expense to move it, I'd think someone is planning to fix up this old woody.

Cheers, Roger

The caboose is owned by the state and there's interest in having it restored. A state official is interested in knowing if it's too far gone and believes that, if the caboose waits another year, it probably will be.

I restored a caboose that was farther gone than that one. It's a lot of work, but I think virtually any car is restorable. The question is how much you are willing to put into it. Since almost all crummys are restored strictly for display purposes, rotted framing and sills can usually be patched. Restoring one to look closely like the original, though, takes more than a decent carpenter. You've got to have attention to detail and be willing to put in a lot of effort. You're not going to find the right windows at Home Depot. You will have to fabricate everything yourself.

Photos of my project are at vtcaboose.net.

Here's some photos of the caboose/museum I took this summer...








...first time posting pics here...hope it works.