Sept. 8, 2008

Hackneys find new use for old caboose

BY ROY MITCHELL

CEDAR BLUFF — Boaters who frequent Weiss Lake discover a myriad of distinctive lakeshore sights -- a river boat condominium, a mini-lighthouse and a Civil War furnace are among the sites that grace the lake's wistful shores. Yet few boaters expect what they see at the Hackney property near Cedar Bluff. As fisherman or pleasure riders venture into one of Weiss's northernmost nooks, they're greeted with a 20-ton red caboose.

Doris Hackney lives 15 miles or more from the nearest functioning railroad, yet in her yard sits an authentic Norfolk-Southern Railroad caboose, resting on a 33-foot section of railroad track. Extending from the caboose like the shaft of a golf putter is a pathway and dock constructed of railroad ties.

Doris's son, Andy, worked for Norfolk-Southern for 11 years and lives on the same property.

“One day it was an operational caboose; the next day it was retired and transported to Chattanooga where my father purchased it,” Andy explained.

Norfolk-Southern Railroad discontinued the use of their distinctive red cabooses in the early 1980s. Radio technology made their functions obsolete. When Norfolk-Southern discovered that they no longer needed cabooses, those used in several southern states were sent to Chattanooga to be sold at public auction.

Andy believes his family's caboose was a unique find.

“I don't know of any other in Cherokee County or near Lake Weiss,” he said. “There were only so many of these made. It is a collector's item. If you wanted a rare car like an Edsel or a '57 Chevy, most anybody might could come up with the means to get one for your garage. The logistics of moving one of these cabooses to your house is staggering.”

Doris Hackney's husband, John, a Norfolk-Southern contractor for 30-plus years, had just moved to a lot on Weiss Lake when the cabooses came to auction in Chattanooga. After his purchase, Norfolk-Southern moved Hackney's caboose to Rome, Ga. for a nominal fee. Hackney and his friend Herman Holden used front-end loaders to lift the mammoth caboose onto a low-boy truck for transport. The axle and wheels were shipped on a second truck.

Before the Hackneys could do much with their new acquisition, railroad officials visited the Hackney caboose with a curious matter.

“One of the railroad workers, years before, fell on the caboose heater and got burned,” Doris said. “They traced the records back to this caboose. The man after all these years was suing the railroad. Railroad officials came down and took pictures.”

The family's lofty intentions were to turn the circa-1940 caboose into a lake cabin. The Hackneys got so far as to sandblast it and “gut out” the inside. Measurements were taken, plans made. But they never completed the project. John Hackney passed away in 2002, two years after his retirement.

Even though it's not in the exact form the Hackneys had envisioned, the caboose has become quite a lake novelty.

“There's been more boats to come up and look at it than anybody else,” Doris said. “They find it very, very odd that a caboose is sitting near the water.”

“We always have a lot of people in that tiny cove, looking at the caboose,” said Andy's wife Deanna.

The Hackneys report that some curious boaters have asked questions such as, “Did the railroad go through here once?” while chides of “Where's the engine?” and “Did you have a derailment?” are quite common.

Beside bemusing boaters, the Hackney caboose has been a playground for various Hackney children, nieces and nephews.

“All the kids love it,” Andy said. “They crank all the handles and climb the observation stand. They all want to see it.”

Andy wonders, too, if airplanes use the large, red caboose as a landmark.

“We believe that air traffic may use it as a beacon,” he said. “Training aircraft such as fighter jets seem to make their turns here. It's an eye-catching thing. I may be completely wrong, but at the least it's a family inside joke.”

The Hackneys occasionally encounter offers to purchase the caboose.

“I have had offers, but it has a lot of sentimental value,” Doris said.“I don't think any buyer would know how they'd move it,” added Andy.