Monon caboose remnant?

[Eric Reinert]

Fred Stuckman sent me these photos of the "viewing platform" at Quaker Square in Akron, OH today. I asked if he had a couple of photos of the trucks on it because I had heard it had CI&L cast into them. Sure enough, they do, but whether it is a former Monon caboose may be tougher to prove. Or what number it may have carried.
The wheels have "Pullman" "Michigan City" and "1928" cast into them, but that doesn't necessarily mean these are the wheelsets that have always been with these trucks either. Fred asks that if we determine a number that I let him know so he can update his info on rrpicturearchives.net.

Fred is a retired Erie/EL/CR man from the Akron area. Some of you may recognize him from the website I mentioned above.

Eric Reinert

[Eric Reinert]

Here are the rest of the photos.

[George Lortz]

Rumor is that this platform (?) and trucks were destined for removal, possibly scrapped.  I checked with Society member Bob Schultz about the cost to save the trucks if they became available.  He estimates $2000 to $3000 to remove them and transport them to some site in Indiana.

Currently, the Society has no active plans to restore any additional rolling stock, so the cost is probably prohibitive.

George L.

[Heath Matthias]

What exactly is that used for now?  Looks like a rather dodgy part of Akron too...

[Eric Reinert]

Heath,
It's not in a bad part of Akron, the Quaker Square area is actually pretty nice by all accounts. Fred tells me the platform was set up in order to watch CSX trains without the fence being in the way, but now that the University owns the property they probably can't see spending money on a trainwatcher's platform. I suppose it will remain as long as nobody gets hurt climbing on it.  Which may not be long based on the condition of the steps.       
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Square

Eric