Every once in a while, P&LE 518 reminds us just how far she’s traveled, not in miles, but in memory.
While flipping through Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad: The Last 30 Years by David Baer, we spotted a familiar face. Good old P&LE 518, tucked into the published history of the Little Giant.
The book focuses on the railroad’s final decades, a period marked by dramatic change. Once a prosperous New York Central subsidiary, the P&LE struck out on its own in 1979, only to be swept up in the collapse of the region’s steel industry a few years later. By September 12, 1992, the railroad’s long story came to an end with its sale to CSX. Baer’s book captures those final years through 300 color images, offering a visual tour of a regional railroad facing its last chapter.
That 518 appears in this volume adds another layer to her story. She’s shown up in more books than we ever could have imagined. Of all the cabooses at Caboose Falls, 518 has quietly become the most recognizable. A bit of a celebrity, really.
It’s a fun thing to notice. The same caboose that once rolled at the end of freights along the Monongahela and all the way out to Chicagoland, now keeps popping up on bookshelves, long after the railroad itself has faded into history. Some cabooses just refuse to be forgotten and we’re glad ours is among them.