Oneonta was once one of the busiest railroad towns in Upstate New York. Several train lines ran through the city, and a pair of elaborate depots welcomed incoming and outgoing visitors from near and far.
The railyard was the largest major employer in the city. Many of the workers were immigrants, mostly Italian. The D&H railroad work house could claim to be "the world's largest roundhouse," where efforts to repair trains went on around the clock. At its peak, the D&H railyard feature a massive roundtable which swiveled the heavy locomotives around slowly and guided them into any one of 52 repair bays.
But that was long ago, and the railyards today are swampy, neglected and waiting for a second chance. Today, all that is left of the famous railcards are some pieces of old tracks and the original towering smokestack and coal chute.
Still, one relic from Oneonta's days as railroad center still exists.
It is a little red caboose enshrined in glass in the city's large downtown park. The caboose has been called "the most historical railroad car in America."
In this very caboose, on Sept. 23, 1883, a small group of local trainmen gathered to organize and lay the foundation for the very first national union for rail workers. They dubbed it the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.
Their goal was to organize all rail workers to fight for their rights in the quickly expanding transportation industry. They wrote up bylaws which stressed improved working conditions, higher safety standards, the establishment of pensions for retires and survivors, and to begin to initiate one of the first pay equity guidelines in the industry. Started by just eight local Oneonta workers, this union went on to become the largest transportation union in the world.
A bronze plaque affixed to the car lists the names of the men who made history by organizing the first railroad workers union.
The little red D&H caboose today sits in an enclosed glass pagoda in the heart of Neahwa Park in the city's downtown area.
This caboose has become a historic, beloved icon in Oneonta. For several years the city held a "Little Red Caboose Days Festival" to celebrate the little train car. Oneonta has had a restaurant called the Red Caboose and the city historical society on Main Street has many articles and photos documenting the city's history as an important railroad center.
The caboose was deemed so important to our nation's history that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., once even came calling in a bid to move the rail car to their museum in our nation's capital.
Oneontans fought off the famous museum in a classic David versus Goliath struggle. Oneonta won and the little red caboose sits, perhaps forever, here in the heart of "The City of the Hills."
(photos by Chuck D'Imperio)
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