Pages 33 to 68 - The D&H’s 1935 Annual Report noted that "cupolas were removed from six cabooses to adapt them to mine run service." The 1936 Annual Report noted that this was done to five more cabooses that year for the same purpose. There are not any other mentions of similar modifications in any of the other annual reports from that era, but it is certainly possible other cabooses were similarly modified prior to 1929. 

It is possible this was done to make it easier when switching out loads and placing empties under some of the smaller and older coal tipples which had loadout structures that a cupola-equipped caboose (or a locomotive) could not clear. If the caboose could clear the loadout and remain attached to a cut of hopper cars, fewer switching moves would be required at some locations (this would also depend on the track arrangement). The "cupola-less" caboose could also be used to help shove the empties just clear of the loadout chute Throughout the anthracite era, there were a number of smaller loadout sites that mined anthracite coal, which was then taken to a larger full capability breaker and unloaded there for processing and shipment to customers. The facilities at these small sites were minimal. Some of the spurs to these tipples also had weight limits, and certain classes of locomotives were restricted from serving those sites.

- submitted by Tony Hodun

Pages 114 to 129 - As built, the D&H’s eight 1968 bay window cabooses (#35720-35727) had overhead propane-fired infrared heat. These cars featured a very small heater exhaust pipe on one side of the roof, which can be seen in the builder’s photo of #35721 at the top of page 115. They also had two roof vents on the opposite side of the roof, as seen on #35720 in the top image on page 116.  The system was not effective and did not heat the car well. Eventually, these heaters were replaced with more conventional caboose stoves, which had conventional smokestacks similar to the other cabooses in the fleet. The cars were all in later red paint schemes when this work was done. The following images in the book illustrate the new smokestacks on each car. All eight cars received the same stove in the same location. While most of the smokestacks were fairly tall, there was some variation as well as some repairs and changes over time. For reference, see:

• #35720 – page 117 top

• #35721 – page 121 both

• #35722 – page 122 bottom

• #35723 – page 124 both middle

• #35724 – page 125 middle and bottom

• #35725 – page 126 bottom

• #35726 – page 128 top

• #35727 – page 129 bottom

All of the other D&H steel cabooses built by International Car also were equipped with one or two of the roof vents mentioned above. These vents could be opened to let out warmer air in hot weather (as none of these cabooses were air-conditioned) and closed to keep in warmer air in cold weather. The D&H’s 1959 extended visions (#35710-35719) had two roof vents, the ex-Reading extended visions (#35791-35800) had one roof vent, and ex-Erie Lackawanna bay windows (#35808-35817) had one roof vent.

- submitted by Tony Hodun

Page 157 - The end of the first paragraph on this page reads: “These 30 bay window cars were the only cabooses built new for the Erie Lackawanna.” This is not entirely correct; while they were the only cabooses built FOR the Erie Lackawanna by another builder, they were not the only cabooses acquired by the railroad. The Erie Lackawanna built 25 transfer cabooses in its own Meadville, Pennsylvania car shops in 1969.

- submitted by Paul Tupaczewski

Pages 181 and 189 - At the time of writing, we could not definitively determine the fate of Napierville Junction #39. Jeff Martin has turned up a photo that puts a definitive end to that mystery; he photographed the remains of NJ #39 in a gondola in Gansevoort, New York on April 27, 1993, obviously en-route to a scrapper. The same gondola also contained the remnants of an ex-EL bay window caboose, believed to be D&H #35812.

- submitted by Rudy Garbely