Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
Maine’s most unique home for sale right now is a converted train caboose in the western mountains.
Built in the 1960s, the caboose was retired from the Maine Central Railroad, which was at one time the longest railroad in the state, and relocated to an acre in Franklin County’s Madrid Township in 2002, according to its listing agent Anna Pines.
“I have been told that a crane was used to hoist the caboose over a one-lane bridge over the Sandy River,” said Pines, an agent with Allied Realty.
It’s since been converted into a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom home that sleeps five and includes a full kitchen, 360 square feet of living space, up-to-date utilities including high-speed internet and two covered porches.
Outside, the caboose bears all its original markings. Inside, there are vestiges of its former life: bunk beds, an old lamp, original doors, windows and plenty of railroad-themed decor. The caboose, which is being sold fully furnished, was listed for sale at $129,000 on Thursday with the potential to generate rental income.
It sits on a dead-end road surrounded by trees, mountains and a nearby brook. The 1-acre property is remote and about a 15-minute drive to the town of Phillips for groceries, eateries and stores and less than 20 minutes to Saddleback mountain.
Pines believes the property would be suitable for history buffs, anyone looking for a quirky camp near the western Maine mountains or investors looking for a good short-term rental business opportunity.
The caboose is currently used as a rental property, and guests enjoy feeling connected to Maine history while staying there. One guest found out his father, an engineer for the Maine Central Railroad, hauled this exact caboose from Bangor to Vanceboro and later to Old Town until the early 1970s.
“Did my father sleep in this caboose fifty years ago? Probably!” The guest wrote in a handwritten letter that Pines shared, thanking the owners and adding that being in that caboose recalled the sounds and stories his father told of the railroad long ago.