Horse Branch Caboose

Every other Tuesday, the boys and I go for a long afternoon drive while Julie deep cleans our house. This week we drove to the community of Horse Branch to see their caboose. Horse Branch is just a few miles from where Great Granddaddy Embry grew up in Baisetown. In 1882, a railroad was established in Owensboro running south. The first section extending to Fordsville was completed in 1887 and the final section reaching Horse Branch opened in 1893, where it connected to Illinois Central Railroad’s mainline. When these railroads merged in 1897, Owensboro was on the IC. While passenger service was dropped in 1928, daily freight trains ran the line until 1981. In Owensboro, the line passed 50 yards from our hardware store, and as a boy I enjoyed counting the freight cars and waving at the cabooses.