Museum volunteers and Over-the-Top Construction crew with NYC caboose 20480 back on NYC rails at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum
The Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum has received a bay window caboose from the Village of Minerva, Ohio.
The caboose is a 1952 product of the St. Louis car company. It was built for the New York Central Railroad (NYC) and served Penn Central and Conrail. After it’s retirement from revenue railroad service, historians from the Minerva area lead by retired railroader Carl Felger saved the caboose from being scrapped and placed it next to the downtown depot. Over the course of the next 25 years, it was meticulously cared for and painted in two different New York Central paint schemes. In recent years, the caboose has fallen victim to vandalism and become a safety hazard for the village. The Mad River and NKP Railroad Museum (MR&NKP) has been permitted by the Village to step in to save this important piece.
Plans call for the caboose to be restored wearing NYC’s attractive jade green paint scheme. In the short term, the caboose will be made operational for the upcoming Holiday Train event this Christmas season, (official event announcement coming soon). The caboose arrived in Bellevue on August 1st, and museum volunteers began work immediately. Professional heavy hauler Jim Lesiak with Over-the-Top Construction handled movement logistics and brought the caboose to Bellevue safely without incident.
“This has been a rewarding experience negotiating with Minerva to save this piece”, said museum Vice President Dwayne Fuehring. “Mayor Tim Talbot and Village council members were determined to find an appropriate home for the caboose and save it once again from being scrapped.”, Fuehring added.
The NYC caboose will join cupola caboose NKP 783, and N&W bay window caboose 557981 as operational cabooses used by passengers during special events at the museum. These operational events take place on a small section of the NYC Norwalk Branch mainline, the caboose will back on home rails that it potentially used during its revenue career.
The MR&NKP Railroad Museum wishes to thank the Village of Minerva for making this possible.
