TERRE HAUTE —
After more than 1,700 hours of hard work, a historic train caboose that once graced a Terre Haute city park has received a much-needed facelift.
The mostly-wooden caboose, built in 1903, was “about to fall over” two years ago when work began to bring it back to life, said Jesse Fox, a sophomore at Terre Haute South Vigo High School who organized the restoration project.
Fox chose to restore the caboose as his final Eagle Scout project. The project was finished in April and Fox received his Eagle Scout rank in July, he said.
“It’s what I always wanted to do,” Fox said of restoring the caboose. In fact, he got the idea to “fix up” the historic railcar when he was about 6 and visited the caboose at its former location in Dobbs Park, he said.
Of course, “Back then, it would have only taken about two weeks to restore,” Fox said with a slight grin.
The caboose was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad when it was taken out of commission decades ago. The late Dr. Wayne Crockett of Terre Haute purchased it from the railroad in the 1970s, according to past editions of the Tribune-Star. Crockett kept the caboose at his home for his children. Then in 1984, he donated it to Dobbs Park.
Years of wear, exposure to the elements and even termites took their toll on the old caboose.
Eventually, in 2006, the Terre Haute Parks and Recreation Department gave the caboose to the Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum at 1316 Plum St. in Terre Haute.
Work to restore the historic caboose involved tremendous detail and hundreds of labor-hours. Fox was assisted in the project by well over a dozen volunteers, including members of Boy Scout Troop 30, family members, volunteers from the Railroaders Museum and members of First Baptist Church at 4701 E. Poplar St.
In order to qualify for his Eagle rank, Fox was required to document all of the work and hours involved. He was also in charge of the entire project from beginning to end.
“He learned how to work with people,” said Jim Fox, Jesse’s father.
The caboose, which is painted “boxcar red” – its original color – still needs to be restored on the inside, said Mike Day, a 37-year veteran of the railroads and a tour guide at the Railroaders Museum. Eventually, however, the caboose will also provide additional space for many more museum displays, he said.
Over its lifetime, the caboose was painted several different colors, Jesse noted. He knows well about all of the different colors because he and his volunteers had to scrape through several layers of old paint and primer to get down to the bare wood. Another challenging aspect of working on the 107-year-old caboose is that it was originally assembled like a jigsaw puzzle – using very few nails – to accommodate all the jostling and moving it would do while traveling down the railroad tracks.
“That’s one reason it was so tricky to restore,” Jesse said.
At one point in the restoration process, the sides of the caboose were completely removed, as was the cupola, which is a sort of lookout post on the roof. “It was basically a box car at that point,” Jesse said of having the sides and the roof of the caboose mostly removed.
“It’s wonderful,” Day said of having the exterior of the caboose fully restored. “It’s going to be a great addition to the museum.”
Spending two years working on the caboose could be frustrating and involved a lot of changes in plans, Jesse noted. But it did not affect his love of trains.
“Actually, being out here made me like [trains] more because I got to see them go by” on the nearby CSX tracks, Jesse said. “I’ve always loved trains.”
In addition to the rare caboose, the Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum also features two railroad towers – Haley Tower and Springhill Tower. Among other things, it also features a sitting area for watching passing trains and a 150-year-old train depot from Clay County known as the Turner Depot.
For more information on the Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum, visit www.haleytower.org.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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On track to Eagle: Jesse Fox puts in many hours of work to restore historic caboose
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