PALMERSTON – A group of volunteers are working hard to restore a historic caboose in time for Palmerston's 150th anniversary.
One of three railcars located on the railroad tracks outside the Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum, historian, archivist and former history teacher, Bob McEachern said the Caboose Restoration Project began this spring after it was felt the museum needed to update some of its railcars for the celebration.
As the caboose was "pretty dilapidated" when it was donated to the museum several years ago, the project's goal is to restore the caboose to what it was in 1947 so it can be used as an interactive teaching tool to share with residents and tourists alike.
A "bare bones" restoration will involve painting the caboose, replacing the roof and furnishing the caboose with beds, desks, chairs and the correct minutia like lamps, plates and dishes.
"We had to start somewhere," said McEachern. "I'm really looking forward to taking youngsters and visitors in and having them look at the caboose and imagining the way of life."
According to McEachern, the caboose led from behind- serving as a living space where men would eat, sleep and carry on with their lives.
When stationed in the caboose, workers were responsible for switching, shunting and keeping watch on the rest of the train from a projected stage called a cupola to check for safety. Some men, after they retired, would be gifted their caboose to take home.
“Part of the role of the caboose was to prevent disaster so it was an important part of the whole railway life,” said McEachern. “Some men loved it- I don’t know how their wives felt about it.”
With a "growing interest in railways, particularly as the urban transportation lines expand," McEachern said restoring the caboose and other railcars is important so residents and visitors can understand the role the railroad played in Canada and North America.
"History is facts told through stories and history to be understood, needs to be personalized," said McEachern. "So to personalize the railway, we need to be able to show artifacts that the railway men owned, worked with and that's part of this. It's all part of the educational role I see as the railway museum. It's a large artifact."
Calling Palmerston a drive-through town, McEachern said he believes the renovated train will help attract more tourists to the museum and Palmerston.
McEachern is also hopeful restoring the caboose and other railcars will inspire visitors to consider modern-day rail solutions.
"We need to spend the money to get people on to trains," said McEachern. "The amount of money they're going to spend on expanding highways, if they would put that into urban train systems such as GO…the problem in Ontario is if you don’t have a car you don’t go anywhere.”
Costs to restore the project depend on how much funding the museum can attract for the project said McEachern- likely an excess of $20,000.
The project recently received $11,388 from the Rural Economic Development (RED) program and $4,500 from the Minto mayor's annual charity golf tournament.
Once the caboose is restored, McEachern said the museum is in talks with the Palmerston Agriculture Society to restore one of the other railcars, which was formerly a grain car.
“I’ll stop when they tell me I’m out of money,” said McEachern. “The goal is to make it as complete as possible for the spring of next year.”
While the museum is closed for the season, residents are welcome to visit the museum from June-August or stop by to check out the caboose and other cars.
Donations and input are welcome from the public. The museum is currently looking for minutia and related artifacts to display in the caboose.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
