BUCYRUS – Plans to unveil a hidden treasure across from the city’s historic train station are right “on track.”
The Bucyrus Preservation Society on May 29 will officially christen its restored caboose. A brilliant blue and yellow railroad car that will soon find a permanent home next to the platform at the Toledo & Ohio Central Depot at 700 East Rensselaer Street.
A symbol of a bygone era. A gem to cherish for years to come. And a project that’s been in the works for 15 years.
“Isn’t it beautiful? I never imagined it would turn out so nice,” said Dave Pirnstill, president of the Bucyrus Preservation Society board, as he marveled at the caboose’s exterior paint job. “The way it is now is just how it would have looked when it left the factory in 1969.”
The 56,000-pound Norfolk and Western caboose was in total disrepair when Ken Mead first found it at the yard in Marion back in 2006. The caboose had been in a wreck, but he saw the smashed-in car, and he saw potential. The Preservation Society bought it for $2,500, then launched a drive to raise money for its restoration.
Mead, a train buff, volunteered to oversee the project for the Society and immediately made arrangements to transport the cupola-style caboose by rail to Bucyrus so work could begin. It started in the body shop at Transco, the forerunner of Bucyrus Railcar Repair. There, the damaged rail car gradually got a new lease on life.
“I stuck with it. If I didn’t think it would work, I would have given up ten years ago,” said Mead, who noted that cabooses were eventually phased out by U.S. Railroads in the early 1980s. “They did a beautiful job of helping us out on this project. Not everywhere you go do you have a body shop to fix a train car.”
Mead, who has the original blueprints from the manufacturer – the International Car Co. in Kenton, Ohio – monitored the progress from the get-go. He watched as the 39-foot-long steel freight train car was sandblasted, welded, repaired, and painted, often stopping by the complex to take photographs.
Bucyrus Railcar Repair donated the labor, paint, and decals, Mead said, but the work had to be done piecemeal between other contracted jobs. “They took off all the damaged pieces and put on replacement parts,” he said. “I’ve been down there all along. I’ve stopped in and visited with them.”
Mead, who climbed under the chassis to find the original car number, also designed and built the track panel at the depot to meet the caboose’s specifications. Now he’s arranging for a trucking company to load the relic onto a semi-trailer and move it across the street to its final resting place.
Mead credited his sidekick and financial guru, Tom Holtshouse, for his dedication to the project and his tireless work in soliciting donors, as well as the generous support from the Friends of the Bucyrus Station Association Depot businesses, civic groups, and organizations.
But the caboose isn’t “at the end of the line,” just yet. Mead has plans to spruce up the interior next, reupholster the seats, and finish the task at hand. “It’s beautiful. Now you drive down the street and say, ‘Whoa, where did that thing come from?’ It really stands out. It’s good-looking.”
The public is invited to see the finished caboose in all its glory on Saturday, May 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the Society’s Hobo Day, with a dedication set for noon. Residents can also tour the 1892 station, enjoy German fare, and check out the new sign out front, which John Cauvel designed.
