Caboose moves to trail
WINFIELD TWP — Chris Ziegler finally got her caboose down to the Butler-Freeport Community Trail.
About 40 cyclists, trail volunteers, neighbors and a beaming Ziegler watched Friday morning as the N-5G class red caboose that was parked at Cellar Works Brewing on Route 356 in Buffalo Township was lifted onto a truck by Steighner Crane Services. Then it was tied down and carefully moved to a prepared area along the trail just north of Cabot-Winfield Road in Cabot.
The trail board bought the caboose from Cellar Works earlier this year and had planned to move it in the spring, but the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on the project, said Ziegler, who is the president of the trail board.
Finally, on Friday, Mike Moniot, a Steighner crane operator, directed the two sets of “trucks” — or 1929 cast steel wheels that go under the caboose — onto the 27-foot stretch of tracks that had been placed alongside the trail in anticipation of the caboose.
Once those were set without incident, workers connected four giant hooks to the undercarriage of the caboose, the straps tightened, and Moniot moved the caboose from the truck and into position in three minutes.
“It fits!” Ziegler shouted with her fists in the air. “There was no room for error.”
The caboose on Friday still sported its “Cooper Station Restaurant” placard.
Thought to be built between 1939 and 1946 by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the caboose was purchased in 1994 by the late Saxonburg Mayor Reldon Cooper when he built Cooper Station Restaurant.
John Steighner, president of Steighner Crane Services, said the caboose weighs about 36,000 pounds.
“We're glad to help out the public,” Steighner said. “It's something future generations can admire about history.”
Ziegler said in addition to serving as a historical component of the rail trail, the preliminary idea is to allow scouting and youth groups to sell ice cream and water from the caboose during the summer months to raise money for projects they complete along the trail.
It could also serve as a visitors center, where cyclists, joggers, walkers and others could pick up a T-shirt or other item.
The interior still has the original seats, toilet, sink, stove, desk and cupola inside, all in good condition.
“It just needs swept up and wiped down,” Ziegler said.
She said tours of the caboose will be given once it is cleaned up.Updates on activities surrounding the caboose can be viewed at butlerfreeporttrail.org.Many enjoyed watching the historic railroad car being lowered into place Friday.Art Borland said he approached Cooper many years ago to ask about moving the caboose to the trail.“He didn't say yes or no,” Borland recalled.When the owners of Cellar Works Brewing had no use for the caboose, the trail board was able to buy it.“I'm excited for it to be here,” Borland said. “It really belongs here.”Albert “Ouch” Roenigk, a Buffalo Township supervisor since 1979, was on hand to pound in the final spike in the section of tracks laid by the trail board. “I've been involved with this since the beginning,” Roenigk said. “I'm glad it's finally being done.”He said the caboose will remind those using the trail that it was once a busy and vital railroad track.Sharon Graham of Jefferson Township bicycles the trail every other day, weather permitting.She grew up in the village of Cabot and remembers the trains that traversed the tracks. “This is nice to see,” Graham said as she gazed at the bright red caboose. “It brings a little bit of the railroad back.”Sue Schmeider clapped excitedly as the trucks were lowered onto the tracks.“It's nice because the kids will come and look at it and it will be something interesting along the trail,” Schmeider said.When asked what she was thinking when the caboose was suspended on the crane, Lydia Byerly, 6, of Jefferson Township, summed up the thoughts of all who held their breath as the caboose was lowered into its new home. “I was thinking, 'What's going to happen next?'” she said.
