Connie Collier bought this caboose with her late husband Harold from the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. Almost 40 years later, Connie is very satisfied with her purchase.

CHICORA — When Harold Collier of Chicora said he wanted to put a train caboose in his backyard, his wife, Connie, laughed and then she made it happen.

“Gee, I sure would like to have that in my backyard,” is what Connie's late husband, Harold, would say every time they passed the railyard in Kaylor.

Harold was a train enthusiast, and when he said he wanted a caboose, Connie decided to look into it.

While on break at work, Connie decided to stop into the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad office in Butler.

“I approached the person in charge to see if the caboose could be bought. He would not take me seriously,” Connie said.

After some persuasion, he gave her information about buying the caboose.

“Their response was that they were not certain of the future of that line, and if the Blackburn tunnel was going to be declared a safety issue, the caboose would be up for sale,” Connie said.

The tunnel eventually went out of service, and on July 30, 1973, the Colliers were able to purchase the caboose for $25 with the understanding they would need to find a way to transport the rail car to their home.

“It took us five months to find a crane and lowboy truck that would do the job for us,” Connie said. It was December 1973 by the time they were able to move the caboose, and road conditions were not ideal.

The truck, with the caboose loaded on top, was too high for an underpass, so it was forced to take country roads.

“The icy conditions that day were responsible for the truck being on a very steep hill until temperatures warmed in the afternoon, and the ice melted,” Connie said.

When the truck made it to the hill above the Colliers' home, the weight of the caboose proved too much for the truck. The truck with the caboose slid past the Colliers' home to the bottom of the hill.

“He steered the runaway truck, with the caboose on it, to the bottom of the hill. When the shaken truck driver got stopped safely he said, 'That's it, I will park it here and you find someone else to put it in place,'” Connie said.

The Colliers left the caboose at the bottom of the hill until spring when they were able to find another trucking company.The new trucking company planned to move the caboose on June 10; however, on June 6, a telephone pole was placed in front of the caboose.“The telephone company had orders to set a pole on the lot, and the pole was set right in front of the caboose,” Connie said.When the trucking company arrived on the 10th, they loaded the caboose onto their truck and tried to take the caboose up the hill.“When pulling out from this angle the ... bar on the lowboy broke. After repairing that problem, the truck was being backed up the hill and the weight caused the truck to bounce causing a motor mount to break,” Connie said. It was at this point the company decided to bring in a bigger truck.On June 11, after a larger truck was brought in, “the caboose was put into place with a sigh of relief,” Connie said.Harold finally had his caboose. He built a miniature train track modeled after the Western Allegheny Railroad in the caboose.Debbie Macurak, the Colliers' daughter, said, “He would keep a log of what he would do with his trains, like he was really an engineer.”During the summers, the family would take care of the upkeep of the caboose by tarring the roof and giving it a fresh coat of paint.“It was part of our chores in the summer,” Macurak said.Harold passed away in March 2012.“He had many years of enjoyment in the caboose,” Connie said. “I am so glad that I pursued my husband's wish.”

David Maihle and Judy Rosensteel set up a miniature railroad inside Connie Collier?s railroad caboose on Feb. 11 in Chicora. Collier?s late husband, Harold, wanted to put the caboose in their yard, and the couple bought the train car for $25 in 1973. It took them almost a year before they were finally able to transport it to their yard.