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Is the end of line near for Fort Scott's caboose?
A piece of local railroad history has been the topic of some discussion during recent Fort Scott City Commission meetings.
Discussions on the topic of the city-owned little red Frisco caboose, which sits at Fisher Park, began at the Sept. 2 commission meeting when Larry Spahn, representing the Heart of the Heartlands Railroad Preservation Group, appeared before the commission to let them know of the group's interest in acquiring and making use of the caboose.
Commissioners and other city officials have been talking lately about the caboose, but no decisions have been made regarding its future.
Spahn's group, a nonprofit based in Carona, restores train depots, old engines and cabooses and is interested in moving the caboose to their railroad museum in Carona. Spahn said the organization would pay all expenses required to move the caboose to the Missouri Pacific Depot in Carona, which is the club's home.
Spahn said the caboose has a "special connection" to Carona and the Heart of the Heartlands Railroad Preservation Group.
"We're available should you decide to do something," Spahn said. "I don't like to see those pieces of history go away."
The club has a website located at www.heartlandstrainclub.org.
Local railroad historian Don Banwart explained the caboose's connection to Carona and the organization. He said the railroad museum in Carona is located at the spot where a switch yard for the NEO Railroad and Missouri Pacific was located.
"They would transfer coal cars back and forth," he said.
Banwart said there was a "slight possibility" the caboose once came through the rail lines in Fort Scott.
Discussion at the Sept. 2 commission meeting was centered around costs associated with repairing and refurbishing the old caboose as well as its annual maintenance. No figures were provided at the meeting.
Commissioner Sam Mason said he knew of a group of people who once regularly worked on the caboose, most of whom are now deceased. Mason said the group used to paint and clean the caboose every other year. He said the caboose definitely needs to be sandblasted and repainted.
Mason said his question would be, "What would the public want?" and would the community want the city to donate the caboose to the Heart of the Heartlands group.
"It will be very expensive to maintain," he said.
Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer thanked Spahn during the meeting for the request and the group's interest and informed him the city would take the offer under advisement. Commissioners took no action at the meeting.
The matter came up again when City Manager Dave Martin broached the issue during his report at the Sept. 16 meeting of the commission, saying he has talked with several people about the caboose. Two local residents in support of keeping the caboose in Fort Scott attended the meeting.
"There are two issues with this so far," Martin said to the commission. "We have no idea where the love lies for the caboose. It's just sitting there. We need to research and talk to people, find out where people stand. I've talked to people in support of keeping it."
Martin said discussions should take place regarding possibly using the theme of the caboose "to work with economic development." City officials are still researching the history of the caboose.
"If we keep it, we need to find a group that will take care of it," he said.
Martin said there are no plans in the immediate future for the caboose as there are other, more pressing city projects underway at the present time.
The consensus among city officials is that there is no money in the city budget to take on refurbishing the caboose. It was determined after a brief discussion that costs associated with fixing up the aging, deteriorating caboose would be expensive.
"I think it's important to the community," Bartelsmeyer said. "There are insufficient funds to care for it."
Bartelsmeyer suggested getting cost estimates and the possibility of a local group to take on a fundraising effort to complete the needed work on the caboose.
Jim Pitts, representing the Historic Preservation Association of Bourbon County, and his wife, Cynthia McFarlin, attended the meeting to discuss the caboose issue. Pitts spoke to the commission about HPA's desire to keep the caboose in Fort Scott. He said the HPA currently doesn't have the funds to maintain the caboose.
"On behalf of the HPA, I wanted to express our support for the city to continue to own and maintain the caboose," he said. "The city has a deep railroad history; we want no ties to history to go away."
Pitts said the caboose, once used by the Frisco Railroad, was "a gift to citizens and should remain that way." The caboose was donated to the city by the Frisco Railroad as a memorial to the city's railroad history.
"I have nothing bad to say about the (Heart of the Heartlands) group; it's a great organization," he said.
According to information from a Tribune photo printed in the late 1970s, the Frisco Railroad donated the caboose to the city in 1976. The No. 1110 caboose is shown in the photo on an engine service track after its arrival in Fort Scott. The original wood-shelved caboose was covered with steel plating at some time in history, making it almost too heavy for a flatbed trailer to haul to Main Street Park.
Banwart said the caboose was moved to Fort Scott by Pete Allen of Allen Construction Company, the local contractor that was hired to haul it.
"They took it from the railroad spur on a trailer and moved it to Main Street Park, which is now Fisher Park," he said.
Banwart said the caboose was originally part of the NEO Railroad based out of Miami, Okla., which owned it and some other cabooses. Before it was moved to Fort Scott, it had been painted in NEO colors of orange and black and featured what Banwart said was called "armor."
"They had troubles with boulders rolling down hills around Galena and Miami, (Okla.), the lead mines," he said. "They would roll and crash into the cabooses and a person inside could get injured. They called it armor. They welded boiler plate onto the sides."
The NEO Railroad was later sold to the Frisco Railroad, which inherited and operated those cabooses with boiler plate armor. After the caboose was moved to Fort Scott, it was repainted in the Frisco colors it features today, Banwart said.
Banwart said the caboose needs work but it's "not in near as bad of shape as it was when it was brought here."
"It needs some work done to it, some patching on it," he said.
Banwart said he is also a member of the Heart of the Heartlands Railroad Club that is interested is moving it to Carona.
"They would paint it back in NEO colors if they get it," he said. "It was not a Frisco caboose to start with but it became one in the end. It ran as a Frisco caboose on the railroad just after the merger."
Banwart said he has "mixed emotions" regarding where the caboose would be a better fit.
"It should be more part of Carona history than Fort Scott," he said. "I'm not agreeing to give up on it, unless we get a Frisco caboose in return, with more Frisco history ... I could live with it, if they wanted to keep it here, with either decision, really."
"If there were a trade, then I would be 100 percent for it (moving)," he said. "It is tied somewhat to Fort Scott. And I like where it's at with the exposure to the highway. I've talked to people who say, 'You're the town with the caboose.' ... we need to try to preserve it."