After being repaired, the Red Caboose returns to King Jack Park in a better place

The Red Caboose is now rehabilitated and back in King Jack Park at a more visible and safer location.

After Darin Hostetter’s 2017 auto body class built the replica, it was on display near the splash pad for more than five years. Sadly, it became the target of vandals and needed some body work.

So back to the high school shop class it went in September 2023.

On Thursday, 13 months later, it was hauled from the school to the park and placed on two rails.

The restoration was not merely cosmetic. Students removed the metal skin and replaced it with sheets of 3/16-inch steel.

“We drilled 1,200 holes for those rivets,” said Hostetter.

“It’s so much sturdier than it was before,” says Tyler Pearish, one of the students who have spent a lot of time on the project and got to watch it be installed at its new location.

The entire caboose – from the wheels to the cupola, including the interior, handles and rail – was repaired and repainted a BRIGHT red.

By placing the caboose in front of the streetcar barn, it is hoped it will get more attention and won’t be as easy to vandalize. The parks department is in the process of installing streetlights at both ends so it won’t be in darkness.

The caboose is a replica of the actual caboose, which for years sat on Broadway across from the police station. That was Jim Dawson’s project when he led Dawson Heritage Furniture. He’s also responsible for the replica through the Dawson Heritage Foundation.