The sight of a caboose scurrying along behind a freight in Calgary rarely raises an eyebrow. But, when the caboose is inching its way the wrong way down a city street in the dead of night, well, that's another thing entirely.

As part of Calgary's National Transportation Week festivities, CP Rail did just that. The 56,000-pound (25,400-kilogram) caboose was moved from Alyth Yard to the Stephen Avenue Mall. And, as the old saying goes, "getting there was half the fun."

To move the caboose, Calgary Division Master Mechanic John Reddekop and York-Shaw Building Movers' Bill Shaw devised a plan that saw the caboose hauled onto a makeshift platform sitting on two four-wheel axles.

One of York-Shaw's heavy duty tow trucks then hitched onto the platform and slowly pulled the caboose, complete with track panel, down 9th Avenue.

In order not to disrupt traffic, the move was started at 02:00 the day before National Transportation Week got underway. York-Shaw and CP Rail crews laid track panel down the Stephen Avenue Mall, pulled the caboose alongside the Glenbow Museum and removed the track panel.

The next morning, there definitely were more than a few raised eyebrows. Volunteers from the Pensioners' Club and the Calgary marketing and sales office staffed the caboose during Transportation Week. Approximately 1,400 people walked through the caboose during the week.

This CP Rail News article is copyright 1983 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.