19 October 2010

Sky Caboose

The caboose sitting beside First Ave. was air lifted
onto a flat bed and driven out of High River.

High River Alberta - High River lost a piece of history on Saturday morning when the caboose sitting beside First Ave. was lifted onto a flat bed and driven out of town. It took two cranes, hundreds of links of chain, and a large group of men to lift the over 15,000 pound caboose which has been sitting beside the road for the better part of seven years.
 
"It's going to a good home," said Museum Director Irene Kerr. "I think people will be surprised when it is gone."
 
The Town donated the caboose to the Great Canadian Plains Railway Society where it will join the Galt Historic Railway Park in Stirling, Alberta. "Our mandate is to interpret and show the history of the railway in Southern Alberta," said Society Treasurer Bill Hillen.
 
The caboose will be restored to it's original grandeur and be ready for display to the public when the park re-opens it's doors in July.
 
This is the first piece of 'rolling stock' that the historic park has included and it will sit just east of the Coutts/Sweetgrass International Depot which was moved there a number of years ago.
 
Robert Massey.