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What to do with Holyrood’s caboose?

By Mark Squibb/March 24, 2022

A stone’s throw from Holyrood’s festival grounds sits a bright orange relic of the town’s railway history, a fully restored Canadian National Railway caboose numbered 6065.

In recent months, the question of what to do with the car has risen in council chambers, as over the years the caboose has fallen into a bit of disrepair.

At last week’s council meeting, Mayor Gary Goobie read a letter from a member of the Railway Coastal Museum in St. Johns inquiring about the train.

“I’m curious if the town has any plans for the railway caboose at the marina,” read the letter, from one JP Cody. “If not, would the town entertain the possibility of selling it? I am looking for a railway car to start my own museum and a caboose would be wonderful. The caboose doesn’t appear to have been used in many years, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

Goobie said council would deal with the letter accordingly, and moved on to further correspondence. Councillor Steve Winsor later brought the conversation back to the caboose.

“Council may recall a couple of months ago I tabled the lack of use and dilapidated state of the caboose and how we as a town could improve it or make some use for it in our festival grounds rehabilitation project,” said Winsor. “It’s nice to see someone expressing interest in it. We need to do something with it because right now it’s just falling into further disrepair.”

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