Fireworks Food to Help Save Chillicothe Caboose

Chillicothe – The effort to re-restore and maintain one of two historical cabooses sitting between the downtown and Yoctangee Park will be helped by a bag meal fundraiser during the lead-up to the city’s fireworks in the park.

Janet Griffith, a volunteer with the caboose effort and past park supporter, is spreading the word that the $5 meal will be available 5 to 8pm July 4th in the Pump House parking lot in Yoctangee Park.

The previous restoration of the wood-sheathed caboose has weathered and aged, and the wooden roof and siding needs to be replaced. The group was hoping to do that this summer, but plans and funding have not moved as fast as they expected.

B&O caboose C-2115 was built in April of 1927 in the railroad’s shops at Washington, Indiana. After several upgrades, it was retired in 1972 in Chillicothe, and sold to the American Legion. One side was cut out for it to serve as an announcer’s booth for the ball field at Douglas Avenue and the B&O Railroad.

In 1991 the wooden caboose was moved to its current location on West Water Street near Paint, next to the steel 1975 B&O Caboose C-3893, and restored to its original appearance inside and out to serve as a living museum. (In contrast, the steel caboose houses a mini-museum and displays.)

Griffith says the meal will consist of a hot dog with ketchup and mustard packets, a bag of chips, a can of pop, plus a free homemade chocolate chip cookie. All of that has been donated, so they hope to sell all 200 of the meals to raise $1,000 towards the $37,000 estimated restoration costs.

Donations are accepted through PayPal and Venmo
@RedCabooses45601. Janet Griffith can be contacted at [email protected] and 740 / 772-7590.

The Independence Day Chillicothe fireworks are planed for 9:45 Tuesday night on the other side of the former B&O railroad bed behind the Pump House Center for the Arts.

Griffith says the group is also in need of volunteers to staff the cabooses, which they are trying to keep open. Their traditional hours are 10pm to 4pm Monday through Friday and 1 to 3pm weekends, May 12th to October 15th…but they have had to limit their times.

Volunteering there would be a great way to learn and enjoy railroadiana while simply manning a desk and guiding guests into the attached wooden caboose. Local, as well as national, railroad history is on display inside…as well as a model railroad.