The Red Caboose in Neahwa Park may soon have new plexiglass on its enclosed pavilion.
The Delaware & Hudson Railway caboose was the Oneonta meeting place when the eight founders formed the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen in 1883. The union later was renamed to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and was one of the largest unions in the nation. Membership peaked at 217,176 members in 1956, according to the website of a successor union’s branch in Ohio, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.
The caboose is a symbol of Oneonta’s long railroad and railroad worker history. It has been in the park for public viewing since 1924, with a pavilion addition in 1983. Last July, the site received a state historical marker.
The Greater Oneonta Historical Society and Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society recently partnered to raise funds to replace the pavilion’s plexiglass.
The glass protects the caboose from the elements.
“Debris, insects, animals can get in” when there are cracks or other wear to the glass, said Marcela Micucci, Greater Oneonta Historical Society executive director, Thursday, July 16. “We’ve been fundraising for quite some time.
Micucci said GOHS would be donating about $1,000 and the LRHS about $2,000. The groups are requesting that the city of Oneonta cover the difference in the cost with quotes from Ace Glass Company, based in Oneonta.
Oneonta Common Council Finance and Human Resources Committee documents showed the quoted price from the company as $10,319 to replace all of the plexiglass panels. That means the city would need to pitch in about $7,298. Micucci said there was another quote of about $8,400 for Lexan glass, which would also work.
City Administrator Greg Mattice said via email Wednesday that the city had drafted a letter of support for the historical societies’ fundraising efforts at Micucci’s request a few months ago.
“The City has a great partner in GOHS and we’ve worked together on a number of historical marker installations, the Hometown Heroes banners,” and other projects, Mattice said.
He said city Department of Public Works employees clean the windows outside every year, and the windows’ current condition was poor. GOHS volunteers maintain the interior of the pavilion, he said.
GOHS has often decorated the caboose for the winter holiday season with lights.
The Common Council must approve receipt of the donation and a budget amendment drawing from the city’s contingency fund for the project to go froward.