Guadalupe’s Historic Train Caboose Has Left The Station
GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – The city of Guadalupe took a step toward modernizing its transit hub this morning by removing an historic train caboose from the parking lot.
The whole operation took less than two hours.
The J.F. Will Company got started at 8:00 in the morning, punctuating the skyline with a crane, and the crew worked fast.
Guadalupe Station has been serving the century-old Santa Maria Valley Railroad in its current form since 1998.
But this caboose has been on the grounds since 1993.
“The Santa Maria Valley Railroad has been crucial in coordinating this effort and allowing this a spot in the yard to proceed with preservation efforts,” says Kevin O’roark, speaking for Friends Of The Santa Maria Valley Railroad.
First built in 1959, Santa Maria Valley Railroad’s Caboose 210 went into service in 1962 and had a thirty-year track record before arriving here for a stop that lasted another thirty years.
“Cabooses act as, like, an office, break room, restroom facility for the railroad crewmen, when they're out switching,” says O’Roark.
Representative of the non-profit ‘Friends Of The Santa Maria Valley Railroad’ Kevin O’roark says the initial intent back in the nineties was to use it as an office space for the Chamber Of Commerce, but that plan never took shape and the caboose became an attraction.
“In the past, the Friends of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad have held several open house events here so people could have access to it,” says O’Roark. “And we had docents available.”
By 9:30 Tuesday morning, the caboose was gone from the parking lot, on the road to its next stop.
“Knowing that it's going back to Santa Maria Valley Railroad, I think it's just the caboose is just going for a full circle,” says Guadalupe’s interim city administrator David Trujillo.
City leaders say that while some may see this as the loss of an historic landmark, construction can now begin on some critical modernization upgrades to Guadalupe Station.
“This here has been our only delay, actually getting the caboose on our truck and getting it getting gone,” says Trujillo. “So hopefully the next couple weeks, we'll start construction and everything here will look totally different.”
The caboose was transported to the Santa Maria train yard where it will await refurbishment, possibly back to serviceable condition.
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