Lewes caboose gets “big shove” down railroad track
The move was short, but Lewes’ big red caboose had to make room for another piece of railroad history long in the making.
Volunteers from the Lewes Junction Railroad and Bridge Association pushed the caboose 100 feet west on the track in Stango Park March 29. They called it the “Big Shove.”
Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, even interrupted a walk through the park to help.
A railroad tie was placed across the track to prevent the 20-ton railcar from continuing down the bike trail. The caboose had not been moved in more than two years.
The LJRBA had to make way for a coal tender that will soon arrive and take its place on the rails.
According to the LJRBA, the tender’s main section, called the box, has been rebuilt from original Pennsylvania Railroad plans of the correct vintage. Distinctive elements of other original equipment were incorporated into the final design by Mellinger Manufacturing of Willow Street, Pa.
A former Pennsylvania Railroad steam engine is being restored in Yorklyn and will join the exhibit in the future.
The organization said the tender is now expected to arrive on Thursday, April 10.
For more information on the exhibit, go to lewesjunctionrr.org.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
