Lettering completes exterior of restored caboose
D.J. Baker of Southern Delaware Signs in Lewes has made just about every kind of sign and lettering possible, but he never expected to be applying letters and logos to a 1917 railroad caboose.
With Lewes Junction Railroad & Bridge Association members looking on – and providing some guidance – Baker and his assistant, Mike Davies, spent three hours Jan. 10 finishing exterior restoration on the caboose located in Stango Park.
David Ludlow, board member and project coordinator, said people ask him why Pennsylvania is lettered on the sides of the caboose. “When this caboose was used, it was on the Pennsylvania Railroad line,” he said.
After a year of restoration, including a new paint job, the historic 1917 Pennsylvania Railroad caboose was moved from the former Delaware Coast Line Railroad work building in Georgetown to its new display site in Stango Park in Lewes.
It’s the first of three pieces of railroad history destined to be displayed on a 210-foot track section between the Lewes Public Library and Rollins Community Center. One of the pieces, a historic Wilmington & Western engine, has been donated to the organization.
The caboose was on the last Delaware Coast Line Railroad train that pulled through Lewes in 2017.
Meanwhile, work continues on the interior to restore it. When that is completed, the association hopes to open the caboose occasionally to visitors.
To start 2022, in February the association coordinated an effort to remove the historic hand-cranked railroad swing bridge from the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal crossing to its new home at the end of American Legion Road in Lewes. That project, a collaboration among the organization, City of Lewes and Delaware Department of Transportation, saved the bridge from being scrapped.
Dating back to the 1850s, the rail line through Lewes was decommissioned in 2018 and is now the location of a section of the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail.
Volunteers are being sought to help with hands-on work or to share the history of the railroad in Lewes and eastern Sussex County with visitors to the display. Contact www.lewesjunctionrr.org to volunteer or to support the group’s efforts.
