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The Windsor Town Council voted 5-1 on Tuesday, Feb. 11, to spend $8,350 to move a circa 1927 red Norfolk & Western caboose from Suffolk to Repair Tech Industrial Contractors’ facility in Franklin for exterior renovations.

The council had previously reached a consensus to pursue acquisition of the caboose with the hope of ultimately putting it on display in Windsor as a tribute to the locality’s history as a train town. The caboose is essentially being donated to Windsor.

Town Manager William Saunders shared an update on the acquisition process during the Feb. 11 council meeting, noting that site visits were performed by four crane and rigging companies as of the week of Jan. 6, and another had entered the discussion since then.

Saunders said the town ended up receiving two quotes from those five contacts. Crofton Crane and Rigging’s quote came in at $20,160, and Barnhart Crane and Rigging came in at $8,350 to make the move of as much as 35 miles.

“Two potential firms were all that have been identified to potentially perform the exterior renovations due to the logistics of moving this wide and tall load on the highway to them,” Saunders said. “There are other areas that are available that are accessed by rail, but ironically, this is a railcar that is not suitable for rail movement at this time.”

The first firm he highlighted was Suffolk Iron Works.

“They’ve given us some hourly estimates for the type of work they’d be doing — blasting, welding, rigging, painting,” he said. “And they’re in downtown Suffolk, which is also potentially a logistical issue with so many railroad crossings, streetlights, other wires and such downtown. 

The second firm he highlighted was Repair Tech.

“Repair Tech Industrial Contractors in Franklin adjacent to the (Franklin Municipal) Airport has given us an estimate on their daily rates for equipment and the type of work that we would be looking at,” he said.

In comparing the estimates received from both firms, Saunders said, “The rates don’t come out exactly the same because one’s quoted hours, one’s quoted days. The days includes all the equipment, the hours doesn’t, but when you add it all up, they’re pretty close. 

“So if it is council’s desire to move forward with the acquisition of the crane,” he added, “I would recommend the consideration of Barnhart Crane and Rigging for the move and to have it moved to the Repair Tech yard in Franklin for the exterior work.”

Windsor Mayor George Stubbs shared a potential pathway for transportation of the caboose from Suffolk to Franklin.

“I think from the meetings that we’ve had with the crane company,” he said, “looking at possibly moving this from where it’s at off of Shoulders Hill Road right now behind the Harris Teeter market, if they can load it, get it out to Shoulders Hill Road, go down to 17, go up 17 South and hit the bypass 664 and come in and take 58 West, we feel like — in talking to the crane operator too — that we possibly would have less interference and congestion. It’s all open highway.”

Councilman David Adams said, “Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we take the $8,350 estimate out of contingency to move the caboose to the Repair Tech facility. I brought this idea up, so I’d like to make that motion that we do that.”

The 5-1 vote followed shortly thereafter. 

Councilman Walter Bernacki cast the lone dissenting vote.

He shared his rationale in a Thursday, Feb. 13, phone interview.

“My philosophy is always needs before wants,” he said. “The town has a bunch of needs right now that we’ve been working on as part of our Comprehensive Plan.”

He acknowledged that the caboose represented a donation to the town, but he noted that nothing is ever free and that there are costs involved, starting with the $8,350 moving fee. He added that this is not even to move it to Windsor.

“We have to move it to some place that can do the restore work on it, and the restore work, that’s an unknown checkbook, because if they start getting into stuff that is worse than they thought, it could be more and more money,” he said. “And that’s just for the exterior. Then there’s all the interior work.”

He indicated that with a restoration of a circa 1927 caboose, a lot of parts are not available anymore, creating the need for custom-made parts, which he noted are expensive. He said that once the caboose is restored, it will have to be moved into Windsor, a place will have to be found for it, and a mini-railroad track will have to be made for it to sit on because due to its weight, it cannot simply sit on the ground.

He estimated the total cost in connection with the caboose would end up being somewhere between $125,000 and $150,000, or potentially more.

“With that being said, I’d rather see $100,000+ go to a new Town Hall, which is something we really need,” he said.

He said Windsor has outgrown its current Town Hall, and the building has issues to which temporary fixes will be applied, but he questioned how long the town can keep “putting bandaids” on something before having to replace it out of necessity.

Bernacki did note that he could change his mind on the caboose project if a definitive cost estimate is determined and it proves reasonable.

“But right now, the way that quote’s written, it’s a guess, and they put in their hourly rate, because it could be — take that hourly rate and keep going with it if they keep finding stuff,” he said. 

“So it’s not like I’m not in favor of the (caboose) idea,” he added. “I think it’s a cool idea, but when you have needs … the values I was brought up under is you take care of the needs first. And then the wants you save up for, and you get it taken care of.”