SCOTT CITY PLANS FOR RAILROAD CABOOSE DISPLAY

Scott City is starting to get excited about its caboose.

A special meeting Monday night at city hall to discuss plans for displaying a railroad caboose brought together representatives from such groups as the Historic Preservation Committee, the Garden Club, the Scott City Chamber of Commerce, the City Council and railroad buffs.

Southern Pacific Railroad is donating the large railroad car to the city, which hopes to use it to draw tourism.

"We have so many people who come to Scott City to take pictures of the trains anyway," said Shirley Young, organizer of the caboose presentation project. "The ideas for displaying the caboose have just been flowing ever since the meeting."

Rev. Randy Morse of the First Assembly of God Church sparked the flow of creative ideas with a drawing he did of how the caboose could look once it is in place. The city leases a parking lot by the Railside Lunch Stand -- better known as the beanery -- off Main Street adjacent to the railroad tracks. It is on the east corner of this lot that Young and her group want to place the caboose.

"Once we had a picture of what it could be like, it all seemed to fall into place," Young said. "People could really visualize it."

And while there are plans to build a covered deck adjacent to the caboose that overlooks the railroad tracks, install period lighting and a decorative garden, Young said the real planning will begin after the group discovers when the caboose is going to be delivered.

"We have a list of questions to present to the city commission Monday night," she said. "Once we get those answered we can go from there."

The city will have five days from the time the caboose is delivered to remove it from the tracks. Young said people are checking into getting a crane and setting up ties and blocks for placing the caboose.

The real work of preparing the caboose for tourism will begin after the railroad car is in place.