CARBONDALE, Pa. — Right across from the Carbondale Fire Department, in the parking lot next to city hall, is an old Delaware & Hudson caboose covered in plastic.
The man behind it is S. Robert Powell from the Carbondale Historical Society.
It's been sitting in storage for a decade. But, about two weeks ago, Powell and the city thought it was finally time to move it out into the open.
"When it was moved here, the mayor called me; I was in the building on, I think it was a Saturday morning. He calls me Doc. He said, 'Doc, look out the window!' I looked out the window, and here was a caboose coming down Main Street," Powell said.
A local business helped to move the caboose to city hall, its new home.
The caboose will be lifted onto its wheels and moved out to Main Street, which means the city will have to take down a tree and move a monument to the other side of city hall.
Plans are to transform the caboose into a visitors' center and museum celebrating the history of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, which was founded in Carbondale to transport coal across the country.
"They need some stuff up here. There's not too much to do. It would be a nice idea," said Bruce Opshinsky of Carbondale.
"It'll bring more people into town, you know, you can get more people to see the beauty of the area. It's a nice area," Dana Croci added.
The caboose can make it even nicer. That's what Powell hopes.
"Now, with the restoration going on at St. Rose Church just across the way, and this coming into the downtown area, we think it can be seen as a sign that things are happening again in downtown Carbondale. We're very excited by that," he said.
In this case, the caboose is just the beginning.