OPINION
For those who are not aware, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that the Township of Madawaska Valley has passed a motion to declare the caboose as surplus and to have it removed from its site. Above: the freshly-painted caboose in 2015. Photo supplied.
This motion was passed in the space of ten minutes by four members of Council (Mayor Mark Willmer and Councillors Mary Blank, Shelley Maika, and David Shulist).
Maintenance costs
It was mentioned that Township money would be needed to take care of the water tower instead. Even though Council continues to claim that the cost to repair and maintain the caboose is prohibitive, I have repeatedly told them that the caboose only requires repainting every five years or so. With the help of volunteers, the only cost would be for the paint. The inside of the caboose does need attention but there is no need to do that right now.
Historical value
One member of Council pointed out that the caboose is actually CPR and not CNR, and it was the CNR that travelled through Barry’s Bay. I don’t believe that most people who look at the caboose would know the difference, and does it really matter? It is not easy to find a caboose of its 1922 vintage, and this caboose is a beautiful example. Maybe Council should be looking for an Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound caboose. Or a Canada Atlantic caboose. Or a Grand Trunk caboose. All of those railway companies predated Canadian National when they travelled this line.
One Council member said that only the “occasional picture” is taken of the caboose. I’m not sure how this is a known fact. Perhaps I could say the opposite: that every visitor who takes a picture of the water tower also takes a picture of the caboose.
Replace the caboose with ?
Another member of Council said that if the caboose was removed, a hole could be dug, and a post with a sign about “something” could be put in its place.
So, those were the reasons that led Council to pass the motion to get rid of the caboose. To me, it looks like they were struggling to find excuses. I just don’t understand why a Council in a railroad town would want to get rid of an attraction that helps promote the village that was established because of the railroad. A caboose certainly fits in with a train station, a water tower, and a railway park.
Initial expectations for the caboose
When we brought the caboose to Barry’s Bay, it was not expected that we would be its caretakers forever. We did this on behalf of the Council, the village, and the people. It was always understood that the Township would eventually take it over once we had done all the things that we were capable of. We have now reached that point.
Value of volunteers
It is disappointing that this Council does not appreciate what has been done. This might serve as a caution to volunteers, that you might suffer the same fate, so choose your projects carefully. I feel bad for all those people who stepped forward to help us, doing what they thought was a good thing, only to be considered misguided by the current Council.
Council would be looking for a group to be in charge of the caboose but this is not necessary. Council can be in charge. It’s not fair to challenge people who are in favour of keeping the caboose by asking them to step forward and take over the project. People are busy with their own lives. Surely, it is obvious that volunteers are getting hard to come by. For example, is there a volunteer group looking after the water tower? Is there a volunteer group managing the arena? And, while we’re talking about the arena, does it show a profit each year?
Clue to value of caboose
I understand that there are three parties interested in the caboose. This should be a clue to Council that there are people out there who appreciate an old caboose, and the Township will be losing something that has value. To me, this will be a bad legacy for the present Council to leave behind.
Background information
Below is a link to a report that was done in 2012. I suggest you read it. You might find it interesting.
CLICK HERE or on the image below to read: 2012 Report on Caboose Restoration Project
As a former city resident transplanted here ( Killaloe) in the ’70’s, I have seen many positive changes come to Barry’s Bay but letting go of the old railway caboose seems to be a very retrograde thing to do, and is just another example of Council’s lack of business sense and poverty of imagination. We lost the Train Station Museum and Gallery several years ago and now this? Come on Council, wake up – what do you think visitors from away are looking for? They love our local historical color and anything to do with old railroads is a sure draw. I have to agree with the comment above that in Barry’s Bay there is an obvious divide between those who wish to stay in a safe shuttered little world, closed off from new energy, and those who want to share our bountiful blessings with folks from all over who come here with their dollars and their enthusiasm. We here in Killaloe lost our old train station ages ago, due to short sighted rationale and it has been much lamented ever since. Do not let your little red treasure on wheels go so easily.
A town whose evolution includes a deep connection to the railroad, gets rid of a historic model caboose… what a travesty. The weight of this shortsighted and historically narrow decision will no doubt become a regret that will be lamented upon by future Barry’s Bay generations who will say “could have, should have, would have, but didn’t.”
We would appreciate if the caboose could stay. Good arguments here for reconsideration by council.
No vision. No background. No legacy. No history. No initiative. No intelligence. No Zurakowski Park. No generosity. No growth.
Barry’s Bay: Nothing but a drive through.
The council don’t have a clue as too the reality is having this caboose there when the avro air was put up it was to totally looked after by volunteers but that didn’t happen and now that is something that was not nesacery so council get your act together an election is coming so if you want to be relected you better wake up and smell the coffee because this is a land mark of a railway town.They waste a lot of money on stupid things
Well said Bob!
Dam shame that so few on council see the value not only of the caboose but also the volunteers who have brought it to us!
I spent many a day walking those long gone tracks in my youth, one foot after another trying to see how far I could go before falling off. (There is a wonderful painting of a boy just doing that from an accomplished local painter. Not saying it’s me but it very well could have been!). I used to pick through the cinders where the place of the old bunk house was to find old bottles and odds and ends. Many a knife, fork or spoon engraved with CNR I found. I remember two beautiful passenger coaches that I wandered through, played and let my mind think of another time. Unfortunately they received a most horrible fate by the then council! They were chopped up for scrap. I can remember the diesel electric’s idling out side my father’s house shaking everything. An odd visit to its cab I was afforded by a friendly engineer!
For those on council that have forgotten or those who have no idea what part the railway played in our town—-shame on you.!
Many thanks for the update on the caboose, Bob. Although we had to move from Barry’s Bay last year for health reasons, we do like to keep up to date with the news from ‘The Bay’.
While residents of the area, we did volunteer for different projects around town including the caboose. How very disappointing to read that a short-sighted council has decided to dispose of this asset/attraction after all the contributions and volunteer work that went into it (including by two former mayors and a member of the present council). It was to give the town another reason for visitors to stop, spend some time and possibly make a purchase at nearby shops….as was the Railway Station Museum and Gallery. One would think that a council member would want to increase, not reduce, the number of reasons for visitors to extend their stop in town!
We hope that the caboose will find a new home where it is appreciated.
an addendum:- The next municipal elections here are 19 months away in October of 2026. As a “newbie” here I’ve come to realize that it’s best to vote for councillors from a business background who are a bit more sympathetic to local businesses than recent Councils have been. There seems to be a kind of divide here between the “insiders” and the “outsiders” with the insiders being inclined to “sleep-walk with their eyes open” but they get elected by other local “sleep-walkers” who tend to vote by force of habit. This is a bit different from us transplanted “city folk” who spend our lives walking with our eyes wide open and fully alert to avoid being run down by city traffic so we tend to ask questions and be a bit impatient with secretive sleep-walking Councils who seem to be disconnected from reality. Barry’s Bay Council used to be a bit more enterprising and the town motto was “Come for a visit and stay for a lifetime!” but the “sleep-walkers” took those signs down a few years ago. However the Internet is coming and soon we will all have fibre-optic to the door which will really wake up and blow a lot of “cobwebs” from the heads of the “sleepwalkers” who hopefully will then very impatiently replace our geriatric semi-awake Council with a younger and more dynamic group. This happened in the 1950s when motor vehicles replaced horse-drawn wagons and in the 1990s when satellite tv replaced out-of-date movies at the local cinema and it will soon happen again:- a new Revolution cometh!
In Smith’s falls, a similar caboose was fixed up and is rented as a B and B for close to 200 per night. (With a local restaurant providing the breakfast. )
Such a disappointment to realize that the historic caboose might disappear..
Unfortunately this and all previous Councils going back for a few years have been intent on putting the town of Barry’s Bay out of business:- Barry’s Bay was doing much better before amalgamation in 2004 when it was a separate town with a much more enterprising Council of its own. At a minimum Barry’s Bay needs its own Councillor elected exclusively by town residents. As for the caboose, perhaps we should offer it first to Killaloe et al:- they certainly seem to always be interested in improvements to attract new business activity to their town and an old caboose of any kind would be appreciated over there and we could always visit it.