Utah State Railroad Museum gets Western Pacific caboose; Merci Boxcar restoration complete

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden has a new addition: a Western Pacific Railroad caboose.
Museum visitors can take a look inside it on Saturday, when museum entry will be free.
Meantime, the restoration of the Merci Boxcar, a post-World War II gift to Utah from France, is complete, though it hasn't yet been returned to Ogden.

OGDEN — The Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden has a new addition — a Western Pacific caboose — while the restoration of a boxcar that was a gift to Utah from France after World War II is complete.

Museums at Union Station in Ogden manages the railroad museum and opens Western Pacific Railroad Caboose No. 438 to the public on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., when admission will be free. The recent acquisition is meant to complement the Western Pacific GP35 electric diesel engine acquired last year and bolster the representation from the now-defunct rail line at the Ogden museum.

"We've really tried to create a collection that shows both the locomotives and cabooses from each of the major rail lines," said Hope Eggett, the Museums at Union Station administrator, and Western Pacific is one of the last rail operations that served Utah that was unrepresented. The Western Pacific cars — among more than 50 at the museum — are meant to help "tell the story of the workers who worked on the railroad."

Meantime, Eggett said the restoration of the Merci Boxcar — given to Utah by the people of France in 1949 as a way of saying thanks for U.S. assistance during the post-World War II era — is complete. The unique gray boxcar, previously displayed outside Union Station, had fallen into disrepair and was sent last year to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to be restored by experts there at a cost of some $100,000.

"We are really eager for it to get back to Utah. We don't have a firm date yet, but we do expect it back soon," Eggett said.

The restoration of the Utah State Railroad Museum's Merci Boxcar, pictured here, is complete; however, it hasn't yet been sent back to Ogden from Wyoming, where the refurbishing was handled. (Photo: Museums at Union Station)

A ceremony to welcome it back will be organized once it returns to Ogden. It had sat exposed to the elements, but upon its return will be displayed in a covered exhibition area to better protect it.

Caboose No. 438 was built in 1955 and retired from service in the 1980s, when rail lines started phasing out use of cabooses amid technological advances that rendered them obsolete. It had been on display at the Inland Northwest Rail Museum in Reardan, Washington, and was acquired by the Union Station Foundation, an independent, nonprofit entity, for $16,000.

The Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden has acquired a Western Pacific caboose, shown here, and it will be opened to the public for viewing on Saturday. (Photo: Museums at Union Station)

"With only a handful still on public display nationwide, this rare caboose captures the spirit of Western Pacific's golden era and stands as a testament to Ogden's role in shaping the West through rail," reads a press release from the city of Ogden. Only 13 of the cabooses survive, Eggett said.

Museums at Union Station is the umbrella organization that manages the Utah State Railroad Museum and gun and car museums, also housed at the historic railway station. The free museum entry on Saturday coincides with the Ogden Arts Festival, a ticketed event taking place at Union Station on Saturday and Sunday.

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