reception – Custer Free Press

By Herb Ryan

Hill City, SD – Over a year in the planning, The South Dakota State Railroad Museum in Hill City formally welcomed Caboose 1208 and generous donor Jeanne Bauder. Jeanne’s father and other relatives worked for the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW) in South Dakota for decades and since childhood she had dreamed of owning her own caboose. That dream was realized when Jeanne and her husband Herman purchased the retired 1947 classic caboose No. 1208 and moved it to their backyard in Huron, SD where it was used as a hospitality center and private museum for their family and the Huron community. Jeanne also donated a large collection of memorabilia to the museum that will be displayed along with the caboose inside the museum building.

“I would have liked to move the 1208 to Hill City by railroad, but logistics just did not allow that” said Rick Mills, Director of The South Dakota State Railroad Museum. The move was made by truck on a two day trip across the state, roughly paralleling the tracks that the caboose once traveled when it was in service on the C&NW in the 1960″

“The caboose holds so many fond memories for our family over the years, now it is in a home where it can be preserved inside the museum for a new generation of visitors to see and enjoy,” remarked Jeanne Bauder.

South Dakota State Railroad Museum