Growing up I spent a lot of time at Red Caboose Park in West Wyomissing. My Grandmother lived at the corner of Reading Boulevard and Harrison Avenue above Owl’s Grove and Field. It was pretty much my second home. I was always fascinated by the big red authentic Caboose. The caboose always seemed like it was vandalized in some way by teenagers breaking in through the floor or windows. I always wanted to go inside, but never that badly.
Ironically the 1941-built Reading Company Caboose wasn’t even red when it was obtained by the Spring Township Parks & Recreation Department in 1982. It was green and yellow, which was commonly used on Reading Co. Cabooses after 1970. So, it is likely that this caboose was originally red but repainted not too long before it was retired to the park.
On June 26th, 1982 the 20-ton Caboose was set into place at its location in the park. The crane actually started lifting off of the ground as it was lowering the caboose, and 10 men climbed onto it to keep it from tipping over. The Spring Township Preservation and Conservation Society was spearheading the refurbishment, and according to a June 1982 Reading Eagle article were planning on housing railroad memorabilia inside. One of the members of the Society was Joseph Leone, a former Reading Co. car shop employee who supervised construction of the caboose and said it was one of the last of its series built there.
According to the May 30th, 1982 Reading Eagle, a contest to name the park was won by Mildred Leone of West Wyomissing, who suggested the park be named after the Caboose being restored to reside there.
The Red Caboose Park was dedicated officially the weekend of September 27th/28th, 1985. Ads in the Eagle promoted free tours of the finished Caboose.
In 1992 the Eagle reported an 8 year old girl handcuffed herself to the monkey bars on the playground and needed to be freed by the fire department.
It’s funny, as a kid I always assumed it had been there forever, and am just finding out it only predated my birth by less than a decade. When I was little the park had a huge metal slide, which after a few hours in the summer heat fried the legs and butts of anyone brave enough to try it. At some point in the late 90s they replaced it with more modern plastic equipment.
Red Caboose Park has been the hub of the Spring Township community events over four decades; summer playground groups, easter egg hunts, baseball, softball and volleyball leagues, as well as the ending point of the Halloween parade. I no longer live on this side of town but still occasionally bring my kids over to play so they too can make some memories here.
