Historic Caboose to Be Dedicated at Curtin Village Heritage Day Celebration

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

HOWARD — There are a lot of reasons to celebrate at Curtin Village on Sunday, Aug. 9 when a restored 120-year-old caboose is dedicated as part of Roland Curtin Foundation’s Heritage Day festivities.

One of Centre County’s most treasured historic sites will be celebrated from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be live music on the mansion lawn, food in the Carriage House, artisans and historians talking about railroads, canals and shoemaking, self-guided tours around the property, Victorian-era children’s games and slag hunting.

This year’s Heritage Day features the official dedication and grand opening of the newest exhibit: a restored railroad caboose.

John and Joyce Gummo of Lock Haven, who are historical railroad enthusiasts, donated the former Chesapeake & Ohio caboose car No. 90861 to the foundation. Additional parts of the rail car package are a donated rail crossing sign, baggage wagon and many related rail artifacts gifted by the couple.

The caboose and artifacts were acquisitioned into the collection of the Roland Curtin Foundation to expand the story of rail transportation and its crucial role in the success of the Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village.

The caboose was recently transported from Beech Creek to Howard via oversized load, and upon arrival, a crane was used to transport the caboose to its resting place at Curtin Station.

The excitement around the caboose’s long-awaited arrival will make the Heritage Day celebration historic, according to foundation spokeswoman Renea D. Nichols.

“The relocation of the caboose was funded in part through generous support from the Centre County Board of Commissioners and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, whose commitment to heritage tourism helps preserve and share the story of Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village,” Nichols said in a statement. “We’re asking folks to come aboard and discover the excitement happening at Curtin.”

“We know it’s not the Big Boy, but it’s super cute, and the return of the ‘Curtin Station’ is one caboose closer to being realized,” Nichols continued.

The excitement around the caboose will make the fun-filled Heritage Day even more historic featuring rock music on deck along with traditional Celtic sounds. 

Caboose History

For more than a century, cabooses — known on the Pennsylvania Railroad as “cabin cars”—served as the essential tail end of every freight train, functioning as an office and living quarters for the conductor. Railroad historian Dwight Jones has concluded that the caboose gifted by the Gummos was built in the early 1900s by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway at its shops in Huntington, W. Va.

According to John Gummo, at the turn of the century and World War II, railroads transitioned from using wood cars to steel cars — mostly due to train accidents and industrialization. Wooden rail cars became obsolete.

The donated caboose, originally used by Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, was later used by Meadow River Railroad of the Meadow River Lumber Co. at Rainelle, W. Va. was last in service in the 1940s, Gummo said.

“As lumbering started to decline, (wooden cars) were put up for sale or scrapped,” Gummo said. This particular car was sold to the Kovalchick Co. for salvage after Meadow River closed in 1970. It stood for years in a field in western Pa.

“The Kovalchick Co. saved this car instead of scrapping it,” Gummo said. “In 1982 or 83, (Kovalchick) knew of my interest in railroading and we ended up buying it and moving it to family property in the Beech Creek area. It was one of the first cars I bought.”

Gummo restored the caboose for display alongside other railroad memorabilia.

The Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, with Pennsylvania Railroad oversight and funding, was extended eastward from Milesburg to Howard in the summer of 1864. That same year, the “Curtin” station was established on Eagle Iron Plantation, with freight-shipping capabilities and one eastbound and one westbound passenger train stopping at the station each day.

Railroad Passion

“My love for railroading and preservation of these artifacts is because I grew up with trains,” Gummo explained in a telephone interview from his Lock Haven home.

He rode the Reading Railroad to Fleisher Art School in Philadelphia as a teenager.

“I’d come home after high school and ride my bike to the train station and grab the train to night school,” Gummo said. “In those days, you played with toy trains and rode real trains.”

Gummo attended art school where he learned drafting, and he later earned an undergraduate degree in business administration at Temple University.

“(Railroad restoration) has not been a professional thing for me,” Gummo said. “Railroad preservation is from the heart. Maintaining artifacts is part of our railroad heritage. It’s been something my wife and I have loved to do.”

Gummo has restored more than 20 rail cars, most of them wood. He says this labor of love that is assisted by skilled tradesmen is purely for the preservation of railroad cars and artifacts.

The caboose donated to Curtin Village has been restored a few times during his ownership because it was sitting outside in the weather. All restorative work is done at Beech Creek.

Over time, Gummo has donated several of his masterpieces to various railroad enthusiasts. He has cars and locomotives at Dr. Doolittle’s Roadside Café and Creamery in DuBois, Clearfield County. Doolittle’s features diner food, burgers, pizza and an ice cream parlor served in decommissioned train cars.

It requires a lot of maintenance because of weather. They will need to find sufficient funds to protect it from the elements, that is in future planning. Siding is all-natural wood. Restoration was done in Beech Creek.  I live in Lock Haven.

In addition to the caboose, Gummo donated a railroad crossing sign, baggage car and other railroad artifacts to Curtin Village.

“The crossing sign is the original,” Gummo said. “It has 8-foot arms. I approached Conrail and it took two years to get them to agree to sell it to me.  It took a boom to lift it, and it came right to Curtin Village after I acquired it.”

In December of 2025, the Gummos gifted the caboose and associated artifacts to the Roland Curtin Foundation.

“They are just a great group of historians,” Gummo said.

He has gained a lot of experience in moving cars over the years, and relocating the caboose was no exception.

“We’ve done a number of these (moves),” Gummo said. “It is lifted by a crane right off the rails onto a low-boy. It’s an expensive process.”

The move from Beech Creek to Curtin Village was done over the road, requiring permits from the state Dept. of Transportation and a wide load designation.

Next Steps

Roland Curtin Foundation has more plans for Curtin Station.

“Besides education, we hope to give folks the chance to dine inside the caboose for a donation. We’re still making plans,” Nichols said. The foundation is working toward getting the caboose under cover to save it from the elements.

“It requires a lot of maintenance because of weather,” Gummo explained. (Roland Curtin Foundation will need to find sufficient funds to protect it from the elements, and it is my understanding that is in future planning.”

“Our next step is to construct a cover for the caboose with a future goal to expand the current rail display with the reconstruction of the Curtin Station,” said Sue Hannegan, president of the Roland Curtin Foundation. “Families, rail enthusiasts, historians, and all who appreciate Pennsylvania’s industrial and cultural history are especially encouraged to attend the dedication. Donations are accepted for the future expansion of the rail display.”

The caboose dedication begins at 1 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The ceremony of the caboose will include:
• A look back at the decade-long caboose restoration by John and Joyce Gummo
• Recognition of the many volunteers and supporters who made the project possible
• An original song local railroad legend and “King of the Hobos,” Luther Gette
• A ceremonial Golden Spike Drive, where guests will take turns hammering in the final railroad spike before touring the caboose.