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100-Year-Old Clare Caboose Gets a Makeover

“I decided to work on this because I needed an eagle project and saw the depot was being reconstructed and I thought hey that would be an interesting project to work on,” said Ben Yob, a prospective Eagle Scout.

This caboose is almost 100 years old – and a landmark for Clare. After all those years, it’s time for a makeover.

“It was kind of dilapidated,” he said. “It wasn’t really cared for the paint was chipping the wood was rotting.”

Ben and his team of fellow scouts have been removing nails, painting, and placing new boards for about a month now.

“We took off the old boards ripped em all off and fixed the structure,” said Ben.

A much bigger project–than it seemed on the surface.

“It’s taken a long time,” he said. “It’s just turned into a much bigger project than any of us anticipated.”

Ben’s father and assistant scout master, Roger Yob, says once his project is done though, he’ll be one of a small number of elites, having to check off the boxes on a long list of merit badge requirements.

“Nationally speaking about 1% of the boys that join scouts obtain the rank of eagle,” Roger said. “It’ll be quite an honor to see that and reach that milestone and be part of that small family of eagle scouts.

“It’ll especially help the depot out and make it look a lot better and it’ll be a nice show piece for the whole community to come look at,” Ben said. “I can come back later and see what I’ve accomplished and done and I can say I’m an Eagle Scout because of it.”

Ben’s gotten a huge helping hand from his fellow scouts but he is always looking for more help.

Ben and his team finished the new, red caboose in late August. The new caboose is at the Clare Depot on 200 West 4th Street in Clare.

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