Will there be a caboose on U.S. Highway 69?
CONNIE BROWN

The Rusk Chamber of Commerce is trying to relocate a red caboose from the Texas State Railroad to the Heritage Park in front of the Weston Inn and Suites in Rusk. More than $20,000 is available to help construct the park from memorials and honorariums donated when former Mayor Emmett Whitehead died in 2002.

Will there be a caboose on U.S. Highway 69?

The Rusk Chamber of Commerce is working to add a caboose from the Texas State Railroad onto U.S. Highway 69 below the Weston Inn and Suites.

The Chamber has received bids for moving the caboose, remodeling the inside and outside, and preparing the ground for giving the caboose a new home. TDCJ has agreed to remodel the caboose.

The excitement is in the air, but time is short.

Will there be a caboose on U.S. 69? Will travelers driving on Highway 69 find out Rusk's best kept secret? Only time will tell - and time is of essence, because the caboose could fall through the cracks of time and be lost.

Either a private operator could decide to keep the caboose or the state may decide to make the train a static display. This little caboose could stay where it's at and decay.

Politics plays a big part and it is so sad that a community that has so much to offer can not get past the politics and work together to achieve something that would benefit all.

Connie Brown is the Rusk Chamber of Commerce office manager.