If you were driving along Minnesota Highway 21 between New Prague and Jordan around 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 1, you may have noted an unusual sight - an old caboose moving on a flatbed trailer.
For nearly 50 years, the old Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway caboose number 1201 was a fixture in the back yard of Bill Hennes’ home, northeast of Jordan. Hennes was a collector of many things, including the old caboose. The Hennes children spent many hours of their youth playing inside the caboose, likely taking many imaginary trips across the country inside its walls.
Hennes died about ten years ago and with the recent death of his wife, the Hennes children looked for a new home for their father’s caboose. Because some of the Hennes family still lives in the area, they chose to donate the caboose to the Gopher State Railway Museum in rural New Prague so they could watch progress on its restoration and still be able to stop by and visit the old caboose.
The wood bodied, bay window caboose was built by the Minneapolis & St. Louis (M&StL) Railway as number 1201 in 1947 at the railroad’s car shops in Marshalltown, IA. The M&StL Railway passed through New Prague and is the Union Pacific today. M&StL 1201 likely passed through New Prague trailing M&StL trains many times over the years. The M&StL became part of the Chicago & North Western (C&NW) Railway in 1960. C&NW retired 1201 in the early 1970s and Hennes bought it and moved it to his backyard.
Gopher State Railway Museum is grateful to the Hennes family for their generous donation of M&StL 1201. M&StL 1201 is historic to the area both as a local back yard Jordan icon for nearly 50 years, and as a piece of local railroad history. M&StL 1201 is one of three...
To see more on this story pick up the July 8, 2021 print edition of The New Prague TImes.
Jordan family donates caboose to Gopher State Railway Museum
