Thunder Bay heritage caboose gets assessment for repairs

The caboose at Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay may need a few more intensive repairs than originally anticipated.

The city hired a consultant to determine the condition of the caboose — and how difficult it might be to repair.

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The city's manager of parks said Thunder Bay is getting an assessment on the caboose before it allows a volunteer group to start working on the structure.

"[From] what we could see, sort of [to] an untrained eye, on the outside of the caboose, we thought it would be a good idea to get a better handle on the scope of the project before we or our volunteers started pulling boards off," Paul Fayrick said.

The consultant will "be able to give us an assessment of what's all involved. Going forward, we can assess a budget, and determine what parts volunteers could play, versus having to get somebody in that's got some higher technical expertise."

Fayrick said the assessment should also roughly outline how much it could cost to fix the caboose, as the city would pay for materials.

Work on the project may start next spring or summer.