Maybrook and Campbell Hall each have them to grace the entrance to the community. Now, the Village of Montgomery may soon be getting a railroad caboose of its own.

Mayor Mike Hembury and several other village officials made the trip to the Port Jervis rail yard last week to look at one that is available.

“It would be brought to the village at no cost, and the price of the caboose would be one dollar which I would gladly pay out of my handsome Mayor salary,” Hembury joked. “We would need volunteers to fix it up, and anyone or business who volunteered would have their name put on a plaque displayed right in front of the caboose for generations to see. It’s really cool, and it just adds to the beauty of this village.”

Hembury said the idea started after seeing the annual visit from the Toys for Tots Train which comes into the village each December.

“You know my wife and I were the ones who started the Toys for Tots train stop in Montgomery several years ago. Well, the connections we have developed throughout the years got us to this point,” he said. “I always asked the folks at Toys for Tots if they had a caboose, we would be interested in it, and here it is.”

A caboose is a crewed railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles, according to Wikipedia. Although the caboose has largely fallen out of use, some are still retained by railroads in a reserve capacity. These cabooses are typically used in and around railyards.

Cabooses have also become popular for collection by railroad museums and for city parks and other civic uses. The one in Campbell Hall serves as a visitor’s center.

Hembury said Village Historian Brian Fitzpatrick and local Developer Marc Devitt, who were instrumental in the village securing a $4.5 million state grant for downtown revitalization, will assist in choosing the location of the caboose and for arranging volunteers.