A prestigious caboose currently located in Jim Thorpe is scheduled to be moved to Lehighton Tuesday morning.

Bambi Elsasser, Lehighton Main Street manager, said the procedure is expected to start in Jim Thorpe on Monday.

Elsasser said the estimated timeline is for trucks and crane to arrive between 7 to 7:30 a.m. Monday to load the caboose in Jim Thorpe.

Around 7:30 a.m., she said the caboose will be loaded onto the truck, and that at around noon, the crane will move to the Lehighton Trailhead for Tuesday.

Elsasser said that at 7 a.m. Tuesday, the caboose is expected to be escorted out of Jim Thorpe by the Jim Thorpe Police Department, where it will switch off from Jim Thorpe Police to Lehighton Police at Perch at Jim Thorpe.

She said around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, the caboose is expected to arrive in Lehighton. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard, Main Lane South, Main Lane North, and the access point from Rite Aid will be closed to traffic until the caboose is off the main road.

Elsasser stressed that spectators must stay in the borough parking lot by the electronic sign, and need to stay clear of the crane for safety reasons.

She said a dignitary golden spike presentation will be observed at a later date.

In December, borough council approved the requests for the caboose project for in-kind services and use of land.

Elsasser said the restoration work was done as part of a joint effort between the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. and the Lehighton Downtown Partnership.

She said a company had been contacted to move it, and that it would be located behind the trailhead off Sgt. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard.

Kathy Henderson, director of economic development, Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation, had previously obtained funding through the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau.

In April 2021, council accepted the caboose being donated from the Reading and Northern Railroad to the borough.

The CCEDC purchased the caboose with contributions from anonymous donors.

Henderson said at that time that the purpose of the initiative is to establish a welcome center that will not only greet people into the area, but also educate students on the role Lehighton played in transportation back in the day.

She added she believes it would be neat to have a facade constructed on the side of the pavilion that’s there now that faces the street to make it look like a reproduction of what the passenger station used to look like.