Nunley Park caboose heads for auction this summer

What you need to know:

• Wasilla plans to sell the red caboose at Nunley Park during the city’s annual surplus auction this summer as part of a broader park overhaul. Officials fenced off the caboose last year because of concerns about asbestos and lead paint.
• The caboose, a former Santa Fe Railroad car that came to Wasilla through a 1990s McDonald’s promotion, has drawn interest from local buyers who may repurpose it.
• The proposed removal became controversial after the city cut down trees and fenced off the caboose without a public planning process, prompting backlash from residents and City Council members and delaying broader park renovation plans.

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WASILLA — A bright red caboose in Wasilla’s Nunley Park will be sold at auction this summer as part of the city’s effort to overhaul the space.

A beloved feature of the park for more than a decade, city officials blocked off the caboose with orange construction netting early last year because of playground safety concerns related to asbestos and lead paint.

The caboose, which is currently surrounded by a series of barriers, will be sold following a request from Wasilla City Council member Stuart Graham during a regular meeting late last month.

“Right now, it’s an eyesore, and I think some people consider it to be a hazard,” Graham said during the meeting.

The city will hold the sale during its annual surplus materials auction this summer, Wasilla Public Works Director Erich Schaal said in an interview. Bids will start at $1. The winning bidder will be required to pay for removal and work with the city to extract the caboose from the park without damaging the area, he said.

Schaal said several local business owners and residents have already contacted him about buying the caboose. Ideas include converting it into a hunting cabin or using it at a local RV park, he said.

The caboose first came to Wasilla as part of a 1990s McDonald’s marketing gimmick. The Santa Fe Railroad built and started operating the car sometime after World War II, according to local railroad experts. A local resident purchased it from the Wasilla McDonald’s and later sold it to the city for about $10,000, according to former city officials. It never operated on the Alaska Railroad.

The park overhaul and proposed caboose removal became a flashpoint early last year when city crews first roped off the car and cut down a swath of trees in the park to make way for improved lighting.

Those steps triggered backlash from the city council and members of the public, who said the changes were made without proper notification or a public planning process. The city council contracted a designer to create a plan for the park, with a full plan initially due late last year.

But city officials placed work on the overhaul on hold while they await a decision from the council on whether to pursue a parks and recreation master plan for the city as a whole before making more changes to Nunley Park or moving forward with the refresh, Schaal said.

Graham, who initially opposed removing the caboose, said he changed his mind because he wants the city to move forward with making the park an attractive place to visit and because he does not think city officials will change their minds.

“The administration is dead set on disposing of that asset,” he said. “You can see from looking at the caboose — they’ve got it fenced off, it’s not painted, it’s not an attraction in the park; it’s actually a detraction in the park.”

The annual surplus auction will be advertised on the City of Wasilla website.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com