Saturday is a big day for the Ironton Rail-Trail Oversight Commission.

The restored Ironton Railroad caboose No. 6 will be dedicated at 9 a.m. at its new setting at the intersection of West Coplay Road and Chestnut Street in Stiles, just a few steps from the IRT Trailhead in Whitehall Township.

The ceremony marks a successful three-year effort by the commission to have the aging caboose restored and moved from the Whitehall Parkway to the new site by the trail.

Whitehall Township and the commission began discussing the project in June 2010.

In October of that year, the Whitehall commissioners approved the relocation and restoration project.

IRT Oversight Commission volunteers began fundraising efforts and, during the winter of 2010, began stripping the caboose's interior. In June 2011, the commission received estimates for cutting out rusted sections of the caboose and welding in new steel plates. In January 2012, the rails were installed at the new location and, in the summer, the caboose was painted.

The caboose made a slow journey of less than two miles to its new location July 27, 2012, with the aid of Sidleck Crane and Scheuermann Excavating.

At the new site, windows were installed and lettering applied.

Built in 1924 in Reading, the caboose was sold to the Ironton Railroad in March 1953, and was retired in 1966.

Railroad buff Raymond Brobst of Emmaus bought the caboose in 1970 and moved it to Plainfield Township, Northampton County, where he planned to convert the 23-ton vehicle, which measures 12 x 23 feet, into a cabin.

Later the owner's son agreed to donate the caboose to Whitehall Township and the caboose was moved there in 1990.

Saturday's ceremony will recognize with plaque presentations to those, such as Lynn and Eric Eberhardt, whose financial contributions made the restoration and move possible.