Christopher Hackett has “no interest in trains at all.”

But thanks to a decade of his work, visitors to Salem’s Willamette Heritage Center will get a chance to explore one.

Hackett, 82, has been the volunteer project manager overseeing the new Caboose 507 exhibit, which opened on the property Sept. 19.

The caboose is the museum’s first new permanent exhibit since 2007. Located on the west side of the property, backed up to the train tracks, it’s an immersive, interactive experience, with operable interior features and outdoor games.

Caboose 507 was first put on the tracks in 1909, traveling on the Oregon & California Railroad, and later the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was hitched to trains transporting a variety of agricultural and industrial goods, including tobacco, beans, plywood,

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