Boonton police identified one clue: pieces of a Hasbro "Cootie" game found at the scene, which may or may not be related to the suspects.

Over the last four-plus years, there's been at least close to half a million dollars' worth of restoration work done to the trail parlor car.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of suspects who vandalized a rare, recently restored 1912 Lackawanna Railroad parlor car and other relics at the United Railroad Historical Society's Boonton Rail Yard.

The Whippany Railway Museum parked the car at the Boonton Rail Yard after completing the expensive, multi-year restoration of the once-rusty coach funded by grants and private donations.

Boonton police are investigating the incident, which occurred in the last two weeks, said Capt. Stephen Jones.

The damage to the Lackawanna car includes broken windows. Several other vintage locomotive and train cars, owned by the United Railroad Historical Society, were damaged in the incident as well.

"Nobody knows exactly when it happened," said Steve Hepler of the Whippany Railway Museum, which operates from April to October. "I just found out about it on Tuesday."

The rail car was a "wreck" United had in its collection, and it was about to be scrapped when it was donated to the museum in 2014, Hepler said.

"Over the last four-plus years, there's been at least close to half a million dollars' worth of restoration work done to the car," Hepler said, "We were just about ready to have it brought down to our museum site in Whippany. Then this happens."

Boonton police identified one clue: pieces of a Hasbro "Cootie" game found at the scene, which may or may not be related to the suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call Boonton police Detective Chris Petonak at 973-402-9371, ext. 613.

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The rail preservation-restoration community is devastated, Hepler said.

The Whippany Railway Museum has an extensive history of the car on its website.

Commissioned in 1912, the former "subscription car" operated for more than 70 years, at first pulled by steam locomotives on the 400-mile Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad line from Buffalo, New York, to Hoboken.

Subscription cars catered to the "gentlemen's club" set and required members to be sponsored and voted in by existing members, who paid an extra fare each month.

Later in its history, known as the DL&W No. 2454, the car was assigned to the Hoboken-to-Gladstone Branch on a train known as "The Millionaire's Express."

After the 1960 merger of the DL&W and the Erie Railroad created the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, No. 2454 was renumbered as 3454. It was finally retired in 1984.

The Liberty Historic Railway organization invested heavily in the Lackawanna restoration, Hepler said. Liberty Chairman Bill McKelvey and the Whippany Railway Museum are jointly offering the reward.

Hepler is asking for the public's support in funding repairs caused by the vandals. Donations can be made directly to the museum on its website.

The historical society is also is seeking donations to offset the cost of restoration and repair to its cars.

"Several pieces of our equipment were subject to a vicious vandalism attack," the United Railroad Historical Society wrote on a GoFundMe campaign page. "Our volunteers have many days of work ahead of us to fix the damage to several of our restored passenger cars and locomotives."

The United Railroad Historical Society fundraising campaign includes a call for donations to increase security at the Boonton Rail Yard.

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William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com