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Building embodies railroad nostalgia
West Pittsburg train station may see new life if society has its way
Forward into the past
New Brighton resident Don Gee looks out from the tracks in front of the old West
Pittsburg train station. Gee, a member of the Beaver Valley Junction Chapter of
the National Railway Historical Society, is spearheading an effort by the group
to purchase the station, built in 1913, and turn it into a regional train
museum.
(Ledger photo by Eric Poole)
Ledger staff writer.
History slumbers beneath a blanket of midwinter snow in West Pittsburg, where a
train station, boarded up and largely unused for decades, may be on the verge of
a new life.
The station once served as a way-station for travelers between Ashtabula, Ohio,
and Pittsburgh on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. It served as the site
of farewells and arrivals both routine and monumental. Today, after four decades
of neglect, the 92-year-old train station is showing signs of wear. The roof is
crumbling and sagging in places. That could change soon.
A local group, the Beaver Valley Junction Chapter of the National Railway
Historical Society, is planning to purchase the station and surrounding
property. The group’s ultimate goal is to refurbish the building and turn it
into a museum, which would celebrate the region’s rail heritage.
New Brighton resident Don Gee is acutely aware of that heritage. A confessed
train enthusiast and son of a railroader, Gee is spearheading the chapter’s
effort to purchase the station but says the building’s design also is a factor
in his group’s preservation efforts. "Twenty years ago, I had no idea that I
would be involved with this," he says. "I have loved trains my whole life. "It
doesn’t have to be a railroad building; it’s a nice building."
The station was built in 1913 along the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie line. At one
time, it was used as a pick up and drop-off point for passengers on the line,
which was primarily a carrier of freight, such as coal to Lake Erie and iron ore
dropped off at Ashtabula, Ohio, by Great Lakes freighters and delivered along.
However, the train did carry recreational travelers and even commuters who took
the train from West Pittsburg into Pittsburgh’s Station Square, says Gee.
In its heyday, from the 1920s into the 40s, he says, the station was more
opulent than its function might indicate. On the facility’s roof, there is still
a large glass skylight, which allowed sunlight to shine onto an elaborate
stained-glass ceiling. Like the customers that once passed through the building,
the stained-glass ceiling is nothing more than a memory.
Gee estimates that passenger service ceased in the early to mid-1960s. In 1968,
a nearby business owner purchased the station and used it for years afterward as
a storage facility. The building, now owned by the business owner’s family, sits
dormant, with members of the Beaver Valley Chapter plotting a new beginning.
Right now, finances are a major concern. Gee says the effort to purchase the
building is either near success or not near, depending on whether the chapter
obtains a bank loan for the property. In part because of its status as a
tax-exempt organization, the Beaver Valley Chapter has some credibility. It also
helps, says Gee, that this isn’t the chapter’s first project. Previously, the
group purchased and restored a railroad tower, called the UN Tower because of
its location near Union Valley Road. The tower, once located near the train
station, was moved into Mahoningtown. The group also accepts donations and holds
fund-raisers, including the "Frosty Rails" winter train show events, and
operation of an exhibit and booth at the annual festival in Mahoningtown near
the UN Tower’s present-day site.
The chapter is holding "Frosty Rails ’05," a model train show and festival from
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005 at the Homewood Volunteer Fire
Department hall. Admission to the event is $4. Included in the event will be
model railroad clinics and layouts, as well as slide shows and vintage railroad
movies.
Once the group purchases the property, says Gee, it could become eligible for
state grants to help pay for repairs to the building and cover operating
expenses for the museum. Gee also envisions renting office space in the
building.
Many chapter members already have railroad artifacts looking for a permanent
home. Those artifacts include small train cars – known as "speeders" in train
parlance – and cabooses, which would be displayed on spur tracks located on the
four-acre property. "We already have a lot of stuff we could display," says Gee.
"When it started looking real good for us to get this place, people started
giving us railroad equipment."
Preservation, not just of the building, but of the past it represents, is a key
goal of the project, according to Gee, who says the history of the United States
is, to a great extent, the history of its rails. Eventually, he says the former
station could be a resource, for both education and recreation. "When we restore
it, it could be in such nice condition that people would want to go there."
Once upon
a train
A train
chugs along the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie line at the West Pittsburg train
station in this pre-1920 postcard. The station, which still sits at the site,
ended its train service in the early to mid 1960s. A local railroad historical
group has designs on refurbishing the facility. (photo provided)
"When we restore it,
it could be in such nice condition that people would want to go there."
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