‘A Work In Progress’
Preservation group determined to restore Sheffield Train DepotBy BRIAN FERRY bferry@timesobserver.com
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From 1880 to 1965, the Sheffield Depot served the railroad and community, moving lumber, coal, leather, passengers, and many other cargoes.
The station was closed by the last serving freight manager, Bob Walker, in 1965, but the efforts of a local group are aimed at bringing it back as a museum.
The Sheffield Depot Preservation Society formed in 2006 with the goal of raising money to buy the building, rehabilitate and restore it, and operate it as a heritage museum.
"This building was built in 1880 and needs to be saved," Board President Dennis Sturdevant said. "I think it should be a heritage museum for the town, not just a railroad museum."
"This may be the last Pennsylvania Railroad station in Warren County," he said. Next door is the old station for the Tionesta Valley Railway's narrow gauge system, "one of the few left in the state."
When the group first took over the operation of the main station, they found it chock full of recyclables. "They used to recycle glass in here," Sturdevant said. Boy Scouts also used the building as a warehouse for aluminum cans.
The 120 55-gallon drums used in that operation were sent away as scrap.
Although there had been glass inside the building, there wasn't much in the windows. All of the 160 panes in the 20 windows in the building were broken.
With new windows and sashes in place and the cans, barrels, and remaining glass out of the way, the interior building was ready for a make-over. "We started painting and fixing up in cooperation with the railroad," Sturdevant said.
The original color schemes and design elements have been reproduced where possible.
There are already a number of donated and purchased items on display at the station, but there is plenty of work left to do on the inside.
Much of that work is waiting on a roof.
Of the just more than $20,000 raised by the society so far, including $125 each from 125 charter member donors, $10,000 is dedicated to the purchase of the building. "Bill Gentilman, property manager for Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad, is finalizing the bill of sale," Sturdevant said.
The rest will probably go into materials for the new roof. The slate was bartered in exchange for the labor costs of installing the new roof, Sturdevant said. Still, he expects materials to run about $10,000.
Half of the slate has been removed and taken to a historical preservation project on Market Street in Warren. The other half will go next year, Sturdevant said.
Once the roof is done, the group will be in need of funds again, with a few more major projects in the near future.
First will be a heating system.
Then restrooms will be installed.
"We're moving along one step at a time," Sturdevant said. "Everything we do now is a high-price item."
He estimated the heating system at $10,000 and the restrooms at $3,000.
The roof job was broken into parts due to time pressure on one side.
"The track side has to be done because they're going to put a siding in," Sturdevant said. In its early years, the station had four sets of tracks running past it. Now, there is only one.
However, neighboring oil business Duhring Resources is working to have a siding a short section of track that will connect at both ends to the main line installed to facilitate the dropping off of cars filled with sand for hydro-fracturing operations, and the picking up of empty cars, Sturdevant said. The siding will allow the railroad to make one stop at Duhring, rather than the many stops and direction changes needed under the current system.
The siding will mean some visual changes at the station.
"We're looking forward to seeing some cars there," Sturdevant said.
The society is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-taxable organization and welcomes contributions, Sturdevant said. Donations may be made out to the Sheffield Depot Preservation Society, P.O. Box 671, Sheffield, Pa., 16347.
The board meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Hospitality Center. Work bees are held from 6 to 8 p.m. on all other Thursdays.
According to a society pamphlet, the museum project is projected to last 10 years.
"This is a work in progress," Sturdevant said.
Exhibits
A variety of items related to the depot, the railroad industry, and Sheffield heritage have been donated to and purchased by the society.
There is a working scale model of the million-pound Big Boy steam engine, and a working model of a Star drilling rig. Also on display are the last two passenger tickets sold at the station, a collection of S-Scale American Flyer model trains, old padlocks used at the station and on the railroad, models of the Tionesta Valley No. 2 engine, Black Bear, and the Sheffield-Warren trolley, the boiler plate from the No. 1 engine, a light from the No. 19 Tionesta Valley engine, part of the old telegraph system, lanterns, uniform buttons, and many other items.
A large item that will eventually join the exhibits is a Fairmont A6 Motorcar, also called a Speeder, that has been restored from the "ground up," Sturdevant said. The 6-cylinder, 3,500-pound track maintenance vehicle runs on rails, can carry a crew of about eight, and can pull a trailer full of equipment and materials. The vehicle was acquired from the Knox and Kane Railroad and is currently in storage.
Although the museum is not officially open, Sturdevant seems ready to guide visitors through it already. When Jim DiPerna of Hampton stopped at the station for some information, Sturdevant welcomed him and gave him a detailed, but partial tour. DiPerna signed the visitor log and stayed until his hungry companions in the vehicle urged him to hurry back.
