Train Station

Train station auctioned By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI kimy@herald-mail.com photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer Troy Jernigan placed the winning bid on the Smithsburg train station during a foreclosure auction at the steps of the Washington County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon. An auctioneer started the bidding at $70,000 and Jernigan ended up buying the building for $89,700, according to attorney Roger Schlossburg, trustee for the property. Klaus Von Mahr, the owner, defaulted on a $112,000 mortgage with Hagerstown Trust Co., said Schlossberg.

By STEVEN T. DENNIS Staff Writer SHARPSBURG - Plans to sell the Antietam Station near Sharpsburg are on the fast track, Washington County Administrative Engineer Dean Lowry said Monday. Lowry put a "For Sale" sign on the train station late last week and has received a lot of interest in the property, he said. Lowry said the station will hold an open house today at 1:30 p.m. where prospective buyers can take a look at the interior of the boarded-up station on Md. 34. Lowry said the county wants $25,000 for the property - the price the county paid to buy it using grant money.

Council opposes buying train station By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer SMITHSBURG - Most of the Town Council's members oppose Mayor Tommy Bowers' plan to turn a former railroad station into a police station. Bowers announced at the October Town Council meeting that he was looking into buying the railroad station on Maple Avenue to give the police department some elbow room. The vacant building is for sale for $159,900, town officials said. During the meeting Bowers told council he was pursuing possible federal grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the project.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - The National Park Service officially opened the renovated Harpers Ferry train station on Saturday morning during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Speakers competed with passing train whistles for the attention of roughly 100 architects, contractors, engineers, park rangers and residents who attended the event. Peter Dessauer, an architect with the National Park Service in Harpers Ferry, said the $2.35 million project started in 2001 and wrapped up earlier this year.

Old train station gets new life By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Richard Klein's new office is along bustling King Street, and each car that passes by the newly renovated train station is a constant reminder. "Thump, thump. " "Thump, thump," as the cars cross the single set of Winchester and Western Railroad lines outside the building that now houses his architectural design company, Alpha Associates. Klein never flinches as he carries on a conversation in his corner office outside the intersection.

SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. - You never know what historical site might be lurking in Jefferson County. The Civil War battles that raged here have given rise to plenty of stories, not to mention the communities that have thrived over the years. Take the area of Duffields for example. Just east of Shenandoah Junction between Charles Town, W.Va., and Shepherdstown, W.Va., Duffields is probably most known today as a MARC train stop. But Duffields was an "up-and-coming little incorporated community" in the mid-19th century and old buildings can still be seen along the railroad tracks, according to Jack Snyder, a local railroad history buff who was instrumental in restoring a train station in Shepherdstown.

Old train station plagued by bats By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer SHARPSBURG - The Hagerstown Model Railroad Museum Inc. has faced hurdles on its road to restoring the old Antietam Station west of Sharpsburg: Bureaucracy, funding, termites and now, bats. The bats have been in the train station off Shepherdstown Pike for at least two years, but museum officials recently realized how serious the problem had gotten.

Train station in Smithsburg to be auctioned By ANDREW SCHOTZ andrews@herald-mail.com file photo The Smithsburg railroad station will be sold at a public foreclosure auction Tuesday, March 6. Klaus Von Mahr, the owner, defaulted on a $112,000 mortgage with Hagerstown Trust Co., according to attorney Roger Schlossberg, a trustee for the property. J.G. Cochran Auctioneers and Associates Ltd. of Boonsboro will run the auction from 1 to 3 p.m. on the steps of the Washington County Courthouse.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The Train at Red Run Park in Washington Township east of Waynesboro is more than just a joy ride for youngsters and some adults, it's a symbol of volunteerism. A toy train station serves the toy train, which runs around a 700-foot oval track pulled by an "engine" powered by a Model A Ford motor. It took $30,000 worth of cash donations plus free labor and material to buy the train, lay the track, build the storage shed, or tunnel that houses the train, plus the gasoline storage shed that resembles an old-time train water tower.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Karin Johnson remembers bringing her dog to a rabies clinic at the old train station shortly after moving to Greencastle nine years ago. Gloria Rivellino went there for a bake sale soon after she moved to town five years ago. Both women marveled at the station's architecture and historic significance. Today they are on the board of the Greencastle-Antrim Organized Youth Foundation, which owns the 100-year-old station on Jefferson Street. Johnson is president of the foundation and Rivellino is treasurer.

A Jefferson County, W.Va., man died when he was struck by a train Thursday evening at the train station in Harpers Ferry, the Harpers Ferry Police Department said. Paul R. Cavalier, 78, of the Summit Point area, was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner, according to a police department news release. Police said they were dispatched at 7:20 p.m. to the train station at 112 Potomac St. for a report of a man who had been struck by a train. An investigation determined that Cavalier failed to notice warning devices and stepped in front of an oncoming northbound train, according to the release.

Kimberly Robinson, a Greencastle building contractor, former retirement home owner and restaurateur since August 2000, won approval Monday night to add on to her Highline Restaurant and Railway Lounge. The council voted to grant Robinson a waiver to add an $86,000 addition to the restaurant at 101 W. Washington St., described on the Internet as a “premium dining destination.” Robinson said after the meeting that she needed more room to expand the dining room and kitchen and to add a new lounge.

Sometimes I just plain get tired of all the political rhetoric and news that saturates my life. Sure, I know it's most important that we get some working and knowledgeable leaders in office but I'm not sure where exactly we might find them. As a matter of self entertainment, I came across a list of Paraprosdokians which sort of makes you think about a few things. Kind of humorous too in a way. A Paraprosdokian. I'm glad I didn't have that word in a spelling bee. It's meaning? Well, according to most sources a Paraprosdokian “is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader to reinterpret the first part.” There, now that's easy enough to understand, so you're really apt to get confused for sure.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a bird walk on the C&O Canal near Harpers Ferry on Wednesday, April 4. The event is free and no  advance registration is required. Anyone with an interest is welcome to come along, regardless of their birding skills. Binoculars will be available for anyone who needs them. Children will be welcome. The walk will cover about four miles of level terrain along the towpath. Participants should plan to meet at 8 a.m. outside John Brown's Fort, where Potomac and Shenandoah streets join in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society invites hikers of all ages and abilities to join veteran trail hiker Dave Michener for a short hike up to Jefferson's Rock at Harpers Ferry on Sunday, March 25. Participants will meet at the Harpers Ferry train station at 9 a.m. Anyone with an interest is welcome. There is no fee for the hike but parking in the train station lot will cost $5. On the way back to the train station, the group will hike along part of the Appalachian Trail. This hike will be relatively easy but it will include some steep steps.

The former MARC ticket office in Caperton Train Station is expected to be staffed again soon, but the person behind the counter will be selling books and children's museum "passports" instead of taking rail-trip fares. Martinsburg City Council on Thursday approved the relocation of the Washington Heritage Trail National Scenic Byway welcome center and bookstore to the former commuter train ticket office. The council also voted to give the nonprofit heritage trail organization the equivalent of a $1,000 monthly stipend to operate the welcome center, but City Manager Mark Baldwin noted that funding requests would have to be made annually, as is the case for other outside agencies.

While winter winds whipped outside on a cold day Sunday, young children scurried about in the warmth of an old train station, their imaginations stirred by toy trains passing by. The trains ran on a massive layout in an old freight room in the station, which also acted as a primer on local history. Civil War veterans used to make a regular pilgrimage to the building as part of a Battle of Antietam reunion. It was the second Christmas open house at the Antietam train station along Sharpsburg Pike, which was organized by Hagerstown Model Railroad Museum Inc. at Antietam Station.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Schematic designs for a hands-on children's exhibit and education center at the Caperton Train Station were endorsed Wednesday by Martinsburg City Council's Train Station Committee. The "for the Kids, by George," museum in the city-owned property at 229 E. Martin St. is on track to open by spring or summer of next year, architect Lisa Dall'Olio said after presenting schematic designs for the project to committee members. "I want to thank you ... for the opportunity to think like an 8-year-old for the last three months," Dall'Olio told council members.

This is the 180th in a series of articles about the historical and architectural treasures of Washington County. In the 18th century, Keep Tryst Road was the main route connecting Harpers Ferry, W.Va., with Frederick, Md., a part of the longer road from Baltimore to Winchester, Va. It ran along the very southern edge of Washington County near the Potomac River. Enterprises sprang up along the road, taking advantage of the river. Settled just north of a river's bend with views of South Mountain to the east, the Blue Ridge to the south and Elk Ridge to the west, stands Keep Tryst.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A children's museum, which is on track to open at Martinsburg's train station in about two years, will all but complete the vision for restoring the city's historic gateway, according to project director James L. "Jim" Castleman. Yet the Washington Heritage Trail (WHT) project, the "for the kids, by George" educational exhibit center, only will add to the need for full-time security and maintenance staffing at the downtown intermodal transportation center, Castleman said in a Wednesday interview.