(rshsdepot) Frostburg, MD

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Link:
http://www.pecoraengineering.com/images/frostburg.jpg  (current photo)

Depot as a tourist center?
Hiking-biking trail leader approaches commissioners

SAM SHAWVER
Times-News Staff Writer

CUMBERLAND -- While plans to make the Frostburg Depot into a steak and
seafood restaurant remain in limbo, the president of the Allegheny Highlands
Trail Board suggested that the facility be renovated into a visitors center,
museum and rest area for hikers and bikers who will be stopping in
Frostburg.

"When the trail goes in, we'll need to have a visitors center at the depot,"
John Sayler, trail board president and owner of Frostburg Shops at the Depot
told the Allegany County Commissioners on Thursday.

A 21-mile section of the Allegheny Highlands Trail is scheduled to be
completed through Allegany County by early 2004, with a spur line off the
main trail, called the New Hope Trail Head, leading into Frostburg.

The Pennsylvania end of the Allegheny Highlands Trail, which will eventually
run from Pittsburgh to Washington, is nearly completed. East of Cumberland
the trail will follow the C&O Canal towpath.

"The present trail plan calls for rest rooms to be built behind the
turntable near the Frostburg tunnel at a cost of around $100,000," said
Sayler. "But that money could be cut down by expanding the rest rooms that
are already in the depot, and making the front two rooms of the depot into a
tourist center."

He recommended renovating the depot's dining room and kitchen area into a
railroad and mining museum, and reserving two passenger cars at the facility
for tour groups from the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.

"The two train cars will seat about 130 people and they have individual air
conditioning and heat," Sayler said, adding that the two cars could also be
made available to the public for special events.

He noted that the depot would be the first thing trail travelers will see
when they stop in Frostburg.

"If you put this in now, you won't have to worry about what to do with the d
epot, and you would be out of the restaurant business," said Sayler.

Earlier this year the county received a proposal from two Frostburg
businessmen who wanted to operate a steak and seafood restaurant in the old
depot. But some fine print in a memorandum of understanding between the
county and several state agencies prevented establishment of a restaurant in
the depot that would compete with other Frostburg businesses.

County Administrator Vance Ishler said he has sent letters to the Maryland
State Highway Administration, Maryland Department of the Environment,
Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Historical Trust,
requesting that the restrictive wording be removed from the memorandum of
understanding.

"But we're not saying that a restaurant would go in the depot," he said.

"It wasn't the commission's idea to put a restaurant there," said
Commissioner Jim Stakem. "We're just looking at all the options."

Ishler said there has been some concern about building rest rooms near the
Frostburg tunnel entrance where they would also be located near the railroad
tracks.

"They would be more aesthetically functional located inside the depot," he
added.

"I think it's a good plan, but we need to bring it before the Destination
Allegany group and let them decide," said Dale Lewis, president of the
county commission.

Destination Allegany is an umbrella organization responsible for marketing
Allegany County tourism and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The county
is in the process of hiring a director for the agency.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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