(rshsdepot) Bristol, TN

[James Dent / NYKGN <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

Via Railway Preservation News...

Bristol Trainstation Foundation Receives Gifts from Estate of Train
Enthusiast

The Bristol Trainstation Foundation (TN) has received gifts of property and
$350,000 in cash from the estate of Bristol businessman and train enthusiast
Henry Kegley, officials announced Friday.

The foundation announced the gifts just before Friday's performance of "Hear
That Whistle Blow ... Erwin Train 'a Coming" at the Paramount Center for the
Arts.

"(Kegley) was always a person who contributed to worthy causes," said George
Warren, trustee of the Kegley estate. "He was, in the truest since of the
word, ... a railroad man."

The musical production, based on oral histories from Clinchfield Railroad
workers and their families, was used as a fund-raiser for the foundation's
efforts to restore historic Union Depot.

"The Kegley estate has agreed to donate some property behind the train
station that we can use for parking and a donation of $350,000 cash,"
foundation Co-chairman Carl Moore said. "The parking is very crucial for the
train station.

"In exchange for the gift, we will be naming the large room inside the train
station the Henry Kegley Community Room."

"That is a great tribute to Henry and a much-deserved tribute," Warren said
when a banner bearing the name of the new room was unveiled.

The cash donation from the Henry Kegley Foundation is the largest private
gift so far given to the drive, which now totals about $1.5 million, Moore
said.

He said the money and property legally were transferred early this year
after about a year of discussions.

Construction crews are expected to begin work later this year on a complete
renovation of Union Depot, Moore said.

"We can't touch a blade of grass until Virginia releases the transportation
funds," he said of a $500,000 grant approved last year.

The money is expected to be made available next month, Moore added.

Moore said Kegley, who died in 1998, was a railroad buff and had a private
railroad car at his business, Tenneva Foodservice.

The firm, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997, ceased operations
in Bristol Virginia shortly thereafter.

Kegley's one-of-a-kind rail car was built for the president of Nickel Plate
Railroad in 1929. Kegley bought it when it was retired in 1971. The Indiana
Transportation Museum bought it last year.

(David McGee, Rick Wagner and Keisha Bruce, from the Bristol Herald Courier,
via Dennis Lamont)  
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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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