(rshsdepot) Aberdeen, SD

["jdent1_@_optonline.net" <jdent1@optonline.net>]

From the Aberdeen News=2E=2E=2E

All aboard for train depot museum at Wylie Park
By Scott Waltman
American News Writer

Come next year, the finishing touches should be in place at one of Wylie
Park's newest features=2E

A train museum/depot that opened this summer will be a shrine to the area'=
s
rich railroad history, said Ben Benson of the Aberdeen Sertoma Club=2E

Sertomans have been working with the city to make the museum a reality=2E
It's located at the entrance to Storybook Land next to the tracks the
miniature train that winds through the park runs on=2E

The authentic, three-room 1880s building was donated to be the home of the=

museum by Rhea Karlen of Columbia=2E When it served as an actual depot, it=

was located about seven miles south of Aberdeen in a town known as Rudolph=
,
which no longer exists=2E In the 1920s, it was moved to Columbia after the=

Columbia depot burned down=2E After it was abandoned in 1967, the Karlen
family purchased it from the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and used it=

as a garage=2E

This summer, it housed a mannequin train agent, some maps and a 14-minute
video detailing the history of the railroad in the Aberdeen area=2E

Next year, more features will be added to the depot, which is open only
during the summer months=2E Specifically, a lantern display and interpreti=
ve
panels that will contain more historical information about the railroad ar=
e
planned=2E

"We were expecting (the panels) before now, but they got held up at the
printers," Benson said=2E

Doug Johnson, director of the Aberdeen Parks, Recreation and Forestry
Department, said Benson and other Sertomans operated the museum this past
summer with volunteer help=2E

As the project draws nearer to completion, it still needs at least one mor=
e
thing: Money=2E

"We haven't completed the fund-raising effort for the project at this
point," Johnson said=2E "We're still looking for sponsors for some of the
items in the depot=2E"

The historical panels are the only major part of the depot that still need=
s
to be finished=2E They'll cost about $10,000, Johnson said=2E

To date, the project's costs have been covered by the city and the Sertoma=

Club=2E

Relocating and restoring the depot has cost about $38,000 so far, but abou=
t
$40,000 has been raised for that work, Johnson said=2E

Benson said it cost about $6,000 to move the building, $4,000 to paint it
and $3,000 to re-roof it=2E

In recent years, several groups have wanted to open a railroad museum in
Aberdeen=2E "This," Johnson said of the Wylie depot, "should at least take=

care of things on a seasonal basis=2E"


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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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