(rshsdepot) Oak Hill, WV

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Restoring its glory: ; Enthusiasts hoping to preserve history of Oak Hill
depot
Charleston Daily Mail

OAK HILL - When trains used to roll into this Fayette County railroad town,
locals could see the smoke above the foothills before they could hear the
whistle. The short rises kept the sound in, but the smoke peeked over the
ridges.
"That really would have been something to see wouldn't it?" said Ed Chaffin,
railroad enthusiast and amateur historian. "This line was well known for
having the most powerful engines and the heaviest trains. That would have
been worth another look."

As a stop on the famous Virginian line, Oak Hill was part of the richest
railroad in the country and the heavy-hauling locomotives that roared into
town were the stars of the show.

Now Chaffin and his fellow railroad lovers have come together to restore and
preserve the depot - in all of its blaze-orange splendor - where those iron
horses caused their daily commotion from 1903 to 1983.

Since the depot saw its last train in April 1983, the structure had been
slipping into decay. The old tin roof was sloping, and one end of the
building was settling far deeper than the other parts were. The building had
become an eyesore and a potential hazard.

But the White Oak chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society found
a way to find federal dollars for a restoration. With more than $100,000
from the transportation department and more in donations, grants and other
resources, the depot is returning to life.

"It doesn't look like we've done that much, but the structural things - the
roof, the floor, the electrical - had to be totally redone," said Mary
Chaffin, Ed's wife and a fellow railroad enthusiast. "Hopefully, we've
finished the hard part."

The White Oak chapter's vision is for a fully restored depot that will also
serve as an interactive museum for local children. Members are not sure
where the rest of the money will come from, but for now they keep tackling
the projects one at a time.

The history of the structure is tied to that of the town, and vice versa.

Both will celebrate their centennial next year.

The depot, which was a third of its current size when first built, was a
weigh station on the famous Virginian Railway, where clerks would count the
cars filled with West Virginia coal as they moved through the mountains and
on to fuel the furnaces of industry.

The high-quality coal that passed through was largely bound for eastern
Virginia, where it would either be sent on to destinations throughout the
industrial east by train or loaded on steamers for shipment around the
globe.

"It was the best - the equipment, the construction, the bridges -
everything," Chaffin said. "That was its reputation, that no expense was
spared."

Construction began on the White Oak Railway Co. in the early 1900s, with the
Oak Hill depot completed in 1903.

As both a freight and passenger station, the depot was in many ways the
center of life for the town.

The Chaffins said that children even took the train to get to school.

The Virginian merged with the Norfolk Western Railway in 1959. Its corporate
heir, the Norfolk Southern Co., donated the depot to Oak Hill in 1995.

Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824 or by e-mail at
cstire_@_dailymail.com.


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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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