(rshsdepot) Akron, OH

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From the Beacon Journal.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Man trains his efforts on station


When Gary A. Morgan was a boy, he loved the railroad.

Every day, he raced from school to the station in Carrollton to see the
afternoon train come in. He spent so much time at the small-town station
that he was adopted as a sort of mascot. On his birthday, one of the crew
members took the day off and got him a cake decorated with a train.

Morgan grew up and moved to Akron. Trains remained an interest, but, as with
so many of us, his youthful fascination was replaced by adult
responsibilities.

Then, last fall, the 55-year-old bachelor planned to spend Halloween in New
York City. A newspaper article about Akron`s Amtrak station sparked his
interest, and he decided to make the trip by rail. It would be his first
ride on a domestic passenger train since he was a teen-ager.

He caught the late-night Amtrak at the little station behind the Morley
Health Center parking deck in downtown Akron. And although he enjoyed the
experience, something didn`t seem right about the Akron station. There was
no there there, certainly not like he remembered from when he was a kid.

The station, nicknamed the ``Amshack`` by its workers, was a stark white
building with a row of chairs along the wall, a desk and a bulletin board.
Nothing to reflect the romance of the railroad, nor to convey a sense of
place to out-of-town travelers.

Even so, Morgan became a regular visitor to the city-owned train station.
There were others there like him, ``rail fans`` drawn by a common interest.
They shared train stories and, by instinct, all turned to the window
whenever they heard the heavy clacking approach from the distance.

Morgan decided to adopt the station, just as a station had once adopted him.
Through the fall and winter, he brought in furniture and decorations. He
donated a cherry table and matching curio cabinet, filling the shelves with
a model train car, a signal light, some railroad spikes, an antique
telegraph key and a section of rail. He brought in a little wicker chair
with a teddy bear wearing an engineer`s outfit. He added a serving cart and
a holder for newspapers and railroad magazines.

He framed posters and hung them on the walls, opening a window into the city
where the trains pass through twice a night: The All-American Soap Box
Derby, Canal Park, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Akron Racers,
the historical society and others.

He made up a poster-size train schedule and hung it near the door.

One night, he left to get coffee for the passengers and station attendant.
By the time he returned, they`d come up with a proper nickname for him:
Father Amshack, Bringer of Neat Things.

When spring arrived, Morgan expanded his beautification project to the
outside, landscaping the area around the station, planting red, white and
blue flowers, spreading mulch, painting the railings, donating planters, a
bench and low-voltage lights.

Morgan, who teaches accounting at Southern Ohio College in Akron, has spent
hundreds of dollars and much of his free time on making the Amshack feel
like home. The city has helped him by donating paint and othermaterials;
Keep Akron Beautiful chipped in the plants. But the rest is him.

Which raises an obvious question: Why?

``I was just trying to brighten it up,`` Morgan said one recent afternoon,
as he worked on framing a new poster. ``It`s my way of giving back to the
city. I bought a house in Firestone Park in 1979. I`ve always loved Akron; I
love what the city has done with downtown. This was a way to say, `Thank
you, Akron, for 25 good years.` ``

Tom Harris, facilities and maintenance manager for the city, has watched the
station transform under Father Amshack`s care. While volunteer groups often
adopt sites as community projects, Harris said it`s unusual for an
individual to take on such a large project.

``He definitely takes pride in his work; he`s really gotten into it,``
Harris said.

The station that seemed so impersonal to Morgan six months ago is now warm
and inviting. It might not be a focal point of the rejuvenated central city,
hidden as it is behind the bustle of Broadway. But it is a bright spot
nonetheless, and brighter yet because of the spirit behind it.

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

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #926
*******************************

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