(rshsdepot) Albany, GA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

Train depot rededicated
April 19 2006 - Albany Democrat-Herald 

BY CATHY INGALLS 
 
MaryBelle Reeser-Reiff wanted to be at the rededication of the Albany Train  
Station this morning because she rode the train in 1919 from Albany to 
Alberta,  Canada, when she was 6 weeks old. 
 
Dressed today in a black, period costume with brimmed hat, she said her  
family took the train to Canada to farm with her grandfather. 
 
At 87, the Albany resident was one of about 100 guests attending a ceremony  
at the station, which was built in 1908 and restored at a cost of about $11.3  
million. 
 
Guy Mayes, the city engineer on the project, said when restoration started,  
the building “was falling down except for the outside walls.” 
 
But because of dedicated dreamers, designers, contractors and fundraisers,  
he said, the depot is now “a real showplace for Albany.” 
 
Mayes also noted the depot has become a transportation hub because of the  
number of trains, city buses and shuttles that stop there each day. 
 
A northbound Cascades train reiterated his point by arriving at the depot. 
 
Several speakers praised Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-4th District, who  
attended the ceremony, for his efforts in attracting $9.4 million in federal  
funds for the project. DeFazio said he hopes that as the population ages and  
Interstate 5 becomes even more crowded and a “more enlightened administration”  
is in office, more federal support for passenger train service will become  
available. 
 
Mayor Chuck McLaran presented DeFazio with a key to the city in recognition  
of his work for the station and other community projects. 
 
City Councilor Dick Olsen presented a historical overview of train service  
in Albany. He recalled listening to Sen. Robert Kennedy speak on a campaign 
stop  only to hear later that he’d been assassinated in Los Angeles. 
 
Also on hand were Ruth Bascom, former mayor of Eugene, and Tony Buscemi of  
Amtrak. He said the Albany depot marks the last station in Oregon on the  
Cascades route to be refurbished. 
 
Buscemi said rail stations, were and are the heartbeat of a community,  
noting that even towns without rail service have restored their old stations  
because at one time they were so important. 
 
Following the speeches, key players in the Albany depot restoration tooted  
wooden train whistles they had been given.

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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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