(rshsdepot) Lodi, OH

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

From The Daily Record.

Original article at:
http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/4507881

Bernie Wagenblast

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

Lodi one step closer to reality 
Railroad museum should be complete by 2011

By CHRIS KICK

Staff Writer

LODI -- The village's 100-year-old railroad depot is one step closer to
becoming a museum.

Three years ago, members of the Lodi Railroad Museum, which includes
volunteers from Medina and Wayne counties, were faced with a purchase price
of $10,000, a $5 million liability and a requirement to remove the
100-year-old building from the property -- more challenges than they could
handle.

But a new hope was found just a few weeks ago, when Wheeling and Lake Erie
Railway Co. gave the building and property to the organization as a gift.

"Fifty percent of our goal has been accomplished," said Bill Heffelfinger,
president of Lodi Railroad Museum. "We couldn't do a thing without owning
it."

Mike Trout, a West Salem resident and a member of the group, said the gift
keeps the dream alive. 

"They (Wheeling) could have sent a crew out to demolish the building, but
for two-and-a-half years they stuck with us and worked this thing out,"
Trout said. "You've got to be really patient when working with a company
that can flick their finger and it's out of here."

Wheeling originally had listed the property for sale on the online marketing
Web site eBay for a price of $10,000. But, giving the property away became
more practical, for both parties, said Clarence Jaeger, the company's
director of real estate.

"The building itself was pretty much in physical obsolescence," Jaeger said,
adding it was a tax burden and something the company decided to donate.

The transfer helped set into motion the process of restoring the old depot,
which officials hope to have done by 2011, for the village's 200-year
anniversary.

Last week, Lodi Railroad Museum leaders signed a contract with the
restoration company Chambers, Murphy & Burge to provide historical research
and apply for grant money to see the project through.

Trout said the company will analyze the building and its blueprints, putting
together a book-length structural report of what exists and what needs done,
and it will be presented to state officials who will decide on grant money.

He said the museum group is hopeful the company will be able to secure
enough grant money to cover construction expenses. If so, the village would
only be charged with the cost of the structural report, as well as
surveying, which he said was donated by volunteer Fred Boreman.

Heffelfinger said the land gift amounts to about one-third of an acre. The
museum will still have to erect a fence to keep visitors away from the
tracks, he said, but added it will not be a problem.

As more progress is made, more believers are made.

"Now that it's happened people are opening up their doors," Heffelfinger
said, adding the local chamber of commerce and private builders are offering
their help in what has become a "town process where everybody's (doing) it
together."

For information about becoming a member of the museum, contact Trout at
419-853-4735 or Bill Heffelfinger at 330-948-1250, Ext. 11. The museum is
also available online at www.lodirailroadmuseum.org. 

Reporter Chris Kick can be reached at 330-287-1635 or e-mail
ckick_@_the-daily-record.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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