Passenger train museum begins depot interior work; nearby trail extension advances

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Interior work has begun refurbishing the former Milwaukee Road Railroad depot, and the extension of the Charley Western Recreational trail that will run alongside the depot is also underway.

Bob Moen, founder of the American Passenger Train History Museum, said the organization has been working on installing new plumbing and insulation, and recently poured the concrete for floors.

The latest cost estimate to finish the depot project is now up to $1.15 million, Moen said. Original estimates several years ago had been $650,000.

“That’s how much things have changed in the last three years or four years, you know. It’s just crazy,” he said.

“But what we’re doing right now, we sat down to figure out what we could do for about $200,000 and so we are pouring the basement and pouring the baggage room floor – getting all the concrete poured,” he said.

“We did all the plumbing work underneath that and we did the insulation in the building,” Moen said. Some of the ductwork for the heating and cooling system may also be done.

“The next thing to be done would be the all the electrical for the building, which is going to be fairly pricey,” Moen said. “I think we ordered the transformer for the electrical, too, and there’s a one-year wait time on some of these parts. We’ve got the furnace and the air conditioning units because they were going to go up quite a bit here in a few months. And so we decided we better get them now.”

The units will stay in storage until the building is ready for them.

Moen said the organization has been working on getting grants to help with the costs. Grants had originally been hoped to be a major part of the funding for refurbishing the building once it was moved from its former site along the Canadian Pacific Railroad tracks to a spot a couple of blocks south on North Grand Avenue.

“We’re trying to apply for every grant we can, but the state has really cut back on the grants that are available,” Moen said. “There’s just not the grant money there was 20 years ago for restoring buildings. Both federally and statewide, there just doesn’t seem to be the money.”

Moen said he hopes the depot restoration can be completed in a couple of years, but he realizes such projects can take time.

“I would like to have it done now, but you know, there’s only so much money people have and the costs have gone up,” he said. “We’re just going to keep chugging along until we can get it restored.”

The museum did acquire some rails and ties that will be used to fix some of the tracks that are part of the museum property.

“We got a really good deal on some used used material from the grain elevator here in town, so that helped reduce future costs,” Moen said. “That was a small part, but that was another thing we’ve done.”

The depot will be the entrance to the American Passenger Train History Museum and include displays and video information, then lead into the passenger train cars that the group of train aficionados have continued work on restoring and that will be a major part of the museum.

“None of the stuff for train cars is coming out of the money that’s being donated,” Moen said. “Money being donated is only going for the depot. The train cars are being funded by other people, not by local funds.”

He added that they are always looking for volunteers who would like to help restore the train cars – “anyone who wants to get down and dirty working on trains,” he said.

An exciting addition to their car collection will be an 1883 wooden train that’s on the National Historic Registry that has been fully restored and is being donated to the museum by its owner in Arkansas.

“We’re pretty excited about it because it gives us a chance to show what train cars were like 140 years ago when they were made out of wood,” he said.

The city is finishing up work on extending the Charley Western Trail past the railroad depot along what has been known as 11th Avenue. Asphalt has been laid for the trail from the end of the existing trail at F Street to North Grand Avenue.

The city qualified for $228,000 in federal TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) funding to extend the trail.

“We’ve been talking about doing some sort of grand opening for the bike trail” to celebrate the expansion project, and the depot could be part of that, Moen said.

The depot will also be the site of public restrooms accessible from the exterior of the building, as part of becoming a trailhead for the Charley Western Trail. Costs for that part of the project will be paid by the city.

Moen said the American Passenger Train History Museum is getting ready to begin another round of fundraising for the depot restoration project.

“Yeah, we still need money and we’re not trying to bleed everybody dry. We’re just going to stretch this out to what the community can afford to do,” he said.

Anyone who wants to make a donation can go to the organization’s website, www.apthm.org, and click on the PayPal donation link, make a donation to the Save the Depot Fund at First Security Bank, or mail a check to American Passenger Train History Museum, Save the Depot Fund, PO Box 683, Charles City IA 50616.