CRESTLINE -- When Barbara Wymer worked for the Pennsylvania
Railroad in Crestline from 1950 to 1984, her job was crew
dispatching.
"I used to tell all the guys where to go," she said.
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Wymer, of Crestline, was one
of six retired Pennsylvania Railroad employees who took part in a
"turntable" discussion Saturday at the annual meeting and open house
of the Crestline Roundhouse Preservation Society at the Crestline
Public Library. Wymer, who worked for the self-proclaimed
"Standard Railroad of the World" during World War II, said, "I wish
they had started doing this preservation business 30 years ago
before everything was gone."
Crestline once was home to one of the Pennsylvania's great
railroad yards, and the huge roundhouse that once served as a steam
locomotive repair shop still stands -- barely.
"It's never too late to save it until it's on the ground,"
society President Matt Link said.
Link, 29, of Crestline, who was born long after the age of steam
railroading, said Denver Roof of Mansfield owns the building. He
said the society's goal is to obtain the building, restore it and
turn it into a museum. That quest began in 2002, long after the
great Crestline yards were just a memory.
Charles White, 87, of Baker Road, Tiro, said he wonders if it
might not be too late to save what is left of the roundhouse. He
plans to join the society. White, who was a fireman aboard
Pennsylvania steam locomotives, lives near the foot of Tiro Hill,
which was considered the most difficult short grade for engines in
Ohio.
"Short and steep," he said.
Like the Crestline yards, the rail line that led up Tiro Hill and
on to Toledo is gone.
One of the former railroaders on hand was Ed Stump, 74, of
Crestline. His grandfather, father, uncles and cousins all worked
for the great railroad.
"Between us, we gave the PRR 170 years of service," he said.
Others who spoke included Charles Landers, Robert Armstrong,
Charles Conn and Ted Legg.
The open house included a display of Pennsylvania Railroad
photos, steam locomotive models, equipment and other memorabilia,
some of it from private collections.
Link's email address is president@crestlinroundhouse.org.
mansfieldnewsjournal.com
