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From: "rdukarm" rdukarm AT adelphia DOT net
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:29:20 -0400
Subject: Erie Caboose C-216 on Loan to Angola Station Group
"cab_216_Angola_4-21-06.jpg" - image/jpeg, 51224 bytes, 640x404 (256c)

A piece of rail history rolls into town
By MARY PASCIAK
Buffalo News Staff Reporter
4/22/2006

One flatbed truck carried the body of a faded red caboose into the heart of Angola on Friday afternoon and another delivered the wheels, bringing together the pieces to transform a barren lot into a taste of village history.
A five-man crew made quick work of reassembling the caboose, which will be restored and stand as the first piece of a public park on North Main Street commemorating Angola's railroad history. By the end of summer, community leaders hope to relocate the old Nickel Plate Line depot from where it sits half a mile away to complement the caboose.

Gina Collora, the owner of Twister's restaurant next to the caboose's new site, plans to find a commercial use for the old depot after it is restored.

"Hopefully this will be the new anchor for the Village of Angola's business district," said Mike Stockman, a village trustee.

Angola, local railroad buffs point out, became the heart of Evans in the mid-1800s, when a train station was built there. Now, as the village struggles to find its way out of hard times, Stockman and others hope that a blast from the past will help the community re-establish itself.

For months, the Angola Nickel Plate Depot Preservation Society has been working to bring a rail car to the vacant parcel across the street from the Angola Public Library. The Western New York Railway Historical Society recently agreed to lend its steel caboose, which had been sitting idle in Arcade for more than a decade.

The 34-foot caboose, which dates to the Great Depression, made its way into Angola at about 2 p.m. Friday.

A five-man crew toiled for just over an hour in the sun, using a crane to reassemble the caboose on a 40-foot section of track. A cheer and round of applause erupted from the score of onlookers as the reassembled caboose was lowered to the track.

"Could this be the renaissance, almost the reincarnation of the village?" Stockman said. "We're not East Aurora or Orchard Park. We really struggle. Maybe this depot project is the phoenix flying from the ashes."

Caryl Youngers, who owns Bella Terra Greenhouse, agreed to pay up to $5,000 for the cost of moving the caboose until the preservation society is able to raise the money. He's also helping to guide the effort to restore the caboose. Plans are in place to paint over the graffiti and replace the boards covering the openings with real windows.

The caboose will be painted a bold red, Youngers said, with a thick white band running across the top, above the windows, bearing the Nickel Plate Line's motto, "High Speed Service," in black letters.

Ronald R. Dukarm ELHS #532 ELHTS #66
rdukarm@adelphia.net

cab_216_Angola_4-21-06.jpg

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