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 Photo provided: Terrance Cole, 37, of Van Wert, in the white shirt, is helped to shore after being pulled from Grand Lake St. Marys Friday afternoon. By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
CELINA — Two area men were pulled from the cold waters of Grand Lake St. Marys Friday afternoon. |
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Train marks 50 |
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Friday, 30 October 2009 |
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Fifty years ago, the last passenger train passed through
St. Marys as Nickel Plate expired its passenger services through the
area.
On Saturday, Oct. 17, 1959, area residents took the one-way ride from St. Marys to Coldwater to commemorate the last passenger train ride.
"At one time, the Nickel Plate railroad was very important to the area," New Knoxville resident Dan Meckstroth said.
The No. 9 and No. 10 trains traveled between Cleveland and St. Louis through St. Marys and included stops in Indiana and Illinois. After the influx of other modes of transportation, the passenger service lost funds.
"In the 1950s, they had airplanes, introduced the highway system and more people drove cars," he said. "The passenger service decided they just couldn't make money."
In the Thursday, Oct. 15, 1959, edition of The Evening Leader, it was announced the Nickel Plate railway passenger train would make its last run the following Saturday after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio granted Nickel Plate permission to discontinue the train service.
According to the Oct. 15 article, "St. Marys, Lima, Bluffton, Findlay, Vermilion and other cities along the railway protested the discontinuance without success."
"People started to panic," Meckstroth said. "During that time in history, the community vied for the railroad as an opportunity for freight and commerce."
Meckstroth said the railway originally came to the area in 1878 from Lima through St. Marys and south to Minster.
"For over 80 years, a passenger train passed through St. Marys," he said. "In the early years, it went all the way to Buffalo, stopping in Cleveland to change trains."
Meckstroth described the trains as "nocturnal" and before the No. 9 and No. 10 engines, No. 21 and No. 22 stopped in St. Marys.
"During World War II, Nickel Plate had two passenger trains as well as some specials in the area," he said. "The No. 9 and No. 10 at one time had Pullman cars — it was a nice train."
Growing up in New Knoxville, Meckstroth said he would hear the trains in the distance through his open bedroom window.
"I used to lay awake at night and I could hear this funny sounding whistle at the same time every night," Meckstroth said. "I knew it wasn't a freight train — it would've been the No. 9 stopping in St. Marys."
St. Marys resident Ned J. Lawler said he remembered the last ride.
"It was evening," he said. "Dad had a wreath to put on the train because he felt bad about it because it was an important link to the town."
Lawler said the train had an impact on his own family and their business — Lawler's Greenhouses.
"We used to get flowers and special plants brought in on the train," he said. "We got down there and when the first train stopped, we put a wreath on it. We decided we would get on and ride to Coldwater and someone would be there with a car to bring us back."
Lawler said he remembered a specific passenger on the train with him, his family and friend that day.
"Judge Reiser got on and he had a basket of apples and was going through the train," he said. "It was reminiscent of what people would do — bring apples from their orchards and sell the apples on the train."
Riding that day was a landmark moment in Lawler's life — he said the last ride on the passenger train was his first train ride.
"Living on Spring Street, I saw lots of trains, but I had never been on one before," he said. "It was an interesting day."
Lawler said the riders were told they could take the covers on the seats.
"They were monogrammed with Nickel Plate," he said. "They said we could take those for a souvenir."
In The Evening Leader Oct. 17, 1959, article, it listed the passengers on the final train — George B. Catterlin, Mrs. Fred Kruel, Mrs. Kenneth Nagel, Mr. and Mrs. Ned Lawler and their son Ned J. and his friend Larry Durkee, Mercer County Judge Carleton C. Reiser, Bennet T. Planerd, John R. Suhr, Paul C. Kauffman, W.G. Kaufman, Ralph Schindler, Jamie Schindler, David J. Suhr, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Doll, Robert and John Doll, Bob Forsthoefel, Dick Forsthaeofel, Ella May Hoying, Mrs. Urban Bernard, Mrs. Raymond Gels, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hibner, Urban Bernard, Onie A. Stirn and A.D. Hurner.
The crew included V.L. Smith, conductor; A.D. Humes, engineer; V.W. Nuesmeyer, fireman; W.D. Snyder, brakeman; B.C. Derrington, baggage master.
According to the article, the Nickel Plate passenger train was a vital connection, "The Nickel Plate trains 9 and 10 being the only contact St. Marys had with the outer world by passenger train. Everyone does not have an automobile — everyone doesn't choose to drive to another city to catch a passenger train — but apparently they will have to or take a bus, running once a day through St. Marys between Columbus and Celina. Folks coming into St. Marys will be in the same boat."
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 December 2009 )
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