Historic W&W Railroad coach returns to Waynesburg
The Waynesburg & Washington Railroad Coach 6 was brought back to Greene County Historical Society Museum Monday. Coach 6 was in service through 1929. After being sold to a company and then a private residence, the coach was discovered and relocated to the museum in 1985. The coach was sold in 1996 to Connecticut Antique Machinery Association. CAMA donated the coach back to the historical society this year. The restoration of Coach 6 is estimated at $100,000.
Jim Weinschenker, Greene County Historical Society member, pokes his head outside of the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad Coach 6 after it arrived at Greene County Historical Society Museum in Franklin Township Monday.
WAYNESBURG – It was an “exhilarating” feeling for Jim Weinschenker watching a 19th century coach car dangle from a crane Monday afternoon as it was gently lowered into its new resting place outside Greene County Historical Society.
It was a homecoming of sorts for the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad Coach No. 6, as Weinschenker and the historical society now begin the arduous task of restoring the 123-year-old train car.
The coach was used for nearly 40 years on the W&W line and retired from service in 1929. Afterwards, it was used as a home for decades before the historical society took ownership of it in 1985. The society sold it 11 years later to Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent, Conn., which many thought was the end of its time in Greene County.
That organization tried to rehabilitate the old coach, but put it on the market before donating it back to the historical society this year. Weinschenker was in Connecticut Saturday night as a hauling crew from Kirby gently loaded the coach onto a tractor-trailer for it’s two-day trip back home.
“When she came off the shop tracks in Connecticut, everyone just watched it,” Weinschenker said. “We waited to see what creaked and cracked and groaned. It creaked a little bit, but it was an absolute spectacular sight to see.”
The hauling and crane crew worked for three hours to methodically hoist the 8-ton coach off the flatbed trailer and carefully position it next to the engine house that already holds a steam locomotive.
Ethan Phillips, of Waynesburg, and his children, Nathan and Julia, watched with amazement as the crew worked.
“How often does this happen?” Phillips said. “There’s always some cool stuff happening in Greene County. My kids love trains and I’ve always liked them.”
With the coach back in town, now the hard work begins.
Weinschenker, a member of the historical society and author who has written extensively about the W&W Railroad, estimates it will cost $100,000 to hire a professional restoration crew to rebuild the car. He does not know when the project will be completed, but he’s happy the coach is sitting just a few feet from the narrow-gauge “Waynie” steam engine that once pulled the No. 6 car.
“It’s just absolutely unheard of these days to have a locomotive and rolling stock,” Weinschenker said. “To have two original pieces from a very, very, very, small railroad in Southwestern Pennsylvania, it’s huge.”
Once the restoration project is completed, Weinschenker expects the historical society will build a shelter next to the engine house and display historic railroad memorabilia for the community to peruse.
“It’s come home,” he said.