A more than 100-year-old train currently resting in Propst Park may one day have a new home, a local volunteer announced during a Tuesday meeting of the Columbus City Council.
Paul Swain, who has been working the past several months to restore the 19th-century landmark, received permission Tuesday from the City Council to attempt to purchase the currently vacant historic train depot near the intersection of Main Street and 13th Street South and possibly transform the building into a train museum.
“I feel like if I can get ahold of the depot, I could make it an actual train depot like it used to be,” Swain told the council. “If it all works out, I”d like to eventually move the train up there.”
The announcement came shortly after the City Council voted to allot $4,000 to complete renovations and painting on the historic Propst Park train.
“I want to thank the council for that money. If we didn”t do something with that train in two years, it may have been lost forever,” Swain said. “We have a really rare item down there. There are only three like it left in the entire country.”
If Swain is unable to locate the owner of the depot, he said he would attempt to build a small museum alongside the train where it now rests.
“If the depot plan doesn”t work, we can build a small building inside the fence right next to the train,” Swain explained. “We would then build a platform next to the train so people could walk by it and actually see inside the cars and everything.”
During the past several months, Swain has worked to paint and restore windows on the train”s engine and cars. He will use the money granted by the City Council to complete the painting and window replacement project, he previously said.
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