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Thursday
March 18, 2010 Since 1922 |
Rotary Club helps finance railcar restoration
By Barrett Goldsmith
Baytown Sun Published January 25, 2007 With a new expert onboard and a large donation adding much-needed steam, the restoration of an historic Highlands railcar is gathering speed along the track to creating a landmark symbol of the area’s heritage.
The Rotary Club of Highlands cut the second of two $5,000 checks Tuesday that will help finance the project, which should be complete within two years.
“This seemed like a great opportunity to give something special to the community,” Rotary Club President Johnny Gaecke said. “We may give more, but this is money well spent right now to get things going.”
Car 524 is the last remaining car from the old Houston North Shore Interurban Railway, an electric train system that was the first of its kind to connect Houston with Goose Creek. Since making its last scheduled trip in 1948, it has taken a winding, sometime perilous journey that has left it bruised, battered and literally blue – an unappealing pale blue – and stranded in an overgrown Channelview pasture.
But local railroad enthusiast Jim Strouhal has teamed up with the Greater Highlands Chamber of Commerce to right the course of Car 524 and restore it to some of its original splendor, and in so doing create a showpiece for a museum dedicated to the heritage and history of Highlands.
“My father worked for the Missouri Railroad Company, which operated the train, so when I found out this was the last surviving car, I couldn’t pass up the chance,” Strouhall said. “
He and a group of volunteers transported the dilapidated car from its weedy home in Channelview, from which the owner was about to chuck it onto a rubbish pile and into oblivion, to the home of the railroad’s founder. A.W. Johnson started the company in 1920, and by 1927 the line was up and running. The property, a pecan grove on Battle Bell Road, now belongs to Johnson’s daughter-in-law, Clothilde Johnson.
The work has been daunting, from the structural damage to the car’s metal frame caused by reckless handling during transport, to the wood interior of the car, which has all but rotted away.
Shortly after being decommissioned, the car was used as the headquarters of a private business, which gutted the interior and painted over the car’s elegant exterior, a dark coach green with shiny gold lettering.
To help with the task, Strouhal brought in Dallas-area enthusiast John Myer, who has helped restore seven similar railcars. Myer said Car 524 is not beyond repair.
The car was originally owned by Johnson, and carried the name “Highlands” in the signature gold lettering. The three other cars, two of which have become businesses and one of which has become a private cabin, carried the names “Houston,” “North Shore” and “Goose Creek.” But when Midwest rail company Missouri Pacific purchased the line and the train, it went to a numbered system and slapped a white “524” on the side.
Strouhal, whose father worked as a technician for Missouri Pacific, is excited to see a part of his father’s passion – and now his passion – once again embodied in a beautiful vessel that is so closely intertwined the history of his community.
When finally restored, in about two years, the car will sit atop a section of real Missouri Pacific railroad track, across from a Highlands heritage museum on the premises of the Highlands Chamber of Commerce at 127 San Jacinto.
The final price tag of the restoration of the train and creation of the museum should come out to between $15,000-$20,000, and the chamber is hoping to receive some money for the project from sales of a book of Highlands history and a movie version available on DVD and VHS. Anyone wishing to donate or receive more information can call the chamber at 281-426-7227.
Baytown Sun Published January 25, 2007 With a new expert onboard and a large donation adding much-needed steam, the restoration of an historic Highlands railcar is gathering speed along the track to creating a landmark symbol of the area’s heritage.
The Rotary Club of Highlands cut the second of two $5,000 checks Tuesday that will help finance the project, which should be complete within two years.
“This seemed like a great opportunity to give something special to the community,” Rotary Club President Johnny Gaecke said. “We may give more, but this is money well spent right now to get things going.”
Car 524 is the last remaining car from the old Houston North Shore Interurban Railway, an electric train system that was the first of its kind to connect Houston with Goose Creek. Since making its last scheduled trip in 1948, it has taken a winding, sometime perilous journey that has left it bruised, battered and literally blue – an unappealing pale blue – and stranded in an overgrown Channelview pasture.
But local railroad enthusiast Jim Strouhal has teamed up with the Greater Highlands Chamber of Commerce to right the course of Car 524 and restore it to some of its original splendor, and in so doing create a showpiece for a museum dedicated to the heritage and history of Highlands.
“My father worked for the Missouri Railroad Company, which operated the train, so when I found out this was the last surviving car, I couldn’t pass up the chance,” Strouhall said. “
He and a group of volunteers transported the dilapidated car from its weedy home in Channelview, from which the owner was about to chuck it onto a rubbish pile and into oblivion, to the home of the railroad’s founder. A.W. Johnson started the company in 1920, and by 1927 the line was up and running. The property, a pecan grove on Battle Bell Road, now belongs to Johnson’s daughter-in-law, Clothilde Johnson.
The work has been daunting, from the structural damage to the car’s metal frame caused by reckless handling during transport, to the wood interior of the car, which has all but rotted away.
Shortly after being decommissioned, the car was used as the headquarters of a private business, which gutted the interior and painted over the car’s elegant exterior, a dark coach green with shiny gold lettering.
To help with the task, Strouhal brought in Dallas-area enthusiast John Myer, who has helped restore seven similar railcars. Myer said Car 524 is not beyond repair.
The car was originally owned by Johnson, and carried the name “Highlands” in the signature gold lettering. The three other cars, two of which have become businesses and one of which has become a private cabin, carried the names “Houston,” “North Shore” and “Goose Creek.” But when Midwest rail company Missouri Pacific purchased the line and the train, it went to a numbered system and slapped a white “524” on the side.
Strouhal, whose father worked as a technician for Missouri Pacific, is excited to see a part of his father’s passion – and now his passion – once again embodied in a beautiful vessel that is so closely intertwined the history of his community.
When finally restored, in about two years, the car will sit atop a section of real Missouri Pacific railroad track, across from a Highlands heritage museum on the premises of the Highlands Chamber of Commerce at 127 San Jacinto.
The final price tag of the restoration of the train and creation of the museum should come out to between $15,000-$20,000, and the chamber is hoping to receive some money for the project from sales of a book of Highlands history and a movie version available on DVD and VHS. Anyone wishing to donate or receive more information can call the chamber at 281-426-7227.