Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994                   TAG: 9406140182
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger New River valley Bureau
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI'S TRAIN STATION TAKES OFF IN NEW DIRECTIONS

Some of them recalled leaving from the Pulaski depot for college, military service, family visits, 4-H camps and other places, and about 100 of them left again aboard Norfolk Southern Corp.'s 611 special steam train.

The Pulaski travelers joined others already aboard from Roanoke on their way to Glade Spring before turning around and making a return trip that afternoon.

After picking up its passengers at the depot, the train pulled out, hissing clouds of black smoke and blowing its whistle amid cheers and the whirring of cameras and video recorders.

That same native-stone depot, even though it served its last train in 1971, will now be a part of the town's future.

Besides being a visitor center, it will eventually house the offices of the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce and serve as a community center.

Civic leader Virginia Kelly MacNeal and Mayor Gary Hancock persuaded NS officials to donate the abandoned train station to the town six years ago. Since then, thanks to a $60,000 state grant, a $120,000 Farmers' Home Administration loan, $10,000 in donations from area businesses and individuals, and literally thousands of volunteer hours of work, the depot has been totally refurbished.

The town celebrated all this on Saturday, on what it called Depot Day, with musical performers, sidewalk sales, historic tours, car shows, an antique auction, a story-teller, a juggler and a rubber-duck race on Peak Creek with prizes to those with their names on the fastest ducks.

All of these festivities were in addition to the steam train excursion, tours of the renovated depot, exhibits of rail memorabilia and sales of souvenirs including shirts, magazines, books, models, postcards, artworks and puzzles.

Del. Tommy Baker, R-Dublin, who helped secure state funds for the project in 1990 and arranged to have New River Trail State Park extended into the town to the depot, recalled his first depot departure:

"Back in 1966, I, along with about 20 other 4-Hers, had our first experience riding a train" on their way to camp, he said. Others milling around the depot during the day talked about their recollections.

MacNeal even managed to secure a working Toledo Scale like the original one on which people used to weigh their luggage and, perhaps more often, themselves. They were doing it again Saturday, "although I think it weighs a little heavy, myself," Hancock joked.

People at the dedication ceremony gave a standing ovation to MacNeal, who had also been a leader in securing the gazebo in nearby Jackson Park along with its fountain and plantings.

"I've heard of happy times spent at this station, weighing on the scale and checking the elevation," MacNeal said. "All of our lives have been touched by this . . . It has changed what is around it by its presence."

Pulaski has been a rail route since 1854, when the first wood-burning train came through. The presence of the rail line spurred local development and, in 1888, the opening of a new depot that continued to serve until April 30, 1971.

The old train-schedule board bearing that date was back on the depot wall Saturday.

State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, was on hand, sporting a tie with a picture of a steam train on it.

Hancock noted that some volunteers, such as Dave Edmonds, Clarence Gallimore, Paul Edmonds and town building inspector Tom Compton, had each put in hundreds of hours of work on the depot.

The town also unveiled its first motorized fire engine, dating from 1909. Robert and Beverly Hudson bought it at a 1990 estate auction and are donating it to the town for permanent museum display.

Part of the money from the local fund drive came from sales of 100 prints of renowned artist P. Buckley Moss' painting of the station. Moss donated them at cost after being recruited by MacNeal on the project.

"Virginia [MacNeal] is not the only one who can call P. Buckley Moss," Hancock said, presenting MacNeal with an original Moss painting named for her.