Richard Vaughan and some friends have helped put a piece of local history back on track.

The Van Wyck native and several other volunteers have restored a former ”wait station” — a sheltered wooden platform where train passengers once stood and waited for locomotives to come chugging into this Lancaster County town. ”It’s got a lot of historical value to the community,” said Vaughan, 60, a retired engineer and president of the Van Wyck Community Development Club. The station was built by the Seaboard Airline Railroad in the early 1900s, shortly after the great flood of 1916. At that time, passenger rail travel was popular and shipping by rail was essential to local businesses and farmers. The station closed in the mid-1960s, when travel and parcel shipments by rail diminished. But the railroad still holds a special place in Van Wyck memory and in Vaughan’s heart. ”I’ve always loved trains,” he said, recalling the rail excursions he used to take as a youth. ”I can remember it (the wait station) being there when I was little.” 

The newly restored station, painted pale yellow, stands outside the town’s community center and is being used as a picnic shelter or a bandstand for festivals such as Celebrate Van Wyck, which honors the history of the century-old town. Vaughan rescued the dilapidated structure from a family member’s back yard, where it was being used as a storage shed. ”This is where we started,” Vaughan said, pointing to a picture in a small photo album that documents the restoration process. The early photos show a weathered, weary building in desperate need of repair. ”It was in terrible shape,” Vaughan said. ”Termites got in it.” His gut reaction to restoring the station was: ”No way.” But he couldn’t get the idea out of his mind. After convincing a few friends to climb on board, the project got under way. First, the restoration team loaded the rickety structure onto a flatbed trailer attached to a red tractor and hauled it to its new home near the community center. Then they spent weeks bringing the building back to life, while trying to maintain its vintage look. ”It still looks like an old building,” Vaughan said. ”I didn’t want it to look new.” The station’s roof still has its original shingles. To fix up the building’s walls, the restoration team found old tongue-in-groove boards discarded from two nearby historic homes that were being renovated. They also added a wooden deck out front, modeled after one that Vaughan had seen built on to a restored train caboose. Vaughan paid special attention to detail, adding railroad crossing markers and an old-fashioned bell to the side of the station. A sign that reads: ”Van Wyck SC” is attached out front. Vaughan said he found the sign at a flea market in Hillsville, Va. 

To help pay for the restoration, Vaughan sent letters out to about 600 current and former Van Wyck residents, asking for their help in saving the historic wait station. ”We got a great response,” he said. The area where the station now stands holds a lot of history — including the foundation of a former school building. Vaughan recalls attending classes in the two-story brick structure, where two teachers were responsible for teaching six different grades. ”It was quite an experience,” Vaughan said. ”Teachers didn’t spare the rod back then.” The community center also has ties to the past; it once housed the town’s fire department. The wait station adds yet another link to days gone by. ”We’re just proud that we were able to save it,” Vaughan said. ”Hopefully, it will be here for years to come.”