(The Plain Dealer posted the following story by Brian E. Albrecht on its website on October 7.)
CLEVELAND — Plans by the Midwest Railway Preservation Society to build a railroad museum in a historic roundhouse in Cleveland jumped the tracks last week when an interior wall and part of the roof collapsed after demolition work in the building.
A portion of the 1.5-acre former B&O Railroad roundhouse on West Third Street, built in 1905 and expanded in 1917, is owned by CSX Railroad, which has rented space to the society to restore vintage railroad engines and cars.
The rest of the building belongs to the Northern Ohio Lumber and Timber Co., which acquired the space last year to relocate its business from Carter Road in the Flats.
Bill Brown, society president, said that after demolition on Sept. 25 by a contractor that Northern Ohio hired to clear the way for construction of a sawmill, a load-bearing wall that was not intended to be part of the demolition and a portion of the roof collapsed.
An exterior wall fell two days later, dropping as cleanly as if it had been chopped by a machete, Brown said.
There were no injuries, and no damage to the society’s rolling stock in either incident, he added.
Brown said the city has since condemned the entire former roundhouse, one of only two left in the state, and the society has moved its 1919 Mikado steam locomotive outdoors to avoid damage from any further collapse.
The engine, one of only six left in the nation, once pulled passengers on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, and is being restored by the 82-volunteer Preservation Society.
A coach that appeared in the Robert Redford film “The Natural” remains inside the building.
Brown said an architect and structural engineer hired by the group reported at an emergency trustees meeting last week that the cost just to stabilize the roundhouse could run upwards of $1 million. A more detailed architectural study is being prepared, and Brown said he will be meeting with city officials to discuss possible options for the building’s future.
The nonprofit society had hoped to use $290,000 in city grants and a fund-raising campaign to buy parts of the roundhouse from CSX and Northern Ohio Lumber and turn them into an interactive railroad museum.
Now, “we don’t know what the hell we’re going to do,” Brown said. “What has been a long, time-consuming and complicated project has just become more complicated.”
Brown said the society has been supported by Northern Ohio Lumber on the project.
The support will continue, according to Virgel Zanick, Northern Ohio Lumber president, who said the firm had previously worked with the society, trying to salvage the roundhouse, but believes the walls are structurally unsound.
He said parts of their relocation plans will now be delayed, but the firm will still move to the new site this year.
Brown said that despite the incident, “we’re going to continue our mission to repair and restore this stuff,” outdoors if need be.
He’s optimistic that one way or another, someday there will be a museum.
“We’re just a bunch of gearheads and gandy dancers who’re determined to find a way to save this thing,” Brown said. “We’ll pull the whole thing down and put it back together brick by brick if that’s what it takes.”