TURBOTVILLE —
A violent storm destroyed the borough’s 126-year-old train station on Saturday, wiping out more than two years of work by members of the Turbotville Borough Heritage Society and other volunteers.
“The train station just got blown to pieces,” said Michael Sechler, the society’s president.Sechler said the storm blew up about 3:30 p.m., and high winds apparently got under the station’s metal roof and caused the building’s front wall to collapse. He estimated damage at more than $30,000.
“The ticket booth is a big pile of splinters,” Sechler said.
Sechler said he was driving home from Milton when the storm started.
“The closer it got to Turbotville, the worse it got,” he said, adding that the station had been leveled by the time he arrived in the borough.
Volunteers had performed extensive work on the building, constructed in 1886 by the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railroad.
They had built a new foundation and installed new flooring.
The metal roof was completed in April. Sechler said the exterior needed to be painted and the interior needed a lot of work.
According to the society’s website, the building stood in Turbotville until 1964, when it was dismantled and moved to the Bloomsburg area to become part of the Magee Transportation Museum.
The museum was later ruined by the 1972 Agnes flood, but the train station survived and was moved back to Turbotville in December 2011.
The building took so much damage Saturday that it probably cannot be restored, Sechler said.
He said volunteers, including himself, often worked on the building.
“I’m just thankful nobody was inside of it,” Sechler added.
News
Related Photos
-
Michael Sechler, President of Turboville Heritage Society, looks into the collapsed train station.
-
Michael Sechler, President of Turboville Heritage Society, spent two and half years working on the Turbotville Train Station. The station was ripped after storms on Saturday.
-
The Turbotville Train Station lays flattened on Sunday.
Discussion
Storm wrecks Turbotville train station
- News
-
-
10 Things to Know Today
Your daily look at late-breaking Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
-
USTA seeks 8 percent rate hike
LEWISBURG — Seniors and people with disabilities will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets as the Union-Snyder Transportation Alliance seeks approval to raise rates up to 50 cents per trip.
-
Sunbury man jailed on kidnapping charge
MILTON — A Sunbury man was charged by police with kidnapping after he allegedly took a 3-year-old girl at gunpoint Monday night from her home in Union County.
- U.S. war games send signal to Assad
-
PennDOT withholds funding plan from public
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has built a website that compares competing plans to spend billions of dollars in new transportation money, but it’s refusing to release similar information to the public, which will pay for chosen projects.
-
Reputed Mafioso tip triggers new Hoffa body search
The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain’s tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago.
-
GSVUW won't use discretionary funds for Scouts
The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way Board voted Tuesday not to release discretionary funding to the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America.
-
Troopers become teachers at Camp Cadet
SELINSGROVE - More than 50 cadets marched onto the Susquehanna University football practice field and stood at attention while Milton state trooper Matt Burrows explained the importance of self-discipline.
-
Family fears cat killer
Members of a Point Township family don’t feel safe after their pet cat was found dead Friday in the middle of their backyard, shot in the heart.
-
Road stretch reopens
The first phase of the $3.9 million “big dig” in Mifflinburg is over as a reconstructed section of Route 45, or Chestnut Street, will reopen today, PennDOT announced.
-
State Supreme Court upholds the judicial retirement age
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is unanimously rejected a challenge to a portion of the state constitution that requires judges to retire by the end of the year in which they turn 70.
-
Sen. Casey calls on Congress to stop student loan rate increase
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is calling for legislation to prevent an interest rate increase on federally subsidized student loans.
-
U.S. Military plans would put women in most combat jobs
WASHINGTON — Women may be able to start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later under plans set to be announced by the Pentagon that would slowly bring women into thousands of combat jobs, including those in elite special operations forces.
-
Governor signs anti-abortion insurance coverage bill
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is joining about 20 other states in limiting coverage of abortions under health care insurance policies offered in a federally-run insurance marketplace starting next year under a sweeping federal law.
-
Ohio police chief takes criminals to task online
KENT, Ohio — If you’re up to no good in this pocket of northeast Ohio, especially in a witless way, you’re risking not only jail time or a fine but a swifter repercussion with a much larger audience: You’re in for a social media scolding from police Chief David Oliver and some of his small department’s 51,000 Facebook fans.
-
Court Dockets
A roundup of news from local district and county courts.
-
Today in 'Our Valley'
Photo exhibit opens at library's new art gallery
Swimmers unite in record-breaking effort
Captive readers warm to book club at Snyder County prison
Family and fans remember Davy Jones in his beloved Beavertown
-
U.S. Supreme Court: Arizona citizenship proof law is illegal
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today that states cannot on their own require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier.
- More News Headlines
-
