GETTING A FRESH LOOK Paul Buckel of P Buckel & Son’s Painting stands with the nearly finished O&W caboose. Adam Fithers photo
Paint crew gets on board for an O&W makeover
Roscoe Railway Museum’s cars restored
By Manor Ink Staff
After four decades “rusting in peace,” the two free-standing Roscoe O&W Railway Museum train cars have been brought back to life with several coats of fresh paint applied by a crew of local volunteers.
BRUSHING UP Patrick Graham touches up the caboose’s backside while Matt Hascha starts on the passenger car. Adam Fithers photo
“The town is excited,” said Kari Davidson of the museum board. “It really was an eyesore. People have said the cars needed to be painted so long ago.” Davidson explained that the museum was established in 1984, and it approved the acquisition of a caboose and passenger car in 1986, noting that she didn’t think they had been painted since.
The long-awaited refurbishment came after an earlier attempt stalled last fall, when cold and rainy weather and an early snowfall cut the season short.
Attracting the attention of townspeople, the crew managed to stay on schedule over a three-day weekend last month, despite unpredictable weather conditions. The refurbishing is timely, Davidson explained, since it was completed just before tourist season set in.
“Roscoe is an evolving town, and the train cars did need some sprucing up, “ she said, adding, “The time was right. It’s kind of like the cherry on top.”
Davidson mentioned that the sprucing up was also in time for the dedication of a town Borscht Belt marker dedication which will take place outside the museum later this summer, with a celebration to follow.
“It was just such a wonderful surprise,” the board member said, noting the group had been juggling multiple priorities for the ceremony, with a relatively new board in place for just about a year.
The turnaround came when a local contractor stepped in. Paul Buckel of P Buckel & Son’s Painting, a Roscoe business, volunteered labor and materials, a move the museum hadn’t budgeted for.
Once the work was completed, the one-time eyesore became something else. “Now, it’s emerging as a centerpiece,” said Davidson. “It’s all coming together,” the representative said, tying the restoration to a broader revival in town, with new businesses filling once-empty storefronts.
The O&W Railway’s trains were in operation from 1868 to 1957, and served hamlets in Rockland and other towns in Sullivan County. To learn more about the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum, visit nyow.org/museum.html.