Restoring History on the Rails

Riding in the cars of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is a great way to take in the lush scenery of the CVNP. Forests, bogs and wildlife zip past the windows as you chug along the tracks in a leisurely form of travel. Ensconced in nostalgic comfort, you experience the unique beauty of the valley as if in a bygone era. In one particular car, there’s also interesting scenery on the interior.

The St. Lucie Sound car traveled a winding track to The 330. Built in 1946 by the Budd Company for the Florida East Coast Railroad, the luxury tavern lounge car would have been quite stylish in its day. Among other opulent details was a hand-carved linoleum mural depicting Native American scenes on the horseshoe-shaped bar. Linoleum murals were popular in the 1940s, but their value had faded by 1982 when R. Gordon Chaplin of Canadian Tower General Limited in Ontario bought the St. Lucie and set about redesigning its interior. One of his “upgrades” involved gluing green carpet over the 40-year-old mural.

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad acquired the St. Lucie in 1995 from a private owner. The plan was to restore the car’s interior to its original look, but it took time to raise the money for the project. In the meantime, Carol Schroeder began volunteering with the CVSR after retiring in 2008. “I started out as an elf [on the Polar Express],” she says. As her volunteer capacity evolved through concessions to boarding passengers to monitoring safety, she spent most of her time working in the St. Lucie Sound car. “I like to do research and know what I’m working with, so I delved deeply into the history of the car,” she says. “It makes it nicer for the passengers. I think everybody loves history.”

When the CVSR took the St. Lucie off the line in 2015 to begin its restoration, they knew a mural was beneath the carpeting but had no idea what condition it would be in. CVSR founder and then-president Siegfried Buerling asked Schroeder to head the project despite her lack of experience with restoration, largely because of her knowledge of the car’s history. “It’s interesting with volunteering,” she says. “It ends up being an education. You find that you can do things you didn’t know you could do.”

Schroeder consulted with several area restoration groups before connecting with Andrea Chevalier of the non-profit Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA). Chevalier evaluated the mural and found it covered in layers of glue that needed to be carefully removed. No solvents or liquids could be used for fear of further damaging the piece. “The only option was surgical scalpels,” Schroeder says. The sticky layers of glue must be painstakingly scraped from the linoleum in small, careful strokes. Schroeder hand-picked 11 other volunteers—who call themselves the “Scrappy Scrapers”—to help with the project, and Chevalier taught them the proper technique. “Many of them were apprehensive when they were asked, but they all tried, and they’ve been great,” Schroeder says.

The work began on January 26, 2017 and has been slow going. “The first day, I sat in front of the mural and thought, ‘What have we got ourselves into?’ Then as we started, it seemed more doable.” Each volunteer can only work for a couple of hours at a time because of both the limited space around the mural and the nature of the work. “It’s very tedious, but the interesting thing is, it’s addictive,” she says. “When you see your progress, it makes you want to come back and do more.” The group has some 825 total hours invested in the project now, which is about 75 percent complete. “They’re so dedicated,” Schroeder says of her fellow scrapers. “It’s a wonderful project to be a part of.”

The St. Lucie Sound car is still in operation as the restoration work continues, and Schroeder loves answering guests’ questions about the mural or the car in general. “Every week I put a new sign up [that] volunteers have spent x number of hours restoring the mural, so people can see the work as we’re going along. We incorporate that into the history of the car.”

Though the Scrappy Scrapers have this project well in hand, Schroeder encourages people to look for other ways to get involved with CVSR. “We’re always looking for volunteers; go to the website. There’s all kinds of projects we’re working on.”

Visit www.cvsr.com for information about volunteering, riding the train, and more.