Jim Warfel, Ontelaunee Park Train Committee chairman, welcomed everyone to the dedication on behalf of those who worked on the train.

The train committee is part of the Lynn Heidelberg Historical Society.

After Warfel’s welcome during Tuesday evening’s ceremony, everyone sang “God Bless America.”

Two train cars are restored and two are being fixed.

One awaits its turn on the tracks at the new train station at Ontelaunee Park in Lynn Township. Restoring the engine is the major job and many people have taken a turn working on it.

The Model A Club donated a rebuilt engine so the train can run when it is fully restored.

The passenger car is under restoration.

On the end wall of the train station is the original Ontelaunee Park sign used across the creek when the full-size trains brought visitors from the outlying villages to enjoy a day at the park.

The original park train was sold when Ontelaunee Park closed. The train went up for auction in 2000 and the late Carl Snyder asked Susan Kistler, granddaughter of the original park owners, Alice and Homer Snyder, to go with him to buy the train and bring it home.

She bid the price up to $10,000 and panicked.

“When should I stop,” she asked Carl.

“You stop when you get it,” he told her and that was at $16,000.

Warfel said the park has been transformed under the ownership of Lynn Township. The train has waited 16 years for a new home.

“With a lot of starts and stops and twists and turns this is what we have – a station, a replication of the original Tripoli station and a train,” Warfel said, adding the dedication ceremony was to celebrate the progress to date.

Kistler told the park’s story from the beginning.

In 1929, Homer Snyder took his family to a place where he planned to build a park.

The park was to have a pavilion, stage, refreshment stands, swimming area, penny arcade and more.

Work began by cutting and burning brush and erecting a pavilion. The park opened that Labor Day.

“Most local people either worked at or enjoyed the use of the park,” said Kistler.

Swimsuits rented at the park were one-piece, woolen suits for both men and women.

There was a large open swim area and a concrete pool.

A gypsy prince, who had climbed over a locked fence, drowned in the pool, Kistler explained.

Another boy was believed to have drowned and the lake was searched.

One man, probably drunk, jumped up and grabbed an electric wire and was electrocuted.

Kistler’s cousin, Sandra, started working at the candy counter when she was 6 years old. She hated Mondays because that was trash cleanup day. Family and friends often stayed overnight in the cabin that is the Zeisloff House.

Admission was 50 cents a car, 5 cents for a soda or a ride, and 10 cents for a hot dog.

Marie Kistler made home-cooked meals which included soup, salad and coffee, and sold for 60 cents or 70 cents.

Many local people enjoyed running the train but then the rides disappeared as the park was sold in 1966.

In 2000 Lynn Township bought it.

Three years ago a train committee was formed, with many dedicated people volunteering.

Donations over $10,000 were made by the Mary Handwerk Trust and additionally by Katherine Handwerk, ESSA Bank, Susan Kistler and Carl Snyder.

More donations are needed because there is still much work to be done.

Suzzie Farley of ESSA bank said the train will bring many good memories.

Carl Snyder’s grandson Justin Smith was recognized as a Lynn supervisor.

Permits were a hold up on the train project, but by the time they were all in hand, the township had donated $30,000.

Another person honored at the dedication ceremony was Craig Weaver who donated hundreds of hours.

He works on the cars and does layout and design.

“He is a train aficionado with a great passion,” Warfel said.

“He is skilled and is the backbone of what we are about. It will have to be known as Craig Weaver’s train station.”

Following a toast to the late Carl Snyder, a covered dish reception was held.