Living in a rail car

Tag : car patch
ANGELICA -
They knew every patch in the wooden floor and every inch of therailroad car they called home as children.
Railroad car 278 is part of the popular Pittsburg Shawmut andNorthern Railroad Co, Historical Society exhibit on the AlleganyCounty Fair grounds. Wednesday, as children were climbing aroundthe engine pretending to be cannonballing down the railroad track,an older couple were seated in one of the two railroad cars, whichalong with another car, caboose, engine and depot make up theexhibit. They were recalling their youth, when they, their parentsand four siblings lived in the car just after World War II and intothe ‘60s.
“Dad used to joke about our $25 house,” said CharlotteDemick Brass the middle daughter of Charles and Norma Demick andwho grew up in Angelica.
She and her youngest brother Dick Demick attended the fairWednesday and made a special effort to tour their old home,railroad car.
Bob Sanders, a member of the historical society which now owns thecar, explained a little of the background.
The Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad Co. operatedthroughout World War II, but ceased operation on April 1, 1947. Itwas one of the largest Class 1 railroads to close at that timeafter hauling coal between Wayland, NY to St. Marys Pa., during thewar years. It stretched over about 200 miles of track, and inreality was also one of the smallest Class 1 railroads to developand run through the oil boon years. It had shop in Angelica.
As the end neared the company stripped metal from most of its carsand was burning the wooden cars, most were former passenger coacheswhich had been converted by the railroad into sleeping quarters forthe gandy dancers who maintained the tracks, he said.
“In 1946 a storm wreaked havoc on Angelica causing muchdamage and tearing the roof off the two-story home at 84 BrooklynStreet belonging to the Demicks who suddenly had four boys and twogirls without a roof over their heads.
Mr. Demick knew they were burning the wooden railroad coachs downat the shop by he railroad tracks, so he bought one for $25,”Sanders said.
Charlotte and Dick were very small children at the time, and theirnew home looked gigantic to them.
Wednesday as they looked around the restored car, they said theyrealized how small it had been.
Their father covered up windows, lowered the ceiling and put upwalls which divided the car into a living room, kitchen andbedroom. Eventually a structure was added that allowed for morebedroom area and indoor bathroom facilities.
Explaining the odd round and square patches on the wooden floor,Dick Demick explained there were holes in the flooring which werepart of its use as a railroad car. “Daddy mostly used thetops and bottoms of soup cans and nailed all around them withroofing nails to patch the holes.”
Both recalled where the television set was located and thatlinoleum covered the floors and the walls were papered and painted,but argued about the etched clerestory windows in the top of thecar.
Charlotte maintained boards had replaced them.
Dick declared the windows were there, but were covered up withboards, and later proved it after finding a photograph in thegallery of phots showing the restoration and pointed it out to hissister.
“Daddy just covered up most of the windows to preserve theglass. We only had six or so windows,” he said.
Windows now line the sides since the historical society restored itto its original state.
In the early ‘60s aluminum siding was placed on the car.“It was just like living in a trailer,” Dick Demicksaid.
Looking around the car Wednesday, Charlotte said “I’vebeen trying to visualize everythings like it was. It’s alittle strange and hard to believe we all grew up here. It seemedso big then, but it was so small.”
While all the children grew up in the railroad car, and left homeand settling in other states, “Daddy must have lived hereuntil 1971 or ‘72, Charlotte said.
Only one of their four siblings, Charles Jr., Don, Bob and Alice(now deceased) stayed in Angelica. Charlotte lives in Orlando, Fla.and Dick lives in Cuba.
According to Sanders, Don Demick donated the car to the PS&Nhistorical society in the early ‘80s and members of thesociety worked to restore the circa late 1800’s coach it toits original state. One of the remaining original wooded windowframes is being used as a frame for memorabilia.
“This is one of our most popular exhibits,” he said.
Taking another look around at the restored clerestory windows, wallpaneling, wooden floor and velvet seating, Dick Demick said,“What they’ve done with it is awesome.”