WEST MILLGROVE, Ohio - Down a quiet road in southeast Wood County is a weathered railroad depot that hasn't had a train pass through in more than 70 years.

The former Hatton railroad depot, which in later years served as a granary and an antique shop, is being readied for a move to Findlay where it is to become a train depot once again.

"It looks bad, but you've got to remember it was built in 1885, so it's no spring chicken," said Dennis Russell, president of Northwest Ohio Railroad Preservation Inc.

The nonprofit group that works to preserve, promote, and educate about the railroad history of Northwest Ohio began dismantling the old depot a few weeks ago. It is to be rebuilt and restored at the group's headquarters on Hancock County Road 99 east of I-75 in Findlay.

The 18-by-50-foot structure is made of board and batten: Wide planks were nailed side by side with a strip of wood between the two planks to seal the cracks and keep out the weather.

The depot has well-worn but decorative trim around its long windows, a traditional hip-gable roof that provided shelter from the sun and rain, and a dormer in front that was likely added around 1919. Inside are three rooms with bead-board walls and ceilings, a passenger waiting room, the stationmaster's office, and a storage room for incoming and outgoing freight.

"We think it will look like a million bucks when it's done," Mr. Russell said.

Mary Hemminger Silvers of Findlay donated the structure to the group after learning it was interested in restoring it. The building had been in her family since about 1940 when her two great uncles acquired the depot, which was no longer being used in the nearby hamlet of Hatton. They moved it a mile or so to their farm on Jerry City Road .

They used the depot for grain storage, Mrs. Silvers said. Later, her uncle, Raymond DeWitt, used the depot for his fur-skinning and trading business, then converted it to the Old Depot Antique Shop. Only raccoons and bees have been living in it since Mr. DeWitt closed his shop before his death in 1982.

Mrs. Silvers said she'd love to see the relic restored.

"It's going to be a lot of work because it's really in bad shape but they've got the will to do it. The way they're working at it, they're going to get it done," she said.

Mr. Russell said the group hopes to have the depot reassembled and under roof by fall, but he said it could take a few years to restore it totally.

"Our intent is to save as much of the building as we can. We'll replace what we have to," Mr. Russell said.

Northwest Ohio Railroad Preservation runs a restored quarter-scale steam train on weekends April through December at its Findlay site, giving rides for $1. On Saturday, the preservation group is holding a chicken barbecue from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to raise funds for the depot's restoration.

Mr. Russell could not put a price tag on the project, which, he said, is the group's most ambitious endeavor. It plans to fill it with rail-related antiques it has amassed over the years: a coal-burning stove, telegraph equipment, a train schedule board, even old luggage.

Volunteers with the group are true train enthusiasts.

"We owe a lot maybe not to this depot but to the railroads in general in the building of this country," Mr. Russell said.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at:

jfeehan@theblade.com

or 419-353-5972.

First Published June 23, 2005, 11:31 a.m.