Following article is from the Frederick (MD) News-Post. 8-year-old wants to restore Point of Rocks train stationOriginally published October 26, 2009
By Megan Eckstein
An 8-year-old train enthusiast came to Point of Rocks a few weeks ago to see one of the country's most famous historic train stations.
He left wondering why his new favorite station had fallen into disrepair, and he decided he wanted to help fix it.
"It needed to be painted and get the windows fixed," said Connor Fischer, a third-grader who lives in Darnestown in Montgomery County.
"We were driving home and he said 'I want to start a renovation project,'" said Lisa Fischer, his mother. "To hear the words 'renovation project' come out of an 8-year-old's mouth was so funny."
"He was ready, literally that day, to take a giant Reese's peanut butter jar to school and collect money," said Jack Diamond, Connor's father and a popular radio show host in Washington, D.C.
Connor said he had visited train stations in Frostburg, Gettysburg, and other parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. He liked the one in Point of Rocks the most because it is so close to home and looks old-fashioned.
The Point of Rocks train station was built in the 1870s. Though it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, train station owner CSX is under no additional obligation to maintain the facility. Connor said there was only one entrance to the building for workers, unlike other train stations with rooms inside and benches for passengers to wait.
"I wanted people to be able to go in and take pictures," he said.
Connor said he knows it will take a lot of work to get the station fixed up. He said he believes one of the tracks might need to be closed so workers can safely get to and from the train station, but he has an idea of how the trains could be rerouted to not interrupt the flow of traffic.
"It would be nice for him to talk to CSX directly," Lisa said. "Sometimes it's easy for an adult to blow off another adult, but it's another thing to have to explain it to a kid."
She said she is curious to see how they would deal with her son and whether they would be receptive to his ideas.
"He believes just about anything is possible, and if enough good people come together then it will get done for all the right reasons," Diamond said.
Though his parents have spoken to some railway workers and are still looking for the right official to talk to about the donation, Connor already has a game plan for raising money. He said he wanted to cover his wagon with a sheet with a slit cut in it, so neighbors can drop in their donations. Some of his friends are on board, too.
"They thought it was cool, and two of them wanted to help," he said. He also plans to write a report for school about the train station, so he can teach others about its history.
The interesting thing about Connor's efforts is that he doesn't see them as anything out of the ordinary. He said many children at his school write reports about animals or other things they like, though he said he's the first to organize a restoration effort.
"He's very humble and very sweet," Diamond said. "He's just one of those spirits who wants to bring people together."
He said Connor's interest in helping the community started at a young age, since he and his four older siblings always participated in radio station fundraisers and toy drives.
Connor, who also enjoys karate, soccer and equestrian vaulting, developed an interest in trains at a young age that doesn't seem to have waned.
"I started when I was 2 years old, I got my first wooden Thomas (the Tank Engine) trains, and I got a train table for them," he said.
Part of the allure of Thomas the Tank Engine was that Connor "had the opportunity to not only watch the DVDs but also play with the toys and make up his own story lines," said Diamond, adding that Connor has always had a good imagination.
Because Diamond used Amtrak and other train lines for work so often, "the whole mythical part of Thomas the Tank Engine became very real to him," Diamond said.
Connor now has model trains of all sizes and brands, and he's working to build a train track for them. And, of course, he visits local train stations to watch freight and passenger trains go by for hours on end.
"I just like seeing trains, it makes me feel good," said Connor, who hopes to run a model train store and maybe even drive a train when he grows up.
"Whatever attracts people to a life on the tracks, he seems to have it," Diamond said.
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