Heritage center should be finished by 2015

By Jane Smith

05/30/08 May 29, 2008 11:49 pm

— The Northwestern Pennsylvania Railroad and Tooling Heritage Center will be developed in three phases, according to Mary Ann Martin, volunteer finance director.
The first phase will be to complete the outdoor location of the planned museum, bring the Erie Railroad locomotive Engine 518 to Meadville, and move the complete Foriska Machine Shop from its current East College Street location to the museum site.
The second phase will be to construct a 50-by-100-foot building.
The final phase will be site development and construction of the museum building — estimated to be completed in 2013 to 2015.
The 12,000-square-foot museum will include an outdoor display of equipment, displays providing information on railroad history in the French Creek Valley, with artifacts and interactive exhibits, an operating model railroad depicting the Meadville rail facilities circa 1945 to 1955, a theater, a gift shop, and an archives/research area.
While negotiations are continuing for receipt of two engines and a railroad car, the tooling and machining artifacts are already secured. The Foriska family has already committed to moving the building and all the equipment to the site.
It’s the former Davenport Manufacturing Co. that began operations in the early 1900s. Entering the shop is like taking a step deep into manufacturing history — and it’s still fully operational. The Foriska family has preserved everything.
Frank Foriska began working at the shop in 1926 and took ownership in 1962. The line shaft operation ran from a single motor and had a system of line shafts, pulleys, belts and clutches that operated numerous machines.
Foriska’s son, Albert, who also worked in the shop, has been instrumental in preserving the machines in good working condition and was recently featured on an Armstrong cable television special to show off the vintage operation.
Line shaft was a power transmission system at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors, line shafting was used to distribute power throughout factories or mills.
In addition to the tool shop, there will be many other tooling and machining artifacts, including a training suit worn by astronaut John Glenn as he was preparing for his historic space flight. The zippers in that suit were made by Talon, the company which brought about the beginning of the tooling and machining industry in Meadville.
Other items will include a Talon zipper machine, six display cases with artifacts and gaging (tool and die) tools, six machine tools, a Talon apprentice bench and tools and draft table used from the 1940s through the 1960s.