Another early piece of the Ironton Railroad history is being restored.

The Ironton Rail-Trail Oversight Commission is restoring a coach and baggage car, known to railroaders as "a combine" or "Pullman car," which dates to the early 20th century.

The project comes on the heels of an extensive makeover and renovations to an Ironton Railroad caboose. After restoration, the caboose was moved from the Whitehall Parkway to a new site in Stiles, just east of the trailhead.

Unlike the caboose, however, the IRT Oversight Commission has no plans to move the coach and baggage car which is located along the trail in the Whitehall Parkway, just outside Egypt.

Ray Bieak, IRT Oversight Commission secretary, said the restoration project for the Pullman car came about because the commission was approached by Wasyl Mauser, an Allen Township builder, who volunteered to perform the huge task of restoring the railroad car. Mauser had on occasion walked and rode a bicycle on the IRT and noticed the deteriorating car.

No stranger to tackling community projects as a volunteer, Mauser built the handsome gazebo at the Kreidersville Bridge Park in Allen Township. Bieak said Mauser will be assisted by his son and another individual. The first step has been to install a new metal roof.

Railroad historian Mike Bednar, of Hokendauqua, traced the history of the car to the early 1900s when it was owned by the Atlantic City Railroad, providing passenger service from the shore to Camden.

In 1914, the Ironton Railroad purchased the rail car from the Atlantic City Railroad, which then offered passenger service between Hokendauqua and Orefield. Later it was used at its present site by the Ironton Railroad as a yard office, a role it maintained until the mid 1970s, he said.

Set on concrete blocks, the steel rail wheels are not part of the Pullman car, he said.