EAST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — To mark the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, a mass transit train car that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center will be dedicated and opened to the public at a museum in East Haven.
Officials at the Shore Line Trolley Museum on River Street announced last week that PATH train car 745, one of just two train cars to survive the devastation on 9/11, is being prepped for display now, and will be dedicated and opened to the public next month.
Car 745, now known as the PATH car, was part of a 7 car train, and 5 of those were destroyed. The remaining two are now in museums. This car came to the Shore Line Trolley Museum last year.
“Just the fact that it’s here, it’s very sobering,” said Proto.
Passengers on the car that morning had come into New York from Hoboken, New Jersey. They were then evacuated. Car 745 wasn’t damaged when the towers fell, but it was heavily damaged during the cleanup and rescue efforts that followed. Crews found the car during the cleanup after the attack where crews and passengers left it.
“Literally it was left for a rush hour it never got. It never came for this car again,” said Bill Wall, President Emeritus of the museum.
However, this car hadn’t reached the end of its line. It has now been fixed and the windows have been replaced, all by volunteers and donations. It now looks much like it did before 9/11; even some of the ads inside are intact.
“To me I look at it and I think it looks like something from everyday life that was made into something totally out of the ordinary,” said Wall.
Soon visitors will be able to get onboard and sit where the passengers sat – for the first time in 15 years. It’s a way to remember and learn from what happened on September 11.
“We all know what we were doing on 9/11 but I would think that what those folks were doing and what the passengers were doing is something they’re never going to forget,” said Proto.
Related Content: Shoreline trolley up and running for first time since 1950s
The public is welcome to attend the special dedication ceremony on September 11th at noon. For more information, visit the Shore Line Trolley Museum online.
