This past Sunday, December 10th, Operation Toy Train rolled through Warwick collecting new, unwrapped toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation. Toys collected on this train ride throughout Orange County are distributed to underprivileged children in the area. This year’s Orange County run collected 5,139 toys while making stops in Warwick, Sugar Loaf, Montgomery, Campbell Hall and Middletown.
Operation Toy Train (OTT) had an expanded schedule this year servicing parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The schedule started on November 12th and will end on December 16th. There was a record of 9 collection days for the organization and over 33,000 toys have been collected to date.
It was the first year that local train enthusiasts Daniel Svoboda and his father, Matt were riding the train and helping with the toy collection. Daniel, a 17-year-old senior at Warwick Valley High School, connected with the Operation Toy Train organization last year while looking for ideas for his Boy Scout Eagle Project. Daniel worked closely with Rudy Garbely and Carolyn Hoffman, President of Operation Toy Train of New York, Inc. to restore a boxcar (TOYX10000) that was donated to Operation Toy Train in 2021 by CSX Transportation. The significance of the boxcar is that it was the first of over ten thousand cars that were eventually built for the Railbox company. The car was built almost 50 years ago.
The restoration project was very involved. It took 340 man hours and numerous volunteers to complete the restoration project. The first steps were to clean up the boxcar and remove the old markings. Next, the roof needed to be sealed and painted. The boxcar was then primed and painted. The final step was to procure and attach safety banners and train markings to all sides of the boxcar.
The plan for the TOYX10000 boxcar is for it to reside at the Port Jervis Transportation History Center at the Historic Erie Turntable in Downtown Port Jervis. It will be used for storage and rail safety education.
Daniel is an Eagle Scout with Troop 38 in Warwick. Troop 38 meets at the Pine Island Firehouse on Friday nights. Troop 38 is an active Scouts BSA troop for boys from age 11 – 18 years old. The scouts of Troop 38 enjoy hiking, fishing and camping. They perform community service for many local organizations such as the Warwick Lions Club, American Legion Post #214, PLAV Post #16 and the Pine Island Fire House, just to name a few. If anyone is interested in joining Troop 38, please email warwicktroop38@gmail.com.
Other Warwick volunteers on the train this year were Nathan Durgin and Eric “Gus” Hauge.
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