Correspondent photo / Karla Dines
Luca Sheedy of Massachusetts worked with his grandfather, John Godleski, also of Massachusetts, to set up a train display across from the Moss Ancestral Home in Mineral Ridge. This is the sixth year they have been displaying the trains and model of Niles and Mineral Ridge in the 1850s to 1870s.

John Godleski, his wife, Mary Lou, and grandson, Luca Sheedy, traveled to Mineral Ridge from Massachusetts in order to show their train display. The display was set up adjacent to the Mineral Ridge Historical Society on Burnett Street.

The train and display depicted Niles and Mineral Ridge stores, churches, buildings and homes with the train running around and through the two cities. They were arranged by John Godleski and Sheedy. It took them three days to set up the display.

Marci Buchanan, Mineral Ridge Historical Society president, determined which churches went where in the model and helped determine which streets and buildings were there at the time.

The Rev. Arthur Wright, a retired priest from St Mary of the Hills Catholic Church in Massachusetts, was the original owner of the train collection.

Godleski said, “It was his lifelong hobby and collection of Rev. Wright.

This spectacular collection of trains was running in a conference room at our church. He had it on a 3-foot-wide shelf, going all around the conference room. He would bring in the kids from school and the parishioners to enjoy this. Since he retired, there had been no interest in taking the trains.”

After about a month of Wright asking people to take the collection, Godleski offered to take the trains and to show them at a museum in Ohio.

Godleski said, “Rev. Wright told me that if people will see and appreciate it, you can have it.”

The Godleskis’ connection to Mineral Ridge and its historical society is the Moss Ancestral Home.

While conducting genealogical research, Mary Lou discovered a home on Burnett Street in Mineral Ridge, which was purchased in the 1850s by her great-great-grandfather, Jacob Moss. Godleski learned that the home was condemned and about to be demolished.

Mary Lou purchased the Moss home in 1990. With the help of her family, she has restored the house to its original state. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

” I am a carpenter, a plasterer, and a bricklayer,” said 89-year-old Mary Lou Godleski.

Mary Lou said her grandson set up the train display in their home on an air hockey table to ensure that all trains were functioning properly before leaving for Ohio.

Bob Lewis of Girard visited the display on Sunday.

“I have been a member of the Youngstown Model Railroad Club for 15 years. This is my first time here. My son and daughter-in-law asked me to come out there today with them,” Lewis said.

With the help of the Mineral Ridge Historical Society, the Godleskis have been setting up and showing the train display for about six years. The date for next year’s train display is yet to be determined.