Bill McCullough remembers that it was a dark, cold night in November 2002 when he and his brother-in-law, Bob Stutzman, gave a presentation on the Ligonier Valley Railroad to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its last run.

But things warmed up when hundreds of people squeezed into a little room at Ligonier Library to hear their program.

"We prepared for about 70 people, and we quit counting at 200," said Mr. Stutzman, of Latrobe. "That's when we realized how many people were interested in this topic."

One of them was Jerome Gibbas, then the general manager of Idlewild Park, who wanted the Darlington train station next to the park to be preserved. The park had previously used the building and property for storage and employee housing.

In 2006, Idlewild sold that Ligonier Township property to the nonprofit Ligonier Valley Railroad Association for $1. The building was renovated with $650,000 in grants and donations, including from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Allegheny Foundation and the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County.

It opened in May as the Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum.

All summer, people have been coming to see its artifacts, some dating to 1878, not long after the railroad was founded by Judge Thomas Mellon in 1877. The artifacts include division markers, crossing signs, lanterns, headlights, bells from steam locomotives, hundreds of historic pictures and the original Darlington Station ticket dispenser -- the only original item from the station.

"People are really impressed with the artifacts and the way we have presented them," said Mr. McCullough, of Ligonier Borough, president of the board of directors and co-founder with Mr. Stutzman, the vice president.

"Railroading was different at that time, and our museum portrays not only the Ligonier Valley, but shows everybody what it used to be like. We want to make this a place to learn and ask questions.

"I have a soft spot for history, and I'm so pleased we were able to restore the station."

The railroad was originally built as the Latrobe and Ligonier Rail Road Company. When it was stalled by financial problems, Judge Mellon's sons, Richard Beatty and Andrew, persuaded him to purchase the line.

During its 75 years of operation, the railroad carried 9 million passengers through the station in Latrobe and hauled 32 million tons of coke, coal, quarry stone, lumber and other freight. There also was an extension to outlying coal-mining communities such as Wilpen and Fort Palmer, in Ligonier and Fairfield townships, respectively.

"It really is phenomenal," Mr. Stutzman said. "Everyone knows about Fort Ligonier and knows that it's a nice, touristy town today. But from 1877 to 1952, there was a heavy industry segment to Ligonier's history."

It was also popular for Pittsburgh residents to escape the grime of the city by taking the train to Idlewild Park to enjoy the picnic groves and lake. The area soon became known as "Pennsylvania's Mountain Playground."

"They liked to get away on weekends into the clean air," Mr. McCullough said. "Different societies and industries would often come out, and one Saturday there were as many as 14,000 people in the park."

Darlington Station was built in 1896 and had a little store inside that sold snacks and other goods. It also had some of the first telephones in the Darlington area.

The red bobber caboose, on tracks behind the station, is one of the most popular attractions. Built in 1905, it matches the 1907 caboose that the LVRR had in later years, and it still has its stove, water tank and beds. It was donated by the Castello family, of Summerhill, Cambria County, in 2007.

"The kids really like it," Mr. McCullough said.

Other popular artifacts include an 1881 Ligonier Valley Railroad pass made out to Thomas A. Mellon, one of the judge's sons, and a 13-minute video filmed in Wilpen in the 1940s by Pete Picadio, who used an 8 mm camera and a roll of color film to record coal-mining operations and activities. Sixty years later, he had it converted to DVD, narrated it, donated it and gave the museum the right to reproduce and sell it.

"It's an amazing piece of Ligonier industrial history," Mr. Stutzman said. "It's in our entry room in our gift shop, but we also have a copy of it that runs continuously in our media room."

Mr. McCullough said the LVRRA hopes to someday purchase a doodle bug, a small, self-propelled vehicle that the Ligonier Valley first had in 1923.

"We are already in contact with a trolley museum in Washington [Pa.], and we are thinking about working with Idlewild to maybe make it into a ride or something for the kids," he said.

The Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students, free for up to age 5. There are group rates and senior discounts.

Information: www.lvrra.org.

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