Lansford Borough officially signed over the former Lehigh and New England Railroad station to the Lansford Historical Society on Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives from borough council, the historical society, and the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau completed the transfer at the borough building, a month after council approved the deal.

The PMVB is helping the historical society with their plans to make the train station another point of interest for out-of-town visitors to stop, while preserving the historic structure.

The visitors bureau also provided more than $8,700 in funding to pay the borough for past water and sewer bills that it incurred during its ownership.

The borough will also receive $1 for the property and continue to lease the ground west of the property for its salt shed for four years for an annual $1 rental.

Back in May, the visitors bureau showed borough council what tourism plans that included the historic station could look like, and how it could be paired with the No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum, which is just down the street, and the newly established trolley tours in town.

The PMVB presented images of what the station could look like with continued investment, transforming the building into a mix of small shops, eateries, a trail stop, visitors center or even a train museum.

The historical society also plans on bring an O-gauge model train display in as an attraction to keep visitors in town longer.

Both the visitors bureau and local historians have pointed to the success of visionaries and preservationists that invested in nearby Jim Thorpe and transformed the town into a tourist mecca.

Attractions in Lansford, such as the No. 9 Mine, the trolley tours, and train station, can also take some of the pressure off tiny Jim Thorpe and give visitors other options in the area, proponents have said.