New Roof for the Hopewell Depot

[Bernard Rudberg]

Brilliant sunshine on the Trail today. Had a few visitors. Sold a book, one membership and some donations in the kitty. It was a good day.

Our Hopewell Depot is now featured on the front cover of the town telephone book.

Depot winter hours are Saturdays 9:00 to 3:00.

[umtrr-author]

Now that's what I call good publicity! Somebody over at Frontier deserves a pat on the back for helping out.

[Bernard Rudberg]

From the Hopewell Depot to your house, have a Merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanza or any other holiday you choose.

The Depot is on winter hours now. Saturdays 9:00 to 3:00 weather permitting.

[Bernard Rudberg]

Today was unusually warm and sunny for December. It brought out the foo6 traffic on the Rail Trail.
We talked to visitors all day. One came all the way from Missouri. We sold a book or two and collected a few donations.
It was a good day at the Depot.


The next Depot open day will be Saturday 1/3/2015. Happy New Year.

[Bernard Rudberg]

Check out this video.

https://www.facebook.com/bernard.rudber ... nref=story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My grandfather, Karl F Ahlstrom, was a conductor on this line. It runs through northern Sweden, past the Arctic Circle to Narvik on the Arctic Ocean. Click on the image to see the video,



Bernie Rudberg

[Bernard Rudberg]

Happy New Year from the Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.

Please consider us in your year end giving. Any and all donations will be used to continue the work of preserving the rich railroad history of Hopewell Junction.

The attachments will show you how to make a tax deductible donation.

You can send a check to:
Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.
P. O. Box 1044
Hopewell Junction , NY12533

OR

You can also go to our web site to make an online donation via Pay Pal.

http://hopewelldepot.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just click on "give" at the top of the screen.

We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit Corporation.

[Bernard Rudberg]

CNE SPRING TOUR 2015
This is a heads up for those planning to join us for the 2015 segment of the annual bus tour along various portions of the former Central New England Railway.
Our trip will take place on Sunday April 12 starting at the Transportation parking lot adjacent to (west side) the Renegades Baseball Stadium lot off route 9D in Beacon , NY.
The buses cost less on Sunday and traffic is less at least in the morning. It seems like the weather is better the first weeks of April than March and that is another factor. Please notify your friends so that everyone who wants to go has a chance. The price will be $55 again

This years tour will include Fishkill Landing (Now Beacon ,NY) and most of the former ND&C RR across Dutchess County to Pine Plains. One of the stops will be the newly restored Hopewell Junction Depot and Museum.

As usual lunch will be provided on this trip.

We have planned this trip to reach as many of the remaining historical spots as our intrepid scouts could locate. In many cases we have had to rely on photographs, new and old, to fill in
parts of the puzzle. We hope that you will gain a better understanding of the part that the railroads played in the history and development of New York. As usual, everybody will get a copy of the 2015 CNE Tour guide book. We have a lot of ground to cover so we will have coffee and buses will roll at 9:00.

The cost of this year's tour will be $55.00 per person and payment should be made out to:
Joseph Mato CNE 2015
Joe Mato
62 Wood RD CNE 2015
Redding, CT 06896
(home): 203 938-9992
e-mail: [email protected]
Be sure to include your E-Mail address so we can contact you if we need to. If you don't have
E-Mail then include your phone number.

Any money that is left after expenses will be used as "seed money" for next years trip.
As we did last year, we have two buses with 47 seats each. In past years we sold all seats and had a waiting list so don't wait too long to send in your reservation. Please note that any request for refunds must be received thirty (30) or more days in advance of the tour date. If you can find a replacement to take your bus seat, that's OK just let us know who it is. We have to know who to let onto the bus when the tour starts. If you can't find a replacement then we may have somebody on the waiting list to suggest but we can't refund money that has already been spent on tour expenses.

Bernie Rudberg
7 Marion Ave.
Wappingers Falls, NY Phone 845 221-9330
12590-6017 E-Mail [email protected]

[Bernard Rudberg]

We need YOU and your skills to help us sustain and continue to grow and develop the Depot and Depot Park. We could not have come as far as we have without all the support from our wonderful volunteers, so please consider joining our team!

We need help with:
Public Relations volunteers: writing press releases and making contact with local newspapers, radio stations, and magazines to get the word out about the Depot, our activities, events, and contributions to the community;

Museum Associates: planning our displays and keeping them relevant, managing our museum inventory, accepting and cataloging artifacts, and greeting and explaining our history to visitors;

Event planning help: planning and organizing Depot events such as our monthly Arts and Crafts fairs, annual dinner, and other activities for Depot members and the community;

Building and grounds maintenance: maintaining our beautiful building, enhancing the grounds around our building(s), and working on new capital projects;

Depot and business management: Greeting visitors as they arrive, managing counter sales and inventory of Depot memorabilia and general upkeep. 2-4 hour shifts to match your availability on days the Depot is open.

We are also looking for folks willing to join our Board of Directors to help manage our operations and set and implement goals for the future. We currently have positions open, and are particularly interested in people with financial and secretarial skills.

We hope one of these areas might interest you, and you will consider joining our all-volunteer team. If you would like to learn more, please stop by the Depot when we are open or e-mail me at [email protected]. Let us know! We welcome your support!

Thanks for your interest,
Joe Sullivan

[Bernard Rudberg]

A busy few days at the Depot.
On Thursday we hosted a reception for the East Fishkill Town Board members to discuss our plans for the Signal tower and development of the "Depot Park".

On Saturday we hosted a delegation from Pleasant Valley. They are the people who moved the Pleasant Valley station from West Road to the Rhinebeck fair grounds. They are faced with the problem of getting it up and running in time for the Dutchess County Fair in August. We will be working with them in any way that we can help including writing a book about their Depot.

While all this was happening, State Senator Sue Serino stopped by to lend her support to our project.

Today was a good day at the Depot.

[Bernard Rudberg]

On a cold Saturday there was little traffic on the Rail Trail. The latest addition to our displays is a podium/stand for the Visitor log.

Now you can donate to the Hopewell Depot restoration online. We have set up a Pay Pal account to accept online donations.

http://hopewelldepot.org/index.php/give" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Your year-end tax-deductible contribution can be an enormous help to the Depot. We are counting on your financial support to help us maintain and grow the Depot (A 501c3 not-for-profit organization) as a cultural center in the region.

Your donation can be directed to fund one of the following initiatives for 2015:

1- Build of the 1892 Interconnect Switch Tower Fund

2- HDR Sustaining Operations Fund

3- Capital Endowment Fund

Please donate on-line at Hopewell Depot Tower Project

http://hopewelldepot.org/index.php/give" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or you can send a check to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.
P.O. Box 1044
Hopewell Junction, NY 12533

A 501c3 not-for-profit organization

Sincerely,
HDR Board Members.

[Bernard Rudberg]

This interesting mechanism is an air pump. It was used to pressurize the draft beer service at the old Turners Hotel bar in Hopewell Junction.

[Bernard Rudberg]

This mystery tool looks like a pair of pliers but it is not the usual type. We found this in a rusty box of tools with no other identification. Does anybody out there know what this was used for ?

If you know, send us a note. We would like to know where it fits in our displays.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

[Bernard Rudberg]

We got more than 400 responses to the note on the Mystery Tool. It has features of an adjustable wrench and also was an early version of vice grips. Early advertising called it” The vest pocket machine shop”.

It seems that it was invented in the early 1900's as a multi purpose tool with interchangeable jaws for different jobs. The original was designed to work with square nuts and bolts before hex nuts became popular. The jaws remain parallel when you close them. Regular pliers changed angle because of the pivot point. In later years the tool was adapted for a variety of uses by changing the jaws. A number of responses told of using the tool for crimping electrical wiring. It was used by telephone companies and railroad signal maintainers. In one case, it was used as a wire crimper by British Airways.

[Bernard Rudberg]

With improving weather we had quite a few visitors at the Depot today. The temp got up to 27 and the sun was shining on the Rail Trail.

The attached photo is the ND&C RR freight house in Verbank New York. It was built in the 1870's and still serves today as storage space for a home appliance dealer, For those of you who are interested in our annual CNE Historical Tours, this will be one of the stops on our April 12th trip. We have arranged with the owner to have the building open that day. We understand that there is still evidence of railroad activity on the interior walls.

There are still seats available for the bus tour. If you want to join us, get your check in to Joe Mato ASAP.

[Bernard Rudberg]

There was a bit of excitement at the Depot on Saturday. Two volunteers were working in the basement workshop and created dust which set off the fire alarm.. No fire but the fire trucks came anyway just for drill I guess.. Now we know the alarm system works..

Better weather has brought out the traffic on the Rail Trail. Stop around on Saturday and see what we have done in the display section.
The Depot will not be moving any time soon. We now have a box car parking brake on display that you can try out.