Hopewell Depot Restoration

2-14 and 2-15 2012 The wall insulation was completed in about 4 hours on 2-14. On 2-15 we sanded the visitor center floor and cleaned up salvaged door trim boards. Also did some outside work on the east wall.

Next work session will be Saturday 2-18.

Does anybody want to sponsor ceiling light fixtures for the visitor center ? The green shade type will go for about $60 each and we need four of them.

We also are looking for an antique telephone for the agents office. Anybody have one to donate or loan ?

It was a good day at the depot today. We got a lot of work done on the visitor center walls and we started a new bird house project. We are using wood scraps to make up bird house kits to sell. Our high school volunteers liked the new project with Charlie as tutor. The kit is $15 and an assembled house is $20 or two for $30 assembled. We are starting off with Bluebird houses but others will follow. On the first day we built 4 and mounted 2 outside the depot. We also sold one kit.

We also got donations of cash and a bag of antique telephones and parts. It was a very good day.

Our next work session will be Wednesday 2/22. Come on down and join the fun.

The main project for today was preparing the visitor center walls. The old wall was scraped free of charred paint and new boards were added to the other walls. We are almost ready for the painting crew.

The next work session will be Saturday 2-25-2012.

We are still looking for an antique “candle stick” style telephone with the earpiece hanging on the side. If you know of anybody who has one to donate or loan, let us know.

We got word today that our County Exec will not be coming to the depot on 7 March. We will let you know when we have a new date, probably around our grand opening day in April.

It was a windy day outside but the inside work continued. The visitor center walls are now ready for painting. Much of the museum section ceiling was installed and and the west door got a new sill.

We are working toward a grand opening for the visitor center on 25 April.
Still looking for a “candlestick” style antique phone for the museum section.

Next work session will be Wednesday 2-29.

2-29-2012 On a snowy leap day the ceiling work in the museum section continued. The museum ceiling is ready for the blown in insulation in the attic.

The next work session will be Saturday 3-3-2012. The main project will be painting the ceiling and walls of the visitor center. Put your old clothes on and stop around then grab a brush or roller. We have the paint, now we need hands to use it.

Painting day at the depot. The visitor center now has white walls and a sky blue ceiling. Also the new light fixtures arrived plus a shipment of trim for the windows.

Next work session will be Wednesday 3-7-2012. The inside wall needs a second coat of paint.

3-7-2012 Today was a very busy day at the depot. The vistor center got a second coat of paint and the window trim was sanded and primed. Donated insulation was blown into the museum section ceiling.

The Independence Belles Society stopped by with a donation check. They also brought a box of RR maps from the 1930's plus a 1936 railroad picture book.
The insulation man donated an antique wooden biscuit box with RR papers inside. Mr. Jackson donated a RR bill of lading dated 1960 and signed by Harry Cooper who was the Hopewell Depot agent at that time.

The next work session will be Saturday 3-10-2012 and the main project will be installing window trim in the visitor center.

3-10-2012 Today was wallboard and trim day at the depot. We also sold a couple bird house kits and got a couple donations. Next will be window trim.

We are still looking for an antique "candle stick" style telephone for the museum section. Anybody have one to donate or loan ?

The next work session will be Wednesday 3-14-2012.

We held our first official board meeting in the partially restored visitor center on a warm evening in March.

The next work session will be Wednesday 3-14-2012.

3-14-2012 Wednesday was a sunny day to work outside. The east door now swings out to comply with fire safety rules and a new light was installed in the visitor center. There were two donatins today; an ornate stove and the metal parts of a baggage cart. We will restore the wooden parts of that cart.

Next work session will be Saturday 3-17-2012.

3-18-2012 On a sunny Sunday afternoon we had the cub scouts and dozens of people from the Rail Trail. The cub scouts liked the antique crank telephone and the rotary phone. They had never seen them before. I wore my conductor uniform and punched a ticket for each of them.

The sales table took in about $300 in sales and donations. It was a tiring day from 9:00 AM til 5:00 PM but we gave tours of the depot to dozens of interested people. My voice was getting pretty rusty by the end of the day.

Next work session at the depot will be Wednesday 3-21-2012.

‎3-21-2012 We made progress on the visitor center window trim, the museum floor boards and the baggae cart restoration.

Next wrok session will be Saturday 3-24-2012.

‎3-24-2012 Saturday's work was the trim around the visitor center windows and ceiling plus some more progress on the wooden parts of the baggage cart. We also added more floor boards in the museum section. We also talked to many visitors from the Rail Trail traffic.

The attached photo is the happy volunteer crew after pizza for lunch.

Next work session will be 3-28-2012.

3-28-2012 Wednesday was a thunderstorm day but work continued on the visitor center trim and the museum floor. The sun came out late and more work was done on the baggage cart frame. Meanwhile our electrician wired up several more outlets.
The attached photo is the precision cutting for the corners of the crown molding.

Saturday 3- 31 2012 will be touch up and painting day in the visitor center. Wear your old painting clothes.

3-31-2012 On a cold raw day in March we made progress on finishing the trim in the visitor center while Mike worked on the ticket windows. The latest donation is an American flag more than 100 years old with 45 stars. Andy brought in a crock pot of chili for lunch on a cold day.

The next work session will be Wednesday 4-4-2012.

Our bank account is getting very low. Anybody have any good ideas about fund raising ?