Hopewell Depot Restoration

Beautiful spring weather and lots of visitors on the Rail Trail. One
group met at the Depot with some from Long Island and some from
Pennsylvania. We brought them all up to date on the rich railroad
history of Hopewell Junction.

Meanwhile our volunteers made progress on the coal tender for the
children's locomotive. That little locomotive seems to be popular
with the kids.

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July 1 begins a new membership year for the Depot. If you haven’t
1. renewed already please do so. Seniors: $10. Individuals $15.
Families: $25.00. Stop in to visit us on Wednesdays or Saturdays,
9 –3, or Sundays 11 – 3. Or send to Hopewell Depot Restoration
Corporation, P.O. Box 1044, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533.

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Next Depot open sessions will be tomorrow 6/1 and Wednesday 6/4.

Our children's loco now has a coal tender waiting for the paint to dry on the faux wheels.


The Hopewell Depot will be holding the second of it’s monthly Arts and Crafts Expos this Saturday, June 7th from 10 – 3 at the Depot. Featured will be nine vendors of water colors, painting on wood, hand crafted jewelry and more. Free food will be served at noon and live music featuring The Depot Singers at 1 p.m. Come on over and join the fun!


Next open session will be Saturday 6/7/2014.

Perfect weather brought out many visitors for our monthly Arts and Crafts Show. Also on display was a restored 1936 Buick which attracted a lot of attention. We also had 9 vendors showing their wares and free food from the Blue Fountain Restaurant. Last but not least we had a musical group with guitar, fiddle and banjo. They entertained with a variety of train songs. We will do it all again next month.

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July 1 begins a new membership year for the Depot. If you haven’t
. renewed already please do so. Seniors: $10. Individuals $15.
Families: $25. Stop in to visit us on Wednesdays or Saturdays,
9 –3, or Sundays 11 – 3. Or send to Hopewell Depot Restoration
Corporation, P.O. Box 1044, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533.
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Next Depot open sessions will be tomorrow 6/8 and Wednesday 6/11.

6/21/2014 Good weather and lots of traffic on the Rail Trail today.
The photo is part of the diorama in the museum section of the Depot. It is a "Pusher" engine ready to help a long train of coal cars up Stormville Mountain.
These Pushers were based in the yard at Hopewell Junction.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Next Depot open session will be Wednesday 6/25.

6/28/2014 Perfect weather for a hike on the Rail Trail brought out a lot of visitors today. Among the donations was an art print of a painting by Gould of a New Haven train crossing the big bridge in Poughkeepsie before it burned,

Hopewell Depot Restoration will be holding its next Arts and Crafts Expo on Saturday, July 5 from 10-3 at the Depot, 36 Railroad Avenue in Hopewell Junction. Water color artists, jewelry crafters, and other crafters will be selling their works. Admission is free. The Blue Fountain will provide lunch and there will be live music by singer and instrumentalist Rick Soedler from noon to 3 p.m.

Stop around Saturday and listen to the music and have some free lunch, The Depot is presenting these Arts and Crafts Expos on the first Saturday of every month from May through October.

Next Depot open sessions will be Sunday 6/29 and Wednesday 7/2.

Our litle engine was in the Hyde Park 4th of July parade.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good. Stop around to the Depot for our Arts and Crafts Expo. Hopewell Depot Restoration will be holding its next Arts and Crafts Expo on Saturday, July 5 from 10-3 at the Depot, 36 Railroad Avenue in Hopewell Junction. Water color artists, jewelry crafters, and other crafters will be selling their works. Admission is free. The Blue Fountain will provide lunch and there will be live music by singer and instrumentalist Rick Soedler from noon to 3 p.m.

Stop around Saturday and listen to the music and have some free lunch, The Depot is presenting these Arts and Crafts Expos on the first Saturday of every month from May through October.

7-5-2014 Perfect weather for an Arts and Craft Expo at the Depot. Lots of people and free food. The music kept everything humming.
Talked to some old friends and found some new friends. It was a good day at Hopewell Depot.

Next open sessions will be tomorrow, Sunday 7-6-2914 and Wednesday 7-9-2014.

Today was Volunteer Appreciation Day at the Depot. Everybody who had a hand in restoring the Depot starting in 1996 was invited to the celebration.
We had food from the East Fishkill provisions and a big cake.

We talked to a few old friends and generally celebrated the completion of the major part of the building restoration.
The next phase will be to raise enough money to build a replica of the crossing control tower that once stood next to the Depot.
The new tower will have restrooms in the lower level.

The next open sessions will be tomorrow

Sunday 7/13 and Wednesday 7/16.

Stop around and see what we were celebrating

Nice sunny weather and lots of visitors from the Rail Trail put some money in the donation jar.

Among the hardware donations was an original Central New England Railway station sign advertising money orders by American Express.

Next Depot open sessions will be Sunday 7/20 and Wednesday 7/23.

On a cool day it was a good day for a hike on the Rail Trail.

New details have been added to the diorama in the museum section of the Depot.

Next open sessions will be Sunday 7/27 and Wednesday 7/30.
We have tour guides ready to tell you all about the rich railroad history of Hopewell.

7/30/2014 The weather forecast for Saturday looks good. Stop around to the Depot for our Arts and Crafts Expo.

Hopewell Depot Restoration will be holding its next Arts and Crafts Expo on Saturday, August 2nd from 10-3 at the Depot, 36 Railroad Avenue in Hopewell Junction. A variety of crafters will be selling their works. Admission is free. The Blue Fountain will provide free lunch and there will be live music by singer and instrumentalist Rick Soedler from noon to 3 p.m.

Stop around Saturday and listen to the music and have some free lunch, The Depot is presenting these Arts and Crafts Expos on the first Saturday of every month from May through October.

8/10/2014 Hopewell Depot is looking good on a sunny afternoon in August. We had more than 45 visitors this afternoon.

There will be a board meeting at 7:00 on Monday.

Next open sessions will be Wednesday 8/13 and Saturday 8/16.

Volunteers needed for the upcoming East Fishkill Community Day event on Saturday, Sept. 13th.

1. 2- volunteer tour guides to be present at the Depot on that day.

2. 1- volunteer to help Paul Stich at the Community Tent.

3. Volunteers to help decorate the float for the parade and take part in the parade.
Volunteers to participate in the parade ( carry the banner, walk along side of the float & etc.)
We are seeking 5 children ages 3-6 to ride on the float in the play engine and tender.
This is on a first come bases, should we receive more than 5 volunteers.
One adult must ride on float with their child.
Each child will receive, an engineers hat, train whistle and red neckerchief .

The theme of this years float is (Children connecting with History)

Contact Rich Taylor at: [email protected]
or call 226-7639 if you would like to participate or want more information

Next open sessions for the Hopewell Depot will be tomorrow, Sunday 8/17 and Wednesday 8/20

At the Depot the tour guides meet many interesting people from all over the map. We have had visitors from as far away as Seattle, Sweden, Canada, and even one group from Madagascar.


Would you like to become one of this friendly group and share the fun for a few hours a month ?

Not sure you can do it ? Of course you can. We provide training and documentation.


Stop by the Depot on a Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday and talk to some of the current guides.

You can serve the community while you explore the rich railroad history of Hopewell Junction.

Save the date for the Depot Arts and Crafts Expo Saturday September 6th..

Hopewell Depot Restoration will be holding its next Arts and Crafts Expo on Saturday, September 6th from 10-3 at the Depot, 36 Railroad Avenue in Hopewell Junction. Water color artists, jewelry crafters, and other crafters will be selling their works. Admission is free. The Blue Fountain Restaurant will provide free lunch and there will be live music by singer and instrumentalist Rick Soedler from noon to 3 p.m.

Stop around Saturday 9/6 and listen to the music and have some free lunch, The Depot is presenting these Arts and Crafts Expos on the first Saturday of every month from May through October.

Save the date for the Depotr Arts and Crafts Expo Saturday September 6th.