Hopewell Junction depot restoration thread

[Bernard Rudberg]

‎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.

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.

[Bernard Rudberg]

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 ?

[Jeff Smith]

Mr. Rudberg, do you have a way to contribute off of your web-site or Facebook page? Have you considered a PayPal contribution account? Perhaps if you don't have a web-site you could put it on the Facebook page.

Please let us know how we can contribute.

I would also suggest some type of thing you can "buy", i.e. a name on a plaque, brick, something like that. I've seen that a lot.

Incidentally, I may be in your neck of the woods 4/12 to 4/16 and may stop by.

[Otto Vondrak]

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

I offered some ideas the last time this question came up, what do you think?

If you have any good ideas for fund raising just let us know. The bank account is getting low.

Get some of these great photos off to Railpace so they can publicize your fine work (and encourage donors). Also send out a few inquiries to the local newspapers in Poughkeepsie and Middletown. One of the editors might pick up your story as local interest and give you some publicity as well, and in turn encourage donations. Search the internet and see what grants you may be eligible for. There may be a grant for installing energy efficient windows in your restoration, for instance. You won't get a blank check, but there may be grants available for specific projects. Grants take a long time to process. Have you tried partnering with any of the local historical societies? What about the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association? You might find some interested members there who might be interested in supporting your project.

-otto-

[Bernard Rudberg]

We have been exploring many different grants with little success.

The official opening day for the visitor center section of our depot is 25 April. We ill have our new county exec on hand to cut the ribbon. Local newspapers and TV will be there along with other officials and politicians. We even have one member of the town board as a volunteer. In addition there have been several newspaper and magazine stories about our project.

Three of our board members are also board members of the local hstorical society.

We are working as many angles as we can think of. Meanwhile we talk to hundreds of people on the Rail Trail.
We even sponsored a train trip through Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany as a fund raiser. It was agreat trip and the depot made money.

Bernie

[Bernard Rudberg]

4-4-2012 The new security system has been installed and our electrician installed the rest of the lights in the visitor center section. Meanwhile Andy made more progress on restoring the baggage cart.

Next work session will be Satuday 4-7-2012.

[Bernard Rudberg]

4-4-2012 Saturday's work was mainly getting ready for the official opening on 25 April. We added a section of deck for the east door and cleaned up the "storage Yard" area.

Next work session will be Wednesday 11 April.

[Bernard Rudberg]

4-11-2012 Wednesday was a chilly day but work continued on preparing the visitor center and the baggage cart. We are on track for the official opening day on 25 April.

Next work session will be Saturday 4-14-2012.

[Bernard Rudberg]

4-14-2012 Saturday was a beautiful blue skies spring day. We got a lot done. Primer paint on the east wall; display cases arrived; new benches for the visitor center; new trim around the ticket window; red and green paint for parts of the baggage cart; It was banner day. The depot is almost ready for opening day on 15 April at 10:0 AM.

We will have an organizational meeting for opening day volunteers on Monday 4-16 at the depot at 6:00 PM.

next working session will be Wednesday 4-18-2012.

[Bernard Rudberg]

We have made some major improvements to our web site and Facebook page.
Take a look at our updated information at the following links.

Our web site:
http://www.hopewelldepot.org

Our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hopewell ... 2071793718

The grand opening for the visitor center section of the depot will be on Wednesday 25 April. Our county exec, Marc Molinaro, will be there to cut the ribbon about 10:00 AM. We expect to have TV and newspaper coverage. The public is invited.

There is plenty of parking space next to the depot and Rail Trail. Stop around and join the fun.

Bernie Rudberg

[Bernard Rudberg]

Today's work was mainly touch up work on the paint job and assembly work on the baggage cart. Meanwhile the display cases were cleaned and arranged.

Next work session will be Saturday 4-21-2012.

[Bernard Rudberg]

4-21-2012 Today's work was mostly getting ready for opening day next Wednesday, 25 April. That included paint touch up, hanging pictures and putting new glass in the sales counter top.

We also held a short organizational meeting on the plans for opening day on Wednesday. We are confident that we are ready.

There will be a last minute work session on Tuesday AM for things like sweeping and dusting and any last minute details that come up.

The big day will be on Wednesday 25 April with the ceremony starting at 10:00 AM. Our county Exec, Marc Molinaro will be there to help with the ribbon cutting. After that there will be short tours of the depot area with a bit of railroad history thrown in for good measure. We expect newspaper and TV coverage.

The public is invited to come around a join in the fun.
We hope to see you on Wednesday morning.

I will be there in my conductor's uniform ready to punch your ticket to 1873.

Bernie Rudberg

[Bernard Rudberg]

Today (4-25-2012) was the grand opening of the visitor center section of the Hopewell Depot Restoration. The weather was a bit chilly and there was a short sprinkle in the morning but the rest of the day was good. Two of our county exec’s (Bill Steinhaus and marc Molinaro ) showed up the help cut the gold ribbon. We had a big crowd and there was TV and newspaper coverage. I was dressed up in my conductor uniform and posed for pictures while punching tickets for the crowd.



We had a mini car show in the parking lot. That “woodie” station wagon belongs to George Cook. John Hickman and Marc Molinaro received desk plaques and framed photos from the depot. A big surprise was the bronze plaque presented to us from the county. That plaque will be attached to the building for future generations to see.



Don’t forget, we have our annual Depot Restoration meeting tomorrow evening (Thursday 4-26) at the depot. We will start at 7:00 PM and featured at the meeting will be a slide show of Hopewell Junction railroads by Dave Williams.

One of our members has created a Facebook Page about the Hopewell Depot Restoration. Take a look at this URL.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hopewell ... 2071793718



Check out this video made by the Town of East Fishkill.

http://www.eastfishkillny.org/content/railroad-depot



The Hopewell Depot Restoration project also has a new web site.

http://www.hopewelldepot.org


Stop around and join the fun.



Bernie Rudberg

[Bernard Rudberg]

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp. held their first annual meeting in the restored visitor center of the depot. After the business session there was a slide show of Hopewell Junction railroading by Dave Williams. That show included slides he took of the depot two days after the fire in 1986.

We will be asking for volunteers to keep the visitor center open in the near future. The part time work will be to operate the sales counter and be short tour guides. Of course we will provide the training sessions to prepare the volunteers in running the depot sales and also a short course in depot history. There will also be back up documentation and photos for show and tell. If you can help out for a few hours we would love to hear from you. We would like to have the visitor center open when there is the most traffic on the Rail Trail. That would usually be on weekends and holidays. If you can help out, let us know when you would be available and we will work out a schedule.
Contact us at: [email protected] for E-Mail or call 845 221-9330.

The Town of East Fishkill TV channel 22 (Cablevision) will be broadcasting about the Hopewell Depot in the next week or so.
Tuesday at 5 PM
Wednesday at 9 AM
Thursday at 4 PM
Saturday at 8 AM


The next work session at the depot will be on Saturday 4-28-2012.

We also have a list of items that we will be needing in the near future to restore the museum section of the depot. If you know of any good sources for these item let us know.

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.

April 25,2012


Items needed to complete restoration of Hopewell Depot

1. 1x4 T&G Fir flooring for 3 rooms $5,800

2. 2- interior door units 600

3. 6” - 3 piece crown molding for ceiling 2,500

4. 5” – 2-piece window and door molding 3,800

5. 7” – 2-piece baseboard trim 1,700

6. 1 – 3’6”x7’ 5 panel exterior door unit 800

7. Closet shelving and supports 500

8. Trim and shelves for 3 ticket windows 870

9. Interior lighting and switches 1,500

10. Trex decking 2,000

11. 1x6 Bead Board for walls & soffit 4,300

12. 4- Exterior window frames at $1000 each 4,000

13. Soffit vents and molding 900

14. Weather board and molding for back wall 850

15. 3- electric wall mounted heat units $400 each 1,200

16. Ductless heat & cooling system 3,100

17. Security system including cameras 5,700

18. Misc. framing lumber for back soffit 200

19. Fire resistant materials for base & wall for pot belly stove 450

20. Misc. display cases & display frames to set up museum 4000



Total $44,770

As you can see from these numbers. we will have to do some serious fund raising.