Hopewell Junction depot restoration thread

[Bernard Rudberg]

Don't forget the Hopewell Depot Arts and Crafts fair on Saturday May 3.

Stop around and see the Depot while you do a little shopping.

[Bernard Rudberg]

The Town of East Fishkill has produced a 44 minute video about the Hopewell Junction Depot Restoration.
It will be broadcast on our local TV channel and it is already on YouTube and Facebook.
Try this YouTube link to see what we have been doing at Hopewell Depot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p8e-ETRZlI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bernard Rudberg]

5/3/2014 The weather was great and we had a lot of visitors at the Depot today. Several local crafts people displayed their wares and we had free food from the Blue Fountain Restaurant. The old car on display was a 1919 Chevy that looks almost new.

Next Depot open sessions will be tomorrow 5/4 and also on Wednesday 5/7. Stop around and learn a bit about the rich railroad history of Hopewell Junction.

[Bernard Rudberg]

Nice spring weather is bringing out the traffic on the Rail Trail. We even had one visitor from California today. Our volunteers have added new details to the Hopewell Junction rail yard diorama. If you look close enough you can now see people on the Depot benches and a handcart on the freight house deck.

We are now operating on summer hours. The Depot will be open to the public on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays. We usually start about 9:00 AM and finish around 3:00 PM but Sundays may open a bit later.

We are also making progress on the red tape required for construction of the new Signal Control Tower project. We plan to start construction as soon as we get enough money in the Tower Fund.

We also welcomed Lisa as a new tour guide. Stop around and we will give you the red carpet treatment along with samples of the rich railroad history of Hopewell Junction "A Railroaders Town".

[Bernard Rudberg]

The spring weather has brought our children's locomotive out of winter storage.
Of course the paint job always has to have an inspector.

Next Depot open sessions will be Sunday 5/11 and Wednesday 5/14.

[Bernard Rudberg]

Don't forget. The annual all members meeting will be on Wednesday 21, May at the East Fishkill Community Center on route 82 in Hopewell Junction starting promptly at 7:00 PM. The business meeting will elect new directors for the coming year and vote on proposed changes to the by-laws.

All members are invited to participate and you can join at the meeting to cast your vote.

After the business meeting, the featured speaker will be Frank DeLorenzo, Senior Project Manager for the Mt. Beacon Incline Railway.

The attached map shows the location of the Community Center across from McHouls Funeral Home in Hopewell Junction.

Todays good weather brought out more visitors on the Rail Trail. Also our summer flower pots were delivered courtesy of Sabellico's Florist.

For you CNE Railway fans, a new book is available on Amazon.com. It is a reprint of a catalog from 100 years ago and describes all the little towns along the CNE in New York and Connecticut with info on hotels and bed and breakfast operations.

Next Depot open session will be Wednesday 5/21 and Saturday 5/24..

[Bernard Rudberg]

Book available on Amazon.com

[Bernard Rudberg]

Last evening we had our annual all-members meeting. We held an election for new directors for our expanded board.
We still have a couple board seats not filled. If you are interested in joining, let us know.
We also adopted some updates to our by-laws to help in the transition from a "restoration" to a "sustaining" mode of operation.


The featured speaker was Frank DeLorenzo from the Beacon Incline Railway project. He outlined their current status and plans for the future construction of the rebuilt Beacon Inclined Railway. In addition to the Railway, there will be year round parks facilities at both the lower and upper locations for a total 250 acres of development connected with the Hudson Highlands Park system and hiking trails. At the summit they plan to have restaurant with a view out over the Hudson Valley. On a clear day you can actually see the skyline of New York City and the mountains in Pennsylvania. They also plan to keep part of the ruins of the old railway machinery built in 1901 as a " historic museum"..


Next Hopewell Depot open dates will be Saturday 5/24 and Wednesday 5/28.

[Bernard Rudberg]

5/24/2014 Nice weather and more visitors including Owen Thomas, future engineer. He loves to ring the bell.
Meanwhile our volunteers are building a tender to go with the loco.

We also added interactive push-button lights to the Hopewell Junction Rail Yard diorama. Come on down a push a few buttons.

Next Depot open sessions will be tomorrow, Sunday 5/25 and Wednesday 5/28.

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.

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

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Depot open sessions will be tomorrow 6/8 and Wednesday 6/11.

[Benjamin Maggi]

You guys have really come a long way! The station looks great!

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.

[Bernard Rudberg]

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.