New Roof for the Hopewell Depot

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.
The attached photo is our crew working on the wooden parts of our baggage cart.

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 ?

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.

Currently we don't have any way to contribute online. Those plans are in our future for our web site.
The oficial opening day for the visitor center section of the depot is April 25. The museum section should be open by the end of this year.

Meanwhile we are using local donations and mail in donations. Our address is:

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

Bernie 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.

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.

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.

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.