New Roof for the Hopewell Depot

Saturday 2/26/11 was another good day of work on the depot. Mike Thomas ran the show while Rich Taylor is in Florida on vacation. The remaining bead board was removed from
the North room exterior walls. Some exterior siding was replaced on
the North wall. The Eastern bay window bump-outs were plywooded.
Scaffolding/staging was set up in preparation for ceiling work.

The next work session will be Saturday 3/5/11 starting around 8:30 AM.Saturday 3-5-11 agenda:
8:30 am start
1:00 pm stop (I have a family event in the afternoon).
* The primary goal will be to run the 2x6 ceiling joists in the North room.
* A section of the West wall in the North room requires repair/framing.
* Bill will lead work on reclaiming the bead board that is removed.


Come on down and join the fun.

Saturday 3-5-2011 was a shortened work session but we accomplished
a few things anyway. The laser level was used to shoot the
10'-6" ceiling line around the North room. The remaining bead board
was cut and removed above that height. The joist ledger was then
applied to the North and South walls. Eight 20' 2x6 joists had ends
squared and crowns marked but *not* yet cut to length and installed.

Bill led some volunteers in more clean-up in the South room in
preparation to use the space for scraping and priming/painting. He
has indicated that he would be going to Williams to get some primer
(and paint?) to test on our reclaimed and new bead board. It sounds
like he is ready to put some volunteers to work priming the new bead
board when it arrives.

The next work session will be Saturday 3-12 2011 starting about 8:30 AM.

Come on down and join the fun.

For those of you who can’t help with the construction work, you can help by sponsoring the project.
We are asking for sponsorships as follows:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

Help Save the Hopewell Depot

We actually had some sunshine on Saturday 3/12. The weather was chilly and breezy but the depot work went well.
Hot coffee goes good on a chilly day.

What we did today,
1. Installed ceiling joists in north room with strong back and tied to truss rafter.
2. Removed remaining bead board from walls in south room.
3. Worked on studding over bump outs.
4. Moved bead board from south room to horses out side under eaves.
5. install blocking along bottom of walls in north room.
6. Moved buckets of iron parts and window weights into basement.
7. Raked yard around depot into 4 piles to be picked up next Saturday.

Next Saturday we will install ceiling joists in south room and middle room, continue installing cats where needed. If weather is nice, we may start working on south gable roof. Bill will start cleaning the old bead board. New bead board will be delivered in the morning and stacked in north room.

The next work session will be Saturday 3/19/2011 starting about 8:30 AM

Weather on Saturday was nice enough so that some of the work could be done outside in the sun.

Bead board for the interior was delivered and stacked. Window and door trim work continued.
There is till work to be done on the roof ends. Some of our intrepid volunteers came back to
do more work on Sunday.

The next work session will be Saturday 2-26-2011. Stop around and see for yourself how things are going.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

HOPEWELL DEPOT RESTORATION CORPORATION
MEMBERS’ MEETING
Thursday, April 14, 2011
7:15 p.m.
East Fishkill Community Center
Rte. 82, Hopewell Junction
(across from McHoul’s Funeral Home)
Agenda will include:
Update on renovations
Update on financial status
Election of officers
For office of:
President – Rich Taylor
Vice President – Mike Thomas
Treasurer – Jackie Prusak
Secretary – Celeste Rudberg
Appointment of Bernie Rudberg as “Historian Emeritus”

If you have not renewed your membership within the past year, you will have an opportunity to do so at the meeting.

Saturday 3-26-was a chilly morning with a cold breeze but sunny.
We had 13 volunteers there. Finished the ceiling joists, Worked the South gable end roof.
Installed some plywood on gable end so we could complete drying in with felt paper.
Cut 110 pieces of bead board for interior walls and west side soffit. Cleaned up & vacuumed south end room.
Scraped & cleaned up half the pile of old bead board. Removed the pile of old metal by parking lot.

The next work sessions will be on Wednesday 3-30 and Saturday 4-2.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

We had another good day at the Depot. There were 5 volunteers there most of the day.
The Cable tying the gable ends is in place. Soffit bead boards have been cleaned and ready for installing on South gable. Blocking between studs have been installed in 2 rooms. Will finish blocking next Saturday so we will be ready for electric wiring. In addition, there was a bit more work done to finish the roof ends.

Meanwhile the County has installed a new wooden fence along the rail trail parking lot next to the depot.

Our next work session will be Saturday 4-9-2011 starting about 8:30 AM. Our staff of volunteers seems to be changing since the weather has warmed up. We can use all the help we can get. Stop around and lend a hand. We certainly need it to meet our schedule.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

Another good day at the Depot, except for a lower turnout of volunteers. We managed to finish all hurricane clips and lag bolts where needed. Worked on blocking in south room. Finished rafters and sheathing on south Jerkenhead roof overhang. Cleaned up rubbish around Depot and pulled out dumping trailer. Set a few stakes to define location of 5' wood deck around Depot.
There was a total of 5 volunteers Saturday.
Plans for next Saturday:
1. Finish all wall blocking so we are ready for electrician.
2. Install 2x8 sub-fascia and 1x10 pine finish fascia on west side overhang and south end jerkenhead roof gable.
3. Install lolly column in basement.
4. Unload lumber from flatbed trailer and load into box trailer.
5. Move all soffit materials to east side of building.

We plan to be there Friday at 9:00 if any others want to work during the week.
The next regular work session will be Saturday 4-16-2011 starting around 8:30 AM.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

Saturday morning had a cold wind and later in the day it rained but work continued anyway.

Seven eager beavers showed up and we managed to get a lot done.
All blocking in all rooms is completed, the south gable overhang is ready for fascia trim and bead board soffit to be replaced. The west overhang 2x8 sub-fascia was installed and the 1x10 pine fascia and 1x4 trim was installed.

Next Saturday we will concentrate on soffit work on both the south gable and the west overhang.
Take down the south end staging and set up on north gable end. If we have enough volunteers, we can also unload the lumber from the flatbed trailer into our box trailer.
A heartfelt thanks to you, Celeste and Jackie for keeping the volunteers warm with coffee and goodies.

The next regular work session will be Saturday 4-23-2011.

We are trying to organize a weekday work session for those who would prefer that schedule. Stay tuned for later details.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.



P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

Well we had another good day Saturday even on a rainy Easter weekend. We had
6 volunteers. We built a 2x4 stud wall in the center section where a 2'8" Dutch
door will be installed on the "agent's office".
Worked on reinforcing corner posts and added blocking, started 1x6 bead board
soffit on west overhang. Cleaned up the south room so the electrician can
start wiring. A 4'x4' section of plywood was installed in basement for
mounting a breaker panel. Also a large section of siding was scraped of old
paint on west side.

This Saturday we will unload the flatbed trailer and put all extra
materials in box trailer. We will need at lease 4 volunteers for this task. We
will also continue working on bead board soffits. Work will be concentrated on
siding, soffits, windows and paint scraping from now on so we can paint
west and south sides by May 15th.

The County has been busy too. There is a new concrete pad with a wooden rail
trail sign holder next to the depot. A new larger parking lot has been added.

The next regular work session will be Saturday 4-30-2011. We need at least four
volunteers for the Saturday work.

We are trying to organize a weekday work session for those who would prefer that
schedule. Stay tuned for later details.

Of course we are still in need of funds to continue the restoration. Send your
donations to:

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.

P. O. Box 1044

Hopewell Junction

New York, 12533-1044

845-221-9330

Not sure this is the right place for this question but here goes. I apologize in advance if I'm off-base here.

I recall reading somewhere that there was a freight agent with an office at Hopewell Jct even into the Penn Central era. Now I can't find where I saw it and thus my question here.

Anybody know when Hopewell Jct. lost its agent?

In a NHRHTA Shoreliner article entitled "Hopewell Junction" (Vol. 26 Iss 2) author Richard Teed wrote that Hopewell Jct. retained its freight agent into the Conrail era in the 1980s. That one of the last agents was M. Wheeler.

In a Penn Central ETT from the early 1970s I found Hopewell Jct listed as being a location with a freight agent.

Anyone know the territory the Hopewell agent covered? I'm guessing it was probably pretty considerable.

What kind of roofing do you plan on, Bernie? Slate is crazy expensive, but would be authentic. Metal is a lot cheaper and easier to install, and almost historically accurate. Asphalt is cheapest but unprototypic and doesn't last very long.

In a Penn Central ETT from the early 1970s I found Hopewell Jct listed as being a location with a freight agent.

I checked an October 1972 Penn Central Northeast Region ETT and didn't find any listing of freight agents, not at Hopewell Jct. or anywhere else for that matter.

What I did find was a list of "Road Radios Located at Other than Block Stations" on page 254. In that list, the first entry for the New England Division is
"Hopewell Jct - Freight station. Channel 1."

So I guess that means somebody was there. And in the old D&C passenger station I think, because I believe the old freight house was long gone by 1972.

Welcome to Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp.

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
The Hopewell Depot Restoration project also has a new web site.
http://www.hopewelldepot.org
I have been working on local railroad history since I retired from IBM 20 years ago. I have posted several hundred photos and stories about Hudson Valley railroads on a web site. Take a look at the following web site.
http://www.kinglyheirs.com/CNE/
This web site has 23 sections. Just scroll down and select the section you want.
If you have any questions or comments just send me a note.
In addition I did about an hour of video for a Marist College oral history project.
The college web site is:
http://www.albany.edu/~pc171142/
About 6 minutes of my video session is in the "construction" section. Portions of this interview are now recorded for phone access as narration for the Walkway Over the Hudson and also on their web site.
http://www.walkway.org/
A number of photos from my collection are now being used on the interpretive signs on the Walkway.
Since my family background is in railroads in Sweden, I have always been interested in railroads and since I retired I have had time to study more. I am also the former president of a group working to restore our local Hopewell Junction train station into a small museum and educational facility.
I am also one of the organizers for the Central New England Railway Historical Tours. Every spring we tour a section of the old CNE Rwy with two bus loads of railroad fans. I do the navigating and narration for the tour. I have written the guide books for the last eight tours and I am working on the next one for spring 2012. Each book contains around 200 pages of photos and history for that section. Next spring's tour is now in the planning stages and will probably be in the area between Norfolk and Canaan CT.
I found the original record books of the ND&C RR at the Beacon Historical Society. The ND&C RR became part of the CNE Rwy in 1905. There are more than 30,000 pages of original railroad records. I wrote a book based on those records. It is called Twenty Five Years on the ND&C. It still available from the publisher and several local bookstores.
I have also written a book of photos and stories about Hopewell Junction and East Fishkill which we are selling as a fund raiser for the Hopewell Depot Restoration.
If you have any questions or comments just send me a note or call me at 221-9330.
My E-Mail is:
[email protected]
Bernie Rudberg