(rshsdepot) Brewster, NY

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Carried Away to open at Brewster Railroad Station

By: Eric Gross August 01, 2002

New restaurant to open this fall

BREWSTER - Fine dining will soon be coming to Brewster when the village
railroad station becomes home to a restaurant called Carried Away.

Tom Opdyke, proprietor of the Depot Café in Brewster and Christine
Traystman, a former commuter from New Fairfield who recently retired from
FOX Television as director of programming, signed a 20-year lease last week
with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to locate a restaurant in the
train station that will provide full service breakfast, lunch and dinner as
well as a drop-off dry cleaning establishment.

Plans call for the restaurant to be open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Mr.
Opdyke will be handling breakfast each day while his partner will prepare
homemade lunch and dinner as well as take-out orders.

Carried Away will feature outdoor dining. "Tables will be placed at the rear
of the station so diners will be able to enjoy the ambiance of Brewster
while enjoying their meal," he said.

Repairs on the station will soon be getting under way. "Old signs will be
removed and brick will be replaced. The station will be given a fresh coat
of paint. My goal is to make the railroad station look the way it did when
it opened in 1933," said Mr. Opdyke.

Inside the station, benches will remain for passengers to wait for trains.
The current ticket booth will be relocated to the opposite side of the
station. The former ticket booth will become a kitchen and counters.

During her days of commuting from Brewster to Grand Central Station, Mrs.
Traystman remembered leaving Putnam at 5:45 a.m. and returning home at 8:15
p.m. "I tried to do all my cooking for the week ahead of time, but there
were times when things got so hectic that cooking was not possible. The only
alternatives were Chinese take-out and pizza. My husband and I got sick of
the same old bill of fare and decided that Brewster needed an alternative,"
she said.

Mrs. Traystman decided to approach Mr. Opdyke about sub-leasing his Bagel
Depot in the evenings. "We learned about the MTA's plans to bid the train
station and Tom and I decided to become partners," she said.

Mrs. Traystman admitted being "very, very excited. This is a major career
change for me. Besides, it's nice knowing that our business venture will
change the future of Brewster."

Brewster Mayor John Cesar said the new restaurant would breathe new life
into Brewster. "Brewster is on the move. This is another step towards its
rebirth," he said.

Ross Weale, president of the not-for-profit Putnam County Economic
Development Corporation agreed. "Brewster has great potential. A restaurant
in the train station, which attracts more than 1,000 commuters each day, is
a natural. I wish the owners well in their business venture."

Carried Away hopes to open this fall. The proprietors estimated $150,000 to
$175,000 in renovations were needed in the 3,150 square-foot station.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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