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Re: (rshsdepot) Guilford, CT - Abandoned Amtrak Buildings Still In Limbo
This is disgraceful, doesn't Amtrak have better things to do with their
money than eradicate ancient landmarks???
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 4:31 PM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Guilford, CT - Abandoned Amtrak Buildings Still In
Limbo
From the Hartford (CT) Courant...
Abandoned Amtrak Buildings Still In Limbo
January 8, 2003
By MAURICE TIMOTHY REIDY, Courant Staff Writer
GUILFORD -- Three years ago, Amtrak tore down a 150-year-old barn that had
served as the town's train station, shocking town officials who were
planning to rehabilitate the historic building.
Amtrak, which said the building was in danger of collapsing, eventually
apologized and made a peace offering: the town could buy the Amtrak-owned
water tower and engine house for $1.
And yet today both brick buildings are still abandoned - and still owned by
Amtrak.
"As far as I know, we're still interested [in buying the buildings]," said
Republican Selectman Charles Bishop. "But it's sort of been on the back
burner."
Part of the problem is that the town is unsure what to do with the
buildings, which sit across from the railroad parking lot. Town leaders
investigated incorporating them into a new station, but the state - which
has its own plans for a new station - nixed the idea because of the high
cost.
The Guilford Preservation Alliance, a local historical society, has
proposed converting the buildings into "usable space," such as an art
gallery or performance space.
In the group's newsletter, Alliance member Bob Gordon wrote: "The Amtrak
vandalism has opened a way to retrieve an important part of our railroad
heritage, to make the depot again a vital part of the community."
But that will cost money. The site may require an extensive environmental
cleanup, especially the house where the engines were stored.
The buildings were built in 1870, 20 years after the New Haven and New
London Railway Co. first laid tracks in Guilford. An aerial photograph of
Guilford from 1939 shows both buildings to be in good shape.
The engine house is a one-story building with cemented windows; the water
tower is taller and shaped like an octagon, with a skeleton roof.
State Sen. William Aniskovich, who met with Amtrak officials following the
removal of the old barn, still hopes the two buildings can be part of the
new train station.
Aniskovich called the buildings "an important part of Guilford's history"
and said they could be used to make a "consumer-friendly train station."
But restoration of the buildings does not seem to be a high priority.
Revaluation notices were mailed out last month and a referendum on a $55
million middle school expansion project is scheduled for next week.
Still, Gordon argues it is a mistake to postpone the purchase and
rehabilitation of the two historic, railside buildings.
"As time passes the price of rehabilitation can only go higher," he wrote
in the Alliance newsletter, "and the opportunity may indeed be lost
forever."
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
------------------------------