RE: (rshsdepot) Southport CT Train Station - a photoset on Flickr

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Sorry to see this.  Here's a story from the Connecticut Post which provides
more details.  It seems, based on this story, that it's not felt the
building can be salvaged.  

You'll find additional pictures at
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_7885978 

Bernie Wagenblast

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fire destroys train terminal

ANDREW BROPHY abrophy_@_ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 01/05/2008 12:30:54 AM EST

A fire early Friday at the Southport Railroad Station shut down rail service
and heavily damaged the westbound terminal that houses an art gallery, but
the majority of $80,000 worth of art was saved.

Fire Chief Richard Felner said the westbound depot, which dates to the
mid-1800s, is a total loss. "I think it has to be torn down, my personal
opinion. Structurally, the building's not sound," he said.

Metro-North westbound rail station, shut down at 6 a.m. Friday because of
fire damage to the depot, was restored to normal by about 2 p.m. Eastbound
service was not affected.

First Selectman Kenneth Flatto called it regrettable that a historically
notable structure in the Southport section of town has been so severely
damaged.

"It is in total disrepair, and, unfortunately, it was totally gutted and
ruined by this fire, with major, major damage," he said.

Fire Marshal William Kessler said the 12:14 a.m. blaze, which had engulfed
the westbound depot when firefighters arrived, started inside the station
but its cause remains under investigation.

Fire officials would not rule out arson, and police are investigating
whether the theft of a police car parked near the fire scene could be
related to the fire itself.

The John L. Simpson Co. in Bridgeport had just started to renovate bathrooms
in the station to make them accessible to the disabled. "Anything's
possible, but I would like to think it wasn't our fault," said Tim Keegan,
the company's owner.

Keegan said his workers left only a vacuum cleaner and radio in the train
station, and that both had been unplugged and hidden. He said the workers
left the train station about 3 p.m. Thursday and that the train station
remained open until 7 p.m. "All we did was board up the two bathrooms so
nobody could get in," he said.

The state Fire Marshal's office brought dogs to the scene to try to detect
if accelerants were used to ignite the blaze, but Felner said results of
that investigation probably wouldn't be available for a few days. "Even if
the dogs smell it, they take a sample to see what the accelerant was," he
said.

Kessler said he wasn't aware of an obvious indication that an accelerant was
used, such as a gas can left near the station.

Wood in the train station, Keegan said, was "extremely old and dry."

No one was injured in the fire, Flatto said.

The westbound platform is expected to be fully open to westbound passengers
today, and Town Planning Director Joseph Devonshuk Jr. said people who have
permits to park at the Southport Railroad Station will be given permission
to park at the Fairfield Railroad Station as well.

A heated shelter will be set up for Southport commuters to replace the
fire-ravaged waiting room, possibly by the middle of next week, said state
Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, representing Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

The state Department of Transportation, which owns the railroad station
building, will "reconstruct the Southport station as soon as is physically
possible," Rell said in a statement.

It wasn't clear Friday who would pay to build a new train station, which
Flatto estimated at more than $1 million. He said the building was covered
by insurance.

Marjorie Anders, a Metro-North Railroad spokeswoman, said about 300 people
commute daily from the Southport Railroad Station. McKinney said they won't
have to pay the standard penalty on fares bought on board trains.

The DOT leased the train station building to the town's Parking Authority,
which subleased the west section of the structure to Art/Place, a local art
gallery, for 25 years.

Art/Place had just opened a solo exhibition of oil-based paintings and
woodcut prints by Don Axelroad, said Florence Zolan, a founder of Art/Place.

Axelroad, who lives in Stamford, has exhibited artwork at the Boston Museum
of Art, Brooklyn Museum and Philadelphia Museum.

Axelroad said 38 of 40 oil-based paintings and woodcut prints in the train
station were saved. They had been installed at the gallery Wednesday, Zolan
said.

"The opening reception was supposed to be Sunday, which obviously is not
going to happen," Zolan said.

Axelroad said the exhibition of his artwork is now planned instead Jan. 13
at the Carriage Barn Art Center in Waveny Park in New Canaan. He said he is
grateful to firefighters who saved his paintings.

"I'm going to do something for them. I'm going to treat them for lunch," he
said.

Firefighters said the fire originated in the main part of the station
building and not the westerly section leased by Art/Place.

Firefighters had to contend not only with frigid temperatures early Friday,
but also slick conditions, as water from hoses rapidly froze in the train
station's parking lot. "It was like an ice skating rink," Felner said.

Off-duty firefighters were called in to help battle the blaze, and Westport
and Bridgeport firefighters covered Fire Stations 1 and 2 in case other
calls came in, Felner said.

Firefighters had the blaze under control in about an hour, Felner said.

Zolan said Art/Place hopes to find a new home and that people with ideas
about alternate sites could contact her at florencezolan_@_sbcglobal.net.

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