(rshsdepot) New Bern, NC

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Sun Journal.
 
Original story and photo at:
_http://www.newbernsj.com/news/depot_38305___article.html/city_move.html_ 
(http://www.newbernsj.com/news/depot_38305___article.html/city_move.html) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Train depot awaiting move, restoration
 


_Nikie  Mayo_ (mailto:nmayo_@_freedomenc.com)  
January 30, 2008 - 7:04PM
 
 
Sun Journal
In January 1951, Lonnie Pridgen hopped a  train at New Bern’s Union Station 
and went off to war. 

“I was in the  National Guard and they activated us, so I got on the train 
here and I ended up  in Germany during the Korean War,” he said today. 

He made a stop in Fort  Campbell, Ky., for training before being sent to 
Germany and he watched some of  his buddies get sent to Korea. But he still 
remembers that ride from Union  Station. 

“I was 17 years old and I didn’t know where I was going to end  up — only 
that I was leaving New Bern to do whatever they told me to do,” he  said. 

The train station is part of one memory or another for many  residents, 
serving as a landmark on Queen Street since 1910. 

Today, the  two-story brick building, which measures more than 7,000 square 
feet, is waiting  for a facelift and a million-dollar move. 

The move has to happen first,  said City Attorney Scott Davis. 

The depot is owned by N.C. Railroad, a  privately run company that is owned 
by the state. Norfolk Southern Railroad has  a lease agreement with the state 
and believes that the depot should not be  renovated that close to the tracks 
its trains have to run on, Davis said.  

“It’s really a safety issue … so after several years of doing this,  we’ve 
come to: ‘Can we move the building?’ ” he said. 

That move is  expected to cost about $1 million, according to city leaders. 
“That’s a  staggering sum,” Davis said. 

So far, about $300,000 — not from city  coffers — has been set aside to pay 
for the move. 

And then there’s the  matter of just where the depot will go. 

“We really don’t know,” Davis  said. “We’re hoping to keep it in the 
historic district so the (city’s) Historic  Preservation Commission will have some 
say over the relocation and the  conditions of the rehabilitation.” 

The city has drafted at relocation  agreement that lays out those terms, but 
Davis says New Bern needs an OK from  the state before the city can do more. 

“But the N.C. Railroad has worked  with us for a number of years,” he said. “
They’ve not been obstructionists.”  

The state is negotiating with several developers about moving the depot.  
Once an agreement is set between the state and a developer, the city will be  
able to move forward, Davis said. City leaders stay in contact with the state  
about the project regularly, he said. 

Nancy Hollows, the president of  the Preservation Legal Action Team, said she 
believes it would be best to  restore the depot where it stands. 

“Sometimes railroads do give  easements,” she said recently. “It would be 
nice to restore it on site … that  would save $800,000 to $1 million just in 
moving it, plus putting down the  foundation.” 

John Wood, a restoration specialist who works in the  state’s Historic 
Preservation Office, said the depot is not as far gone  structurally as it might 
appear to be. He said it is suitable for “wide-open  uses,” including office, 
retail, or a combination of options. 

“It’s made  of pressed brick, which is hard and tough, unlike some of the 
stuff that’s made  today,” Wood said. “Then it’s got that stone trim, which is 
nice. It’s a quality  of construction that really, today, would be 
cost-prohibitive. 

“But  because it was overbuilt in its day, that’s kind of helped it as it 
has been  left to its own devices over the last few years.” 

Wood said that until  about two years ago, a preservation group used the 
depot to store architectural  pieces salvaged from historic homes and buildings. 

“That’s a great  building for New Bern,” Wood said. “It’s a mix of 
Neoclassical and Colonial  Revival stuff, but that’s just from a stylistic 
perspective. Just as important  is that it’s just a cornerstone of the history there.”  





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