(rshsdepot) San Bernardino, CA

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From The Press-Enterprise.
 
To see original story and pictures, visit:
_http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_R_bhosts05.4260cea
.html_ 
(http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_R_bhosts05.4260cea.html) #
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

San Bernardino depot is open for rail travelers, thanks to historical  
society volunteers

10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, March 4, 2008
 
By CHRIS RICHARD
The Press-Enterprise 
 
Amtrak's Southwest Chief glided into San Bernardino on Monday just as the  
snow-capped mountains to the northwest caught the first faint flush of  dawn.
 
About a dozen passengers, some still rubbing sleep from their eyes, stepped  
from the cars and drifted toward the station.
 
Before this week, that sleepy straggle would have come up short outside a  
locked door.
 
But Monday, thanks to a Station Host program staffed by volunteers from two  
local historical societies, the Santa Fe Depot stood brightly lit and ready to 
 receive guests.
 
Volunteers and city officials hope opening the station twice a day for  
Amtrak's 5:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. trains will, at last, bring about the depot's  
long-awaited revitalization.
 
"The station was always supposed to be open to the public on a regular  
basis. It's about time we get something like this going," said Allen Bone, vice  
president of the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society.
 
Under an agreement that took effect Saturday, Amtrak will pay $500 per  month 
for the next 20 years to maintain a Station Host program at the depot. The  
Historical and Pioneer Society and the San Bernardino Railroad Historical  
Society will provide volunteers to meet the morning and evening trains.
 
In exchange, the groups will receive $400 per month to help build a  
historical and railroad museum in a former station luggage room, said D'Ann  Lanning, 
an aide to San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris. The remaining $100 of the  Amtrak 
stipend will go to the San Bernardino Associated Governments, the depot's  
half-owner and main tenant, to oversee the host program, Lanning said.
 
San Bernardino finished a $15.6 million restoration of the railroad depot  
four years ago. Amtrak had operated a ticket counter when the building  
renovation began, but declined to sign a new lease when it reopened, SANBAG  
spokeswoman Jane Dreher said.
 
With no other tenant to watch over the depot's elegant lobby and ticketing  
area, SANBAG officials had no choice but to keep it locked, Dreher said.
 
Amtrak administrators worried about passengers' safety, spokeswoman Vernae  
Graham said.
 
"I hear the area around that location is not very desirable," she said. "We  
have to make sure our customers are in a safe and secure environment."
 
In July, Amtrak warned Morris that it would drop the San Bernardino stop  
unless the depot lobby was reopened, Graham said. That would have made Riverside  
the only stop between Fullerton and Victorville, she said.
 
Morris called the arrangement with the historical societies an ideal  
solution, a first step toward reviving the station as a cultural and economic  hub.
 
"This is all about partnerships," he said. "Nobody had the ability to do  
this alone. But if we all get in the boat and row together, we can make this  
happen."
 
For Martha Morales, a passenger on the Monday-morning train, the decision  to 
reopen the station came at the right time.
 
Her husband, due to meet her at the train, was running about 10 minutes  
late. So Morales trundled her luggage inside.
 
"It's very nice here," she said. "It makes it a nice way to come  home."
 
Help Wanted
 
The San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society is seeking volunteers for  
a Station Host program at the city's Santa Fe Depot.
 
Contact: sbhistoricalsociety @mac.com or  909-885-2204



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