(rshsdepot) Topeka, Garden City & Dodge City, KS

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Topeka Capital-Journal.
 
Original story and photos at:
_http://www.cjonline.com/stories/042908/loc_273244256.shtml_ (ht
tp://www.cjonline.com/stories/042908/loc_273244256.shtml) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Daily Dose: Renovating the rail
Grants fund improvements at Kansas  stations

By Mike Hall
The Capital-Journal
Published Tuesday, April 29,  2008

The Topeka Amtrak station received a relatively modest sprucing up in  2006.
 
Dodge City's Santa Fe depot restoration project cost $11 million and was  
done in phases between 1999 and 2003.
 
Garden City's depot was restored during an $800,000 project that started in  
2001.

John Mills, a Topeka Amtrak volunteer, pushed for a renovation project  in 
2006 to improve the sidewalks and roof and touch up the walls with paint at  the 
station. He also helped the station get a new Amtrak sign.

John Mills, who pushed for the project, said it was adequate for the  level 
of service Topeka receives from Amtrak.
 
"The outside looks a lot worse than the inside," he said.
 
The BNSF, which owns the building, along with a number of community  
volunteers, repaired broken sidewalks, painted, installed new lights on the  train 
platform, made some roof repairs and arranged to get a new Amtrak  sign.
 
Mills also offered a bit of history unknown to many Topekans. The present  
day station is built around the original 19th century Santa Fe depot. The  
original building was two stories tall. That was cut down to one and a limestone  
exterior created.In addition to supporting supplemental Amtrak service, many  
localities around the country are sprucing up their passenger stations — or 
even  building new ones.
 
And little, if any, local tax money is involved in many cases, although a  
lot of money-raising work is required. Many grants from government and  
non-government organizations are being tapped.
 
A few hours down the line, the Southwest Chief that passes through Topeka  
arrives first at Dodge City, then Garden City. Both have made improvements in  
recent years to make train travel a little more pleasant even before the train  
arrives.
 
Here are some of the changes the stations have made:
 
Dodge City
 
The Santa Fe depot restoration project cost $11 million and was done in  
phases between 1999 and 2003.
 
Besides the Amtrak Station, the building now is home to the Depot Theater  
Company.
 
Don Steele, the theater's artistic director, said more than half the $11  
million came from federal ISTEA historic preservation grants and much of the  
rest from other federal and state sources and private foundations.
 
Garden City
 
An $800,000 restoration of the Garden City depot was begun in the summer of  
2001 with the aim of restoring it to its original 1907 look, even to the 
extent  of removing all the existing brick, cleaning it and relaying it.
 
Steve Cottrell, city engineer in Garden City, said 80 percent of the cost  
came from the successor to the ISTEA federal grant program, with the city  
putting up the other 20 percent.
 
Mike Hall can be reached at (785) 295-1209 or _mike.hall_@_cjonline.com_ 
(mailto:mike.hall_@_cjonline.com) . Comment on this  story at cjonline.com.



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1718
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org