(rshsdepot) Robbins, NC

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Fay Observer.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Robbins set to start depot work
 

By Sarah A. Reid
Staff writer

ROBBINS — Robbins plans to pay  $265,000 to rehabilitate a historic train 
depot even though the town may not be  able to use the building for long.
 
The town wants to replace the depot’s rotting wood, repoint bricks and  plane 
the wood floor, said Town Manager Brant Sikes. The town is working with  the 
state Historic Preservation Commission.
 
“It needs to look the way it looked back in the day,” Sikes said.
 
The Robbins Board of Commissioners voted Aug. 14 to use $212,000 in state  
Department of Transportation grants and $53,000 in matching funds to  
rehabilitate the vacant building.
 
The town sublets the Middleton Street depot from Aberdeen Carolina &  Western 
Railroad. The depot is owned by Norfolk Southern Corp., which leases its  
track and the depot to Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railroad.
 
Robbins’ sublease is set to expire Aug. 20, 2013.
 
“We would like a 100 year lease,” Sikes said.
 
Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said his company is  
renegotiating the lease with Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railroad. Their  lease is 
set to expire at the end of the year.
 
Carl Hollowell, the general manager of Aberdeen Carolina & Western  Railroad, 
did not return phone calls.
 
Sikes is hopeful that the sublease will be extended after Aberdeen Carolina  
& Western has a new lease.
 
“They want to work with us,” Sikes said. “They have been really  great.”
 
Sikes said he has met with an architect. Construction must start soon or  the 
state Department of Transportation may revoke a $150,000 grant that was  
awarded in 2000, Sikes said.
 
Once the work is complete, the town may try to have the depot deemed  
historic, Sikes said. The town’s commissioners have not decided how the depot  will 
be used.
 
Staff writer Sarah A. Reid can be reached at _reids_@_fayobserver.com_ 
(mailto:reids_@_fayobserver.com)  or 323-4848, ext.  280.



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