(rshsdepot) Delaware Water Gap, PA

["J. Henry Priebe Jr." <root_@_bluemoon.net>]

Article includes a photo of the work at the below URL.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090406/NEWS/904060320

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr.    Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
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Railroad restoration gets on track in Delaware Water Gap

By SUSAN JORSTAD
For the Pocono Record
April 06, 2009

The newly organized Delaware Water Gap Station Preservation Project is
gathering steam in its efforts to restore and maintain the historic railroad
station and surrounding riverfront park.

"Our goal is to restore the beautiful historic station that has not been in
service since the 1950s," said Pat Gaughan, secretary/communications
coordinator of the Delaware Water Gap Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her
husband, Terry, president at the DWG chamber, are volunteering their time to
publicize the station project.

The landmark was known as the "Gateway to the Poconos" from 1904 until the
1940s.

"The borough bought the building for $1 in 1958, from the Delaware and
Lackawanna Railroad; it fell into disrepair nine years ago," said contractor
Marty Bartholomew of Smithfield Township, noting that efforts by the
Lackawanna Chapter of the Railroad and Historic Locomotive Society got the
site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bartholomew, who designed the multiphase roofing plan for the station and is
overseeing much of the work, said the toughest thing is securing ongoing
funding through grants, but hopes that the federal stimulus package may have
funding available.

Temporary measures secured the building from collapsing, including a temporary
roof erected over the existing roof. Because the original roof was too
delicate for workers to work on directly, Bartholomew sought equipment to
access the roof from above.

John Haines, of Haines and Kibblehouse, provided a highlift for a six-week
period to accomplish much of the first phase of a multiphase roofing plan that
began in December. Phase one entailed removing the old structure and
installing a new roof.

"That's where we're at now," Bartholomew said. "We've raised enough money to
cover the 70-foot-long freight house plus a 30-foot breezeway, both of which
were collapsing."

The next stage will be to repair the roof of the canopy, and then to repair
the roof of the passenger terminal.

Although the restoration group hopes for more state and federal funding, it
relies on and will continue to look to private donations.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1869
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org