Thursday, November 15, 2007
Train group engineering site's revival
A fire-damaged former train station is on track to be turned into a leasable business site.
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Photos by Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times
Skip Salmon (left) and Jim Cosby are with the Roanoke chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, which is helping in the effort to reopen a former Virginian Railway train station property in Roanoke. The site (below) was damaged by a fire about seven years ago.
Railroad buffs have garnered more than $500,000 of the $2.2 million needed to renovate the fire-damaged former Virginian Railway train station property in Roanoke.
The Roanoke chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation hope to reopen the registered landmark in the fall of 2009, providing leased space for a business or organization and displays about Roanoke's rich railroading history. The former station was hit by fire nearly seven years ago and later donated by Norfolk Southern Corp. to historians.
Two one-story brick buildings stand side-by-side with a common orange-tiled roof and breezeway, less than 50 yards from tracks that now carry mainly freight. One building sheltered departing rail passengers and the other held baggage and package express; both date to 1909. The station closed in 1956 as construction began on the national highway system, a project that, along with the rise of air travel, ultimately reduced demand for passenger rail service nationwide. The facility was converted into offices and later a country store.
But fire damage and deterioration have taken their toll, leaving part of the roof open, roof tiles in disarray and the flared eaves in tatters. It is encircled by a fence, creating an eyesore a few blocks north along Jefferson Street from Carilion Clinic's expanding medical campus and adjacent to the Mill Mountain Greenway with its growing bicycle and pedestrian traffic. It frequently makes various lists of endangered, important structures.
After years of planning, lobbying and fundraising, those who want the old station saved say they are almost ready to begin construction. Last week the chapter distributed a request for proposals from architects and engineering firms to draw renovation plans. The chapter's goal is to hire an architect by mid-January and finish in October 2009, the year of the building's 100th anniversary.
"We'll be trying to get it as close as possible to the way it was," said Alison Blanton, committee chairwoman and an architectural historian.
Project backers are accepting donations and applying for more grants to supplement support already won from the Virginia Department of Transportation and the federal government. They plan to launch a fundraising campaign on a date not yet announced.
When the project is complete, plans are for the 2,720-square-foot former passenger building to be leased. The renovation team's first choice would be a not-for-profit organization as a tenant. But the backers will consider leasing to a business, said James Cosby, chapter treasurer.
"It's possible that it could be a restaurant," Cosby said. But he noted that any future tenant would have to be aware that the property is in a flood plain.
Cosby said his team has obtained two grants: $260,486 from the federal government and $267,000 from VDOT.
Both require project backers to use a substantial part of the property for a not-for-profit use. To that end, the railroad group plans historical displays in the former baggage building to highlight the impact of the Virginian Railway on the development of the Roanoke Valley and the state's train industry. Also envisioned is a rest stop with public toilets for bicyclists and hikers, Cosby said.
The Virginian Railway, formed in 1907 from the Tidewater Railway and Deepwater Railway, merged with Norfolk & Western Railway in 1959. N&W merged with Southern Railway in 1982 to create Norfolk Southern.
