Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Charles "Mac" McNew of South End Construction Inc. looks over the damaged interior of the Pulaski train depot, which caught fire in November.

The Roanoke Times | File November

The Roanoke Times | File 2007

| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

PULASKI -- Nearly a year after fire destroyed the town's historic train depot and museum, officials kicked off a $1.15 million restoration project on Monday.

Residents and town staffers gathered in the station's parking lot adjacent to Dora Highway Park to watch as town councilmen and contractors cut a red streamer atop the burned-out building, signifying that the rebuilding can begin.

For many onlookers, the ribbon cutting was the start to bringing back a piece of Pulaski history.

"I used to come down here to play," said 60-year-old Virginia Tabor. She lived about a block away on Commerce Street and, like many other town children, would use the station's large scale to weigh herself. Others recalled catching the train to relatives' homes or picking up family for reunions.

Refurbishing the 2,400-square-foot landmark is a special moment Tabor made certain to see.

The town signed a contract with South End Construction Inc. of Roanoke and is working with Winston-Salem, N.C., architect David Gall to refurbish the inside.

The construction itself should cost $1.15 million, and the architectural contract is $85,000, said Town Manager John Hawley.

Insurance will pick up about $1.104 million of the project, and the town council may have to fund anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000 of the project, Hawley said, but the restoration will take place.

"Just like the town that surrounds it ... it will not let one setback keep it down," he said.

Since the Nov. 17 fire, the station's roof has been covered with a white tarp to shield the structure from further damage.

Inside, the station -- which was built in 1886, with an addition in 1904 -- still smells of charred wood. A small hole in an awning appears to have let in birds, but Gall said much of the original workmanship can be retained.

Plans call for restoration of the hardwood floors, windows and wood paneling. The "improved" depot, as Mayor Jeff Worrell called it, is expected to have two conference rooms -- one large and one small -- a small kitchen area and will be set up for ticketing in the event that passenger rails takes off once more. Otherwise, it is likely to be used for conferences, event receptions and school field trips.

Hawley said he'd like to see the majority of the completion of the project by June 11, the same day it was rededicated after a restoration in 1994. That date would be ideal because the number of the last train to roll through the station was 611.

Mike Howdyshell, secretary-treasurer of South End, said the nature of the restoration could take the full year, but he hopes to have it complete within 10 months.

The Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Museum, which was housed in the station until the fire, will reopen across the street from the station. Town council had voted to move the museum before the fire.

Many of the decades-old artifacts housed in the station were lost in the blaze, but much of the relics remain intact, Worrell said.