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From the Roanoke Times at<br>
<a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/219264" eudora="autourl">
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/219264</a><br><br>
<h1><font size=5><b>Station renovation gets nod<br><br>
</b></font></h1><h4><b>The Virginian Railway station has been exposed to
the elements since a 2001 fire.</b></h4><font size=2>By
<a href="mailto:kevin.kittredge@roanoke.com">Kevin Kittredge</a><br>
</font><font size=1> 981-3323<br><br>
</font>The Roanoke Times | File 2002<br><br>
The Virginian Railway passenger station in Roanoke has been approved for
a $2.4 million renovation project.<br><br>
Renovation work on Roanoke's historic Virginian Railway passenger station
is about to get under way at last, say members of the National Railway
Historical Society, which owns it.<br><br>
Saving the station at Williamson Road and Jefferson Street, which was
badly damaged in a 2001 fire, has long been a priority for historic
preservationists and railroad buffs. Some $500,000 in federal funds was
designated for the project years ago, but actual work has been slowed by
government regulations and red tape, said Skip Salmon, secretary of the
historical society's Roanoke chapter. Among the issues has been proving
the project will not negatively affect the habitat of an endangered fish
species in the Roanoke River, he said.<br><br>
The project finally got the go-ahead Sept. 10. A call for bids for the
first of three construction phases, to secure the walls and install a
rudimentary roof, will be published in several newspapers this Sunday,
including The Roanoke Times, Salmon said.<br><br>
The Virginian Railway, which operated in Virginia and West Virginia in
the first half of the 20th century, was a competitor to the Norfolk and
Western Railway. Its passenger station was built in 1909. The Virginian
merged with the N&W in 1959, and most of its buildings and rolling
stock have vanished.<br><br>
Of the few remaining Virginian passenger stations, the Roanoke station is
the most historically significant, historians say, with its blond brick
facade, red tile roof and terrazzo floors. For decades after the merger,
the small but distinctive building served as a feed store. Fire gutted it
in 2001, and it has been deteriorating ever since. Norfolk Southern Corp.
donated the building to the local chapter of the historical society in
2003.<br><br>
The first phase of the renovation project is geared toward stabilization,
said Ron Rodkey, an engineer with Spectrum Design, which is handling the
structural engineering work on the project. Workers will repair walls and
install a temporary roof, which should keep water out for a year or
more.<br><br>
The project's first phase will also include "hazardous material
abatement" -- the building contains asbestos and lead paint -- and
vegetation removal, Rodkey said. The insides of the passenger station and
its adjacent small depot contain a quantity of scrubby growth. Later
stages of the project will include the interior work and roof
tiles.<br><br>
The entire project will cost $2.4 million, said James Cosby, treasurer of
Roanoke's historical society chapter. He said a request for federal funds
administered by the city to help with environmental cleanup is
pending.<br><br>
Salmon said they are gearing up for a fundraising drive and hope to use
historic tax credits as well. The completed project will include space
for storing Virginian archival material and office space to rent to help
pay for keeping the building open. <br><br>
But the first step is halting the deterioration. Cosby said a contractor
will be chosen in mid-October and work could be under way just a month
after that.<br><br>
"We're confident once we get started we'll be able to keep
going," Salmon said.<br>
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