Gap, PA Station Demolished

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=EastPenn;action=display;num=1296693623;start=0#0

I had the pleasure to ride Amtrak to Harrisburg last month, and I was happy to see so many PRR touchstones still standing. Most surprising to me was the Gap depot, which I thought had been removed years a go. Well, it has now.

Rob

ebtrr · **Posted:** Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:48 am

i was curious what it looked like before and found this photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandersonjack15/3589462314/in/faves-32118092@N04/

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

I still have to pinch myself when I think I really DID see a PRR 4-4-0 and 4-4-2 race by the Gap depot with a rake of vintage coaches. It was one of the few VERY few moments where I put the camera down and just observed. I will never forget that day.... and neither will the steam preservation field in general. As I join hundreds of others in a keystone timewarp, N&W #611 & crew was having a terrible day on the ground in the Great Dismal Swamp.

Rob

Wowak · **Posted:** Thu Feb 03, 2011 1:32 pm

Doesn't look that much could have been done to save the depot:

PLATFORMCAR · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:22 pm **Posts:** 429

thought a few members wouldn't mind seeing the station from about a year ago... This was long before the demo crew showed up...

Dean Levin

060 Hogger · **Posted:** Thu Feb 03, 2011 4:04 pm

Too bad about the old station.
The Wonderful News is the First Rate Roadbed, concrete ties and welded rail of the Amtrak Keystone line from Philly to Harrisburg. A joy to ride at 110 mph under the 25 KV 60 Hz catenary. I may like old trains, but I like new modern trains doing a great job even more. Ridership on this line has increased something like 25 % in the past year or so.

limejuice · **Joined:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:58 pm **Posts:** 80

060 Hogger wrote:

A joy to ride at 110 mph under the 25 KV 60 Hz catenary.

Still 11KV 25Hz 'round these parts.

robertmacdowell · **Posted:** Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:05 pm

I've seen worse saved.

Grass Lake Michigan - burnt and nothing but stone walls, then restored.
http://grasslakehistoricalrental.com/

Tehachapi CA - burned to the ground and restored.
Before http://www.flickr.com/photos/stars4esther/2579290429/
After http://www.flickr.com/photos/stars4esther/5337320208/

Roanoke VA - serious fire damage, restoration underway
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/258004

In all those locales, a) somebody gave a carp, and b) the railroad let them within 100 feet of the property.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Robert -

Great examples! Wasn't there also a New Haven Railroad junction depot named Canaan (or something like that) that suffered major fire damage and was restored?

Les

Howard P. · **Posted:** Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:38 am

Yes. Arson fire by "youts" in 2001 or so; state grant money to rebuild.

Howard P.

mikefrommontana · **Posted:** Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:08 am

The examples given are reconstructions following fire, which might imply the avaiability of insurance money and buildings that started out with more structural integrity than the Gap depot possessed. When a depot gets to the condition that the Gap depot did, it implies that there is no champion for the building, or a purpose for the building were it restored. The junction depot listed a couple months ago that CSX tore down (fire damage) would have been a better candidate for reconstruction--were there a group to champion the cause--with money in hand.

The amazing thing is that this ruin survived as long as it did, or that Amtrak didn't try to dispose of the building much sooner.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT