Tragic to see that, pieces of a building are so useless taken out of their proper context. I remember my local station in England being torn down overnight by the maniacs/criminal element of British Rail in 1984, fake discussions, hopes and and empty promises. It was terribly sad and unneccessary, and it still hurts me to this day. A load of the pieces were found on a farm recently, but mean little without the rest of the structure.
Chin up as they say and onto the next project, at least you had the guts to take this on.

Mike Pannell
Car 57 project
DSP&P 3 'Geneva' project
Caboose 2516 project

It is depressing Mike. You put a year and a half into one thing, only for it not to work out. Thank goodness we had the idea to think of other options before this happened so we (as a group) didn't get caught with our pants around our legs. All we can do now is focus on full 501c(3) status before we work towards our secondary goal of constructing a replica of the 1850s depot. I'm thinking it's going to take a few years before we're fully ready for enacting our plans for a replica.

Dylan Lambert

Just in the Telegram and Gazette (one of our local papers) from yesterday, but the police caught the man who torched the depot last september. Here's the link to the T&G article:
http://www.telegram.com/article/20111216/NEWS/112169864

Figured an update is necessary. So, after our failed campaign, we have decided that eventually (because we have no idea how long this will take) we will construct a replica of the 1850s depot. Because it was a wooden structure, construction costs will be less than it would have taken to rebuild the Richardson depot. We have a few pictures to work from, but that just won't do! To remedy that problem, some time within the next few weeks, I'll be taking a sabbatical to the Chester Railway Station Museum to get as many photographs as my SD card can hold, hopefully accompanied by the taking of external measurements if so allowed to do so. It helps that both the surviving Chester station and the 1850s wooden depot used incredibly similar architecture, but the main difference being in the length of the two buildings. I've also started work on a rough (and I stress rough) render of the 1850s depot in GMAX by setting up a template to work from once I get the remaining information I'll need.
Dylan

There's a developement as of today; we are looking for information regarding the process that would be required to become into a NRHS chapter (this idea should be credited to it's originator, a one Bill Willis). Is there anyone who can offer advice or suggestions on how we proceed? At the same time, does anyone have ideas on how we can develop as a group? Or better yet, just throw in ideas and blurbs. Something is ALWAYS better than nothing.
Dylan Lambert

The mailing address for the Director of Chapter Development is shown on their website:

http://www.nrhs.com/contact

But why not join the Seven Railroads Chapter of NRHS in Palmer, just twenty miles away? Are there enough potential members out that way to support yet another NRHS chapter in such close proximity, considering that the Amherst Railway Society is also about 45 minutes drive?

PC

Not that I haven't thought of joining on a personal level, but if we took our group and folded it into another group, not only do we put ourselves at risk, we could overextend another group. Lucky for us, we have a local model railroad club, the Quabog Valley Railroaders, that we may be able to draw on for membership. I'd love a working relationship with Seven Railroads. If this whole thing pans out as I hope, working with them on different smaller projects is game in my book. That would be dependent on whatever opportunities present themselves.

After talking to Dan last night, I garnered that the group was killed at the last tax round. Dan just couldn't justify keeping it active, so me and Dennis Lebeau are starting from square one. I feel bad for Dan; he just seems to have a strong sense of defeat in regards to the campaign for the Richardson depot. Personally, I can't wait to get started. I believe the saying is "let the games begin".

I would suggest that you join an existing group and participate in their preservation efforts, particularly if you do not have any clear objectives or business plan at this time. Get some experience, learn what is needed, then you can make a more informed decision on whether you want to set up your own organization, if there really is a need for it. There are plenty of active organizations in preservation that need help right now.

If the group was "killed at the last tax round", shouldn't the website be updated to indicate that, and why is it still asking for donations?

PC

Not sure why he didn't update it after the depot was demolished though to indicate the current state of affairs, or the dissolution of the group.... The website was his domain. I'm moreover surprised he didn't tell us. Dan has his reasons, but I'm not going to pry; for him this whole thing has become a painful topic.

Painful or not, once you start a non-profit group, you have an obligation to let the public know if the group is being disbanded, remove any requests for donations, and also to indicate how it is being dissolved. Dead websites sailing along asking people to send money to an organization that no longer exists are not a good idea.

The edits to that website would take less than ten minutes effort.

PC

I'll see what I can do.

Well if you come out of this with only a dead website running on autopilot, then you have achieved just as much as some preservation groups that spent a lot of time and effort plus many dollars to get to that result.

S. S. Nobska comes to mind immediately, on autopilot since 2006.

http://www.nobska.org/

PC

I recently recieved the paperwork for the NRHS charter application and the outline of information that has answered the majority of my questions. The main issue has been finding eight more charter members so the chapter will meet the minimum requirement of ten individuals for a charter to be awarded. While not impossible, the progress has been slow to say the least. I've been thinking on the scope of the chapter, and it's clear that while East Brookfield has some railroad history, there isn't enough to be a major draw; if anything, there isn't enough to draw attention of anyone to the future chapter. So after some discussions with one of my friends, it would be entirely logical to cover the history of railroads in Worcester County primarily. While I still haven't finished the list of companies that have operated in Worcester County, my current list puts that number close to 20 individual entities since the 1830s. I'm going to contact Elisa Krochmalnyckj, who covered the saga leading to the demolition of the depot in one of our local publications (the Spencer New Leader), to see if she can help me in spreading the word of our current plan. It's going to be fun fitting all this in with the new job starting Thursday... Some advice on dealing with the organizational stresses that are beginning to mount would be much appreciated!

But why not join the Seven Railroads Chapter of NRHS in Palmer, just twenty miles away? Are there enough potential members out that way to support yet another NRHS chapter in such close proximity, considering that the Amherst Railway Society is also about 45 minutes drive?
PC

It seems your words may have been prophetic Preston. The clerk for the ARS helped me by putting the word out on my chapter project, and Phil Johnson of Seven Railroads NRHS emailed me in the hopes I could help him with ideas on how to properly organize the chapter, which he admited had no real direction. After an email discussion, I recieved an email from him where he stated that the majority of the current membership had come to a consensus that they wished me to take over their chapter. What concerns me is how many people may leave, so I need a plan to keep them on board. I also have had some of my aquantiences who were interested with the original chapter idea, and so far I've discussed the development with only a two of them, as at the time there was no set date for a chapter meeting. With that meeting set for December 10, it looks like I now have a timeline to work with...
Dylan Lambert
Edit:The meeting timings have been finalized as follows (if anyone wants to swing by, I ask you send me a PM so I have an idea of who to expect is coming);
Saturday December 8, 2012
1:00 PM at the Steaming Tender in Palmer, MA