DECEMBER 16, 2010—Preservation Pennsylvania released its annual Pennsylvania At Risk list on December 16, 2010, which highlights 11 endangered resources. At the top of the list was the East Stroudsburg Railroad Station (East Stroudsburg, Monroe County) or Dansbury Depot as it is locally known. The application was submitted by the Save Dansbury Depot Citizens Group. For details see the newsletter [PDF] and the Preservation Pennsylvania website.

OCTOBER 15, 2010— The historic relocation of the East Stroudsburg Railroad Station began "part one" of its journey on a blustery Friday morning at 8:45 am and was over before 10:45 am, in just under two hours when the depot came to rest in its temporary home in borough-owned parking lot on South Kistler Street.

Wolfe Home & Building Movers had everything pretty much ready to go as of Thursday night. Contractors working for the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority prepared three gravel and wood crossing ramps so the depot's three gangs of wheels to could easily navigate over the railroad's single track.

The station had already been moved entirely off its original foundation before 9am, heading directly towards the railroad tracks. By 9:12am, the depot had already begun to move across the tracks.

Foreman Jamin Buckingham remotely operated the six hydraulic power dollies, each with 8 wheels and a self-leveling hydraulic piston that keeps the entire structure level as it moves across the uneven terrain. While the forward or reverse motion of the hydraulic dollies was controlled remotely, the units themselves were steered by hand: a cable synchronized the hitches of all three lead dollies, and was directed by adjusting a ratchet winch from either the north or south side of the building.

After moving perpendicular across the tracks, the depot paused in the grassy railroad-owned area that once was six or seven tracks wide while crews quickly began to clean up materials from the track crossing and transferred some of them to the parking lot to bridge the sidewalk and car bumpers. At about 10am, the depot was again in motion and moving into the parking lot.

At 10:40, a long series of blasts from the mover's air horn (which ironically sounds a lot like a train whistle) signaled the end of the move. Wooden cribs replaced the hydraulic dollies, which with the rest Wolfe's equipment, was packed up and already on its way to another moving job in upstate New York by day's end. A security fence was also installed around the depot.

Under the lease agreement, ECA now has 120 to complete the new foundation and move the depot into its final position, although there is a provision for a one-time 90-day extension; terms unknown.

For the first time since 1856 (when the first station, since demolished, was built), there is no train station fronting either Crystal Street or the former DL&W railroad tracks in East Stroudsburg.

MOVING DATE ANNOUNCED

On Monday, October 11, Wolfe House & Building Movers of Bernville, Pa. (www.wolfehousebuildingmovers.com) began preparations to move the East Stroudsburg Railroad Station from its current site of 146 years to a temporary location across the railroad tracks in the borough-owned Kistler Street parking lot. The move is scheduled for Friday, October 15. The ECA will host an all-day party from 9am-5pm at Miller Park for this historic event. Two 90-foot steel beams have being installed under the depot, with smaller cross-beams inserted through them to create a lifting structure. The building will be jacked up, and a wooden platform built underneath. Wheels with sophisticated self-leveling capabilities will be installed on the steel frame, and on Friday the entire station will be slowly rolled across the railroad tracks and into the parking lot.

Funding for the move has been secured through private grants from the ESSA Bank & Trust Foundation ($200,000) and the Monroe County Commissioners ($100,000). The $300,000 relocation project will be handled by Nauman, Inc. in a no-bid contract, however attendees at the meeting were assured that the proposal was well-vetted and is consistent with the "market costs." The work will include moving the depot to a temporary site, excavation and construction of a new foundation; moving the depot to its permanent site, reconstruction of the demolished southern end of the building, a new roof, and general securing of the building's outer shell. Check here and at the Save Dansbury Depot Facebook page for updates.