The Reading built many splendid depots along its lines, a number of which contained housing for their Agents. This station at Hopewell, NJ on their mainline between Philadelphia New York City was built in 1876 for the Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad. I'm not sure how the station is being used; passenger service ended in the early 1980s on this line. A similar station at Pennington, NJ also survives. Here's a shot I took 40+ Years ago in the summer of '76 when passenger trains called on Hopewell and it was a busier place. Only one track remains today.
When you care about artistic history, you donate to the arts. In other words, the restorer was more interested in recreating what he/she thought was worth saving and restoring rather than saving money.
The following story has some details about the station's rescue and restoration: http://princetoninfo.com/index.php/component/us1more/?key=6-13-12hopewell
On the day that I took the above b&w photo, the Agent invited me into his bay window office and gave me an assortment of RDG paper, saying that with CR now owning the line, everything RDG had to be trashed. It was a kind gesture and it meant the world to a teenager crazy about trains. The nearby Pennington, NJ similar depot is built of stone. It too is nicely restored and is a residence. One of my cousins attended a gathering there and said that the structure is so solidly built that a passing train could hardly be felt or heard.
Thought I should add my shot of the Reading's Hope Tower at Hopewell, NJ as it looked in July of 1980, long closed at the time. It no longer stands.
I like it too that some railroads spent money on architectural details, such as the RDG did at Hope Tower, indenting a course of brickwork every few feet. Hope Tower was built in 1914. It would have been easier and cheaper to delete this, but the RDG often exhibited a touch of class and permanence in its structures. The same brick detail appears at the RDG's Weston (NJ) Tower, built in 1918. I shot this in July 1985. I'm uncertain if Weston remains.
