Lee Hall Depot

Last updated
Lee Hall, VA
Lee Hall station, July 18, 1983.jpg
Lee Hall station in July 1983
General information
Coordinates 37°11′40″N76°34′21″W / 37.19444°N 76.57250°W / 37.19444; -76.57250
History
OpenedOctober 30, 1977
ClosedOctober 28, 1995
Former services
Preceding station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak Following station
Newport News
Terminus
 Colonial Williamsburg
toward Boston South
James Whitcomb Riley
until 1976
 Williamsburg
toward Chicago
George Washington
to 1974
Preceding station Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Following station
Grove
toward Cincinnati
Main Line Oriana
toward Old Point Comfort
Lee Hall Depot
USA Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Arealess than one acre
Built1881 (1881)
ArchitectC&O Railway Engineering Department
Architectural styleStick/Eastlake
NRHP reference No. 10000793 [1]
VLR No.121-0014
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 26, 2010
Designated VLRJune 17, 2010 [2]

Lee Hall Depot is a historic train station and museum located in the Lee Hall neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia. It was built in about 1881, with a one-story cargo bay, and the two-story main section was added in 1893. Another one-story wing was added by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to the north end of the depot in 1918 to handle an influx of military personnel to Fort Eustis. The building is currently in use as a local history museum, focusing on the station's history, and the history of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in Warwick County. [3]

Contents

History

Station use

Lee Hall Depot was built around 1881 as a part of the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, being the most Western part of the Warwick County region of the expansion. [4] It connected the Warwick Courthouse with the stations at Williamsburg and Yorktown, along with other stations on the peninsula. On October 19, 1881, the first passenger train to depart from Newport News left the station and arrived at Yorktown for the ‘Cornwallis Surrender Centennial Celebration”, a commemoration of the British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown, via temporary track. [5] [6] After this, it was mostly used to ship agricultural products from nearby farms. [7] The two-story midsection was added in 1893. [8]

A large waiting room was added in 1918 to help deal with an increase in soldiers, other military personnel, and supplies being shipped out from and taken to the nearby Camp Abraham Eustis, now Fort Eustis, giving the building its current two-story midsection and pair of wings. [3] The ticket office was heavily remodeled in 1932. To help supplement the cargo bay, which was overflowing due to supplies being shipped in and out for the war effort, a storage shed (now demolished) was built in 1943. [9]

The office used by the station's Railway Express Agent was removed between 1955 and 1956, and after that the depot was used for passenger service by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway until Amtrak took over service on May 1, 1971. Amtrak resumed service to Lee Hall, albeit as a request stop, with the Colonial on October 30, 1977. [10] Starting in 1978, the waiting room was leased to the 'Peninsula Model Railroad Club' to house their N scale model railway. [11]

In 1981, to celebrate the centenary of the peninsular extension, the depot was renovated and some celebrations took place there on October 16, 1981. Among the festivities at the depot were the unveiling of a large oil painting created by Sidney King of the first trip from Lee Hall to Yorktown, Chesapeake and Ohio 614 and an Amtrak locomotive both giving brief train rides, ending at the station, and two "Silver Spike" reenactments by CSX and Virginia officials. The event was attended by Virginia's governor, John N. Dalton, the then President of CSX, Hays T. Watkins, French dignitaries, and the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Virginia's 1st district, Paul Trible. [12]

Lee Hall station, August 1974.jpg
Lee Hall Depot in August 1974, before the centennial renovations.
Lee Hall station, August 1982.jpg
The depot in August 1982, the year after the centennial renovations

Lee Hall was dropped from the Colonial, now renamed to New England Express, in April 1995, [13] after which, the building was used as a railcar maintenance facility. The Lee Hall Train Station Foundation was founded in 2000 to help preserve the building; due to this, the Peninsula Model Railroad Club moved out of the building in 2001. [11] [14]

Restoration

A $3 million grant was awarded to Newport News to restore the building in 2005, of which $600,000 was used to restore the outside of the building.

Relocation

In 2009, Lee Hall Depot was moved 165 feet from its original location to the opposite side of the tracks to meet 1993 requirements that had to be met to prevent the depot from being demolished by the CSX Railroad. [3] The process involved carefully splitting the building into two sections, one being the waiting room wing, and the other the cargo bay and mid-section, and then joining them together on a new foundation. The process was undertaken by PMA Designs, Expert House Movers, and the City of Newport News at a cost of $900,000. [15] [16]

A billboard posted at the depot that advertised its restoration Lee Hall Depot Billboard.jpg
A billboard posted at the depot that advertised its restoration

Completion

The Lee Hall Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November, 2010 during its restoration. [17] The exterior renovations were completed in 2014. [18] In September 2015, the Lee Hall Train Station Foundation received a $600,000 federal grant to pay for the building's interior refurbishment. [19] The museum had a soft opening in June 2021, but officially opened in July of that year. [18]

Architecture

A photograph of the Depot sometime before the waiting room was added, showing the visible side of the mid-section LeeHallDepotasBuilt.jpg
A photograph of the Depot sometime before the waiting room was added, showing the visible side of the mid-section

The Lee Hall Depot was built in stages, to a standardized design used for all Chesapeake and Ohio Railway freight houses. Its construction began sometime in 1881. The initial building was a simple one-story freight depot building measuring 25 feet (7.6 m) by 50 feet (15 m), with five double sliding doors along the freight platform. In 1893 a two-story section with a trackside pentagonal facade was added to the building. It had an office for the operator, a baggage room, and space for the Railway Express Agency. The upstairs section contained a four-room living accommodation for the stationmaster. The wood frame depot and addition were detailed using Stick style applied elements. A more ambitious design for the 1918 additions included substantial Stick style detailing of overhangs and surfaces, but was built with more restraint. The 1918 section included a ticket office situated between separate waiting rooms; one for white passengers, and a smaller one for "colored" passengers. This section's interior was finished in beaded wood paneling. The operator's bay had an indoor water well, which was accessible through a trapdoor in the floor. [20]

Collection, displays, and exhibits

Caboose

In June 2018, [21] the Lee Hall Train Station Foundation was donated CSXT 900066, originally C&O 904144, a type-C27A bay-window caboose by the CSX for display. [22] The caboose, which was built for the C&O by Fruit Growers Express at their Alexandria repair shop in 1980, had been in use as a shoving platform, a type of railroad car used when trains have to reverse for a long period of time, as a place at the "front" for the switcher crew to stand, [23] but was decommissioned after it was discovered to have a brake defect, [24] and slated to be scrapped. After being contacted by the Lee Hall Train Station Foundation, and initially turning them down, CSX decided to donate the caboose to the museum.

After the donation, the car was moved to the U.S. Army Transportation Museum and restored by a large group of volunteers at a cost of $18,262. It was then donated to the City of Newport News, due to the fact that the foundation could not afford the $5 million liability insurance required to have the caboose moved by rail. [25] The caboose was delivered to the depot by the Fort Eustis Military Railroad, and placed on a 250-foot (76 m) piece of display track, [3] originally a siding for the station, by crane on May 19, 2022. The caboose is currently open for tours on Saturdays and during special events. [26]

Hospital Car

The Lee Hall Train Station Foundation is currently restoring an 80-foot (24 m) hospital car built in 1944 used at the nearby Fort Eustis during World War II; the car was formerly owned by the U.S. Army Transportation Museum. [27] Once the restoration is completed, the car will be moved to the museum grounds and put on display on the exhibition track next to the caboose. [28] [29] [30]

Model Trains

The cargo bay contains a large collection of model trains, of which most are in O gauge. The collection is kept in several large display cases, which also contain plaques and signs. The collection was donated to the museum by former Lee Hall Train Station Foundation president, Milton "Ed" Lyon. [31]

Stationmaster's quarters

Lee Hall is unique among railway stations in that the second story of its main body was where the stationmaster would live, along with his family if he had one; stationmasters were often bachelors. [3] [32] It housed a parlor, kitchen, and bedroom. These rooms have been recreated as so to give an idea of what these rooms might have looked like during the interwar period, along with interpretive signs attached to plastic barriers giving context as to what the rooms were and how they were used. Inside is period furniture, cookware, toys, décor, clothes, and other objects, along with C&O memorabilia, which is also of the time. The only pieces original to the station are the porcelain sink and water heater. [29]

This space is often fitted out to house other temporary and smaller exhibits. [33] [34]

Simulator

Interior and exterior shots of the simulator. Lee Hall Depot Train Simulator.png
Interior and exterior shots of the simulator.

The Lee Hall Depot owns a wooden "replica" of a C&O diesel locomotive cab [35] that is used to simulate driving a modern-day locomotive. It uses a locomotive control stand taken from an actual engine, with the switches and levers connected to a computer system attached to the back of the simulator. The brake valves were donated by Multi-Service Supply Inc. of Pennsylvania. A TV screen stands in as the front window and plays footage of a train journey from Williamsburg to Newport News. [36] This simulator was built by museum volunteers.

Chessie’s Place

“Chessie’s Place” is the children's area of the museum, focusing on Chessie, the mascot of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It contains toy and model trains, informational signs and pamphlets, a wooden toy train table, musical instruments, story books, arts and crafts, and other activities. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport News, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

Newport News is an independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the fifth-most populous city in Virginia and 140th-most populous city in the United States. The city is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the northern shore of the James River to the river's mouth on the harbor of Hampton Roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Peninsula</span> Peninsula in southeast Virginia, United States

The Virginia Peninsula is located in southeast Virginia, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the north, the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck.

Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated under the Chessie name from 1973 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesapeake and Ohio Railway</span> Defunct American Class I railway

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town of Huntington, West Virginia, was named for him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Central Railroad</span> Railroad in Virginia

The Virginia Central Railroad was an early railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia that operated between 1850 and 1868 from Richmond westward for 206 miles (332 km) to Covington. Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the Virginia General Assembly, the railroad began near the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad's line and expanded westward to Orange County, reaching Gordonsville by 1840. In 1849, the Blue Ridge Railroad was chartered to construct a line over the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Louisa Railroad which reached the base of the Blue Ridge in 1852. After a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Louisa Railroad was allowed to expand eastward from a point near Doswell to Richmond.

Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. It is referenced in the How It’s Made episode “Railway Bridge Ties”, showing it crossing a curved bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Maryland Scenic Railroad</span> Heritage railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland, United States

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR) is a heritage railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland, that operates passenger excursion trains and occasional freight trains using both steam and diesel locomotives over ex-Western Maryland Railway (WM) tracks between Cumberland and Frostburg. The railroad offers coach and first class service, murder mystery excursions, and special seasonal trips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Hall, Virginia</span> Neighborhood in Virginia, United States

Lee Hall is a community located in the extreme northern portion of the independent city of Newport News in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staunton station</span> Rail station in Staunton, Virginia, US

Staunton station is an Amtrak train station in Staunton, Virginia, located in the downtown Wharf Area Historic District of the city. It is served by Amtrak's Cardinal, which runs between New York and Chicago. The station has restrooms and benches, but no ticket office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport News station</span> Former Amtrak inter-city train station in Newport News, Virginia

Newport News station was an Amtrak inter-city train station in Newport News, Virginia. When it closed, it was the southern terminus of two daily Northeast Regional round trips. It has a single side platform adjacent to a large CSX rail yard. An Amtrak Thruway motorcoach connection to Norfolk station effectively doubles the frequency between each station and Washington. It was replaced by the Newport News Transportation Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Sulphur Springs station</span> Amtrak stop in West Virginia

White Sulphur Springs station is a railway station in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, served by Amtrak, the national passenger railway. The station is a stop on Amtrak's Cardinal route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince station</span>

Prince station is an Amtrak station in Prince, West Virginia, served by the Cardinal. It serves as the main depot for the Beckley area because it is on the CSX mainline while Beckley itself is not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurmond station</span>

Thurmond station is a train station in Thurmond, West Virginia, United States, that is served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The Cardinal, which runs three times each week between Chicago, Illinois and Washington, DC, passes by the station three times each week in both directions. The station is on CSX Transportation's New River Line and is located on the east bank of the New River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cincinnati, Richmond, & Muncie Depot (Muncie, Indiana)</span> Restored train station in Indiana, US

The Cincinnati, Richmond & Muncie Depot is a restored train station in Muncie, Indiana, United States. Built in 1901, it was acquired by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1910. The station was used for passenger train service throughout the 20th century and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It is currently used as a visitor center and office for the adjacent Cardinal Greenway.

The Steam Railroading Institute is located at 405 South Washington Street, Owosso, Michigan. It was founded in 1969 as the Michigan State University (MSU) Railroad Club. It became the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, and later adopted its present name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skiffe's Creek</span>

Skiffe's Creek is located in James City County and the independent city of Newport News in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. It is a tributary of the James River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peninsula Extension</span> 1881 railroad line from Richmond, VA to Newport News, VA

The Peninsula Extension which created the Peninsula Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was the new railroad line on the Virginia Peninsula from Richmond to southeastern Warwick County. Its principal purpose was to provide an important new pathway for coal mined in West Virginia to reach the harbor of Hampton Roads for coastal and export shipping on collier ships.

The Saginaw Subdivision is a railroad line in the U.S. state of Michigan. The line runs 105 miles from Toledo, Ohio, to Saginaw, Michigan. CSX owns the line although since 2006, the section from Mt. Morris to Saginaw has been leased to the Lake State Railway but is still occasionally used by CSX. The Plymouth to Mt. Morris line was also leased to LSRC starting in March 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumberland Terminal Subdivision</span> Railroad line in Maryland, US

The Cumberland Terminal Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the Cumberland, Maryland area. The line centers on the Cumberland rail yard and is a junction with three other subdivisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catlettsburg station</span> Former railway station in Kentucky, US

Catlettsburg is a former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway station located in downtown Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Opened between 1897 and 1890 to replace an older wooden station, it served trains until 1958. Amtrak trains began stopping at Tri-State Station some 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north in 1975; it was renamed Catlettsburg around 1988. Amtrak service was moved from Catlettsburg to Ashland in 1998. The C&O station was refurbished from 2004 to 2006 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 9/20/10 through 9/24/10. National Park Service. 2010-10-01.
  2. ↑ "121-0014 Lee Hall Depot".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nolte, Jessica. "Lee Hall Depot tells the story of how the railroad transformed rural Warwick County into modern-day Newport News". Daily Press.
  4. ↑ "Lee Hall Depot Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database.
  5. ↑ "Lee Hall Depot History". www.trainweb.org. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
  6. ↑ Lash Jester, Annie (1961). Newport News Virginia, 1607-1960. City of Newport News.
  7. ↑ "Major Graham Mansion and The Boxwood Inn - Colonial Ghosts". 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  8. ↑ Kyaselcuk, Mary (July 2009). "Lee Hall Depot" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Cox, Jim (2010). Rails Across Dixie: A History of Passenger Trains in the American South. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States: McFarland & Company. p. 365. ISBN   978-1476666013 . Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  10. ↑ "New Fall Schedule Changes Include Shortened Travel Times". Amtrak News. Vol. 4, no. 20. Amtrak. November 1, 1977. p. 2.
  11. 1 2 "Peninsula Modelers RailRoad Club - Newport News, VA". nnprrc.org. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  12. ↑ Harvey, Robert (1996). "October 16, 1981: The Newport News Railroad Centennial Celebration". Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Magazine. Vol. 28. pp. 23–24. ISSN   0886-6287.
  13. ↑ Amtrak Northeast Timetable: Spring/Summer 1995. Amtrak. April 2, 1995. pp. 4–18 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
  14. ↑ "It took more than 20 years, but Lee Hall Depot in Newport News is finally reintroducing itself to the public". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  15. ↑ "LEE HALL TRAIN DEPOT | PMA Architecture". www.pmaarchitecture.com. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  16. ↑ "Lee Hall Depot's interior makeover finally underway". Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  17. ↑ "NPGallery Asset Detail".
  18. 1 2 "Lee Hall Depot renovations completed, historic railroad opens to visitors this weekend". 13newsnow.com. June 2, 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  19. ↑ Clift, Theresa (28 September 2015). "Newport News gets OK on grant to finish Lee Hall Depot renovations". Daily Press . Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  20. ↑ Kyaselcuk, Mary (July 2009). "Lee Hall Depot" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  21. ↑ "Three years ago, 19 June 2018, CSX Transportation donated a caboose to Lee Hall". Facebook. Lee Hall Train Station Foundation.
  22. ↑ Baker, Barrett (November 5, 2021). "Chessie Caboose Donated To City Of Newport News".
  23. ↑ Thomas, Scott (2022-03-29). "UP Caboose Shoving Platforms". utahrails.net. Archived (Wayback Machine) from the original on 2022-09-08. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  24. ↑ says, Madeline McMillan (2020-07-25). "The Story of Lee Hall's Chessie Caboose". The Bulletin Post. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  25. ↑ Baker, Barrett (2021-11-05). "Chessie Caboose Donated To City Of Newport News". Peninsula Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  26. ↑ "Celebrate Trains At Two Upcoming Events in Lee Hall". The Bulletin Post. 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  27. ↑ "Train show in Newport News features fun, education". Daily Press. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  28. ↑ "Military Railcar Restoration". Facebook. Lee Hall Train Station Foundation.
  29. 1 2 Barker, Sandra Julian. "All aboard for Lee Hall Depot". Recreation News. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  30. ↑ "Free train presentation explores a real-life "John Henry"". Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  31. ↑ "Jean Agnor Lyon, 94, of Newport News". Williamsburg Yorktown Daily. 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  32. ↑ abinterfaces (2021-06-14). "Railroad Depot Restored, Opens as a Museum in Lee Hall". Williamsburg Realty of Virginia | This is Where Home Begins. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  33. ↑ "Historic Lee Hall Depot Is Finally Open Again". Peninsula Chronicle. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  34. ↑ "Railroad artifacts sought for Lee Hall Depot restoration". Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  35. ↑ "It took more than 20 years, but Lee Hall Depot in Newport News is finally reintroducing itself to the public". Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  36. ↑ Pointer, Oyster (2021-09-23). "Lee Hall Depot is restored for visitors". Oyster Pointer. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.