Here are two fascinating photos of the Hopewell train station, provided through the kindness of Judy Faherty. The station looks so familiar, but the backgrounds are quite different, especially because of the absence of trees.
1915 – Station in the Snow – with Front Street beyond
This 1915 photo of the Hopewell station in the snow was filmed from Railroad Place near North Greenwood.
Across the tracks, there is an unobstructed view of the houses along Front Street, which are now hidden behind rows of trees.
Then behind the station on the other side of the tracks is the passenger shed on the left, and a glimpse of the storage buildings on the right – all now gone. (For more on the storage buildings, see the earlier post on Hopewell Train Station in 1881.)
There also are large utility poles with multiple cross-arms running down both sides of the tracks.
c1940 – East side of station – and boxcars
The second photo is undated, but the late 1930s automobile in front of the station dates the image as circa 1940.
The view shows the west facade of the station. The door in the center is the men’s bathroom (the current bathroom inside the station was the women’s room). The door to the right was a small storage space / baggage room.
To the left, on the other side of the tracks, are the storage buildings.
On the right, behind the car, are multiple boxcars parked along the siding that runs past the freight shed to the edge of the train station driveway. (A remnant of the bumper at the end of this spur still sits next to the driveway.) Old photos of the train station often show at least one boxcar parked there, left sitting so they could be unloaded. (For more on the sidings, see the earlier post on Hopewell Railroad Sidings.)
Behind the boxcars is the Chocolate Factory building (see earlier post).
1955 View
To get your bearings, this 1955 photo from Roger Labaw shows the full scene, looking east from the Greenwood Avenue railroad bridge.
On the north side (the left) is the small passenger shelter (since burned down) and the storage and other buildings associated with the signal bridge that spans across the track (also now gone).
On the south side, beyond the station, is the freight shed (still standing). Beyond the shed is the F. C. A. (Farmers’ Co-op Association) building (since replaced by a similar building).
One siding starts beyond the signal bridge, cuts diagonally between the freight shed and the F. C. A. building (which is built on the same diagonal), and then continues to the edge of the train station driveway, where a railroad car is sitting (behind the tree). Further in the background is the Chocolate Factory building, to the right of the station and beyond the tree.
Train Station Images
The Image Gallery currently has some 30 unique images of the Hopewell train station spanning 1881 to the present day. Plus there are additional views of the Hopewell and Pennington stations in the Hopewell Artwork album, and images of the Titusville and Washington Crossing stations as well.
== See all the Hopewell train station images in the Image Gallery ==
== See Hopewell and Pennington train station artwork in the Hopewell Art album ==
We welcome additional images of our local railroads and stations, since they not only help us to visualize earlier times, but also to track changes over time.
