Work at the Orchard Park Depot gets done year round. This winter season we did not have major issues with snow removal so getting in and out of the depot was much easier this winter. |
This year we did not have to clean up after the Village's Holiday in the Park Christmas celebration. The new village mayor moved the event to the old bowling alley on North Buffalo Street. I'm guessing they call that Holiday in the bowling alley now. Not sure how that worked out but they are welcome to come back to the depot if they so choose. |
Work sessions will continue every Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 to noon. Anyone interested in spending some time at the depot please call our number, 662-7002, and let us know you are coming. |
Some of our work projects at the depot have shifted from inside to outside now that the warmer months are upon us. Landscape chores have taken up most of our time as we make the property look presentable. |
May in Orchard Park got off to an exciting start with many changes occurring at the Depot. A scouting crew from a film company was interested in using the Depot in an upcoming movie. This required that the Passenger Station be returned to its original 1940's appearance to fit the period of the movie. All of our displays, showcases and O-gauge train layout, had to be removed and stored out of sight for future filming. One of the displays that needed to be removed was our 1927 New York Central, General Railway Signal type "SA" signal head. This dual head signal was rescued in 2002 by Society member Scott H. after a CSX derailment on September 23rd near Wende Road in Alden, New York. After restoration by Scott, it was placed in the Depot for "temporary" display in 2004. The Heritage Discovery Center was only a dream back then and now was a perfect time to move the signal to its permanent home. |
On May 7th, the Depot crew disassembled the over 200 pound signal, mounting hardware, bracketing and signage. We loaded it into Jim S.'s truck and headed off to the Heritage Discovery Center. where it was reassembled in its new display location. |
This past June saw a Hollywood movie company shooting scenes for the movie "Marshall" at the Orchard Park Railroad Depot. We got a call from the movie company's location department in April, asking if they could use the depot for a couple of days. After getting some specifics on what they planned to do, we discussed it at a board meeting and then quickly agreed to let them use the depot. Saying yes to a Hollywood movie opened the Depot Crew up to a few unplanned projects. Anything that would not have been found in our depot, when it was functioning as a railroad passenger station in the early 1940s, had to be removed. We had to disassemble the O scale layout and move it out of the men's waiting room so we carried it over to the freight station for storage. Two glass show cases had to be moved from the ladies waiting room to the baggage room, a room not used in the movie, and two other show cases, a large one and another smaller case, were moved to the freight house. All signs, framed photographs and plaques were removed from all of the depot walls. The large NYC Signal was moved to its permanent home in the Heritage Discovery Center. |
While all of that work was being done, the new compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs we use to light the depot at night were replaced with the old style incandescent bulbs. An important part of the movie would be shot at night and the lighting had to be period correct. Again by request, we brought our REA baggage cart out of storage from the freight house and located it on the trackside platform. We even set out our two original BR&P spittoons! On Wednesday June 15th, the entire cast and crew came to the depot. All of the equipment trucks, gaffer, grips, actors and extras filled the entire area around the depot. Part of the library parking lot was used for tractor trailer trucks filled with movie equipment, cameras, props, electrical, rigging, lighting and sound equipment. An area was left for the "honey wagon." In movie talk, that's a snack truck with a canopy and three or four people serving snacks and hot or cold drinks. St. John's Lutheran Church, the church across from the depot, was used as well. Their parking lot filled up with wardrobe trucks, a makeup truck and staff parking. The church itself was used for dressing rooms, wash rooms and a cafeteria. |
My 1939 Ford two door and Fran Hogenkamp's 1939 Dodge pickup truck were two of the nine vehicles that got casting calls. Fran actually got a driving part. |
That was by no means the end of the filming that day. Jim Slominski, Alex Trank and I headed back to our homes after 10:00pm and told the movie people to call when they were finished. At 3:18am, I got a call asking "do you have a garden hose?" When I told the caller "it's locked up in the freight house," they said "we'll call you back." At 3:22am, I got another call and was told that the prop people used a bucket and that I could come back to lock up the depot at 4:00am. I found out later that the night scenes involving the speeder trailer had just wrapped up shortly before I arrived.
All's well that ends well I suppose. The movie company cleaned up, packed up and left everything better than they found it. The depot was compensated for its use and we were given three new dark green window shades that were used in the ladies waiting room. Would we do it again? Absolutely! Was it easy? Yes and no. Prepping the building required a lot of heavy lifting but the day the movie was shot we did a lot of standing around. We had to be available in case we were needed or in case we thought of something, like when Jim called the security company and asked them to shut off the smoke detectors. The special effects crew were making smoke in the station for atmosphere and that surely would have set off the smoke alarms ending up with the Orchard Park fire department showing up to put out a fire! We are pleased and proud of what we did and hope that the depot scenes show what a great organization the WNYRHS truly is. We can't wait until the movie "Marshall" is released to see the Orchard Park Depot on the "big screen!" |
We reassembled the wheelbarrow in the freight station using the baggage cart for a work bench. |
from the trailer to a big box truck. The truck was the perfect height to off load the speeder right into the freight house. The day started at the depot on Tuesday August 23rd around 10:00am and ended with the speeder stored in the freight house by 1:00pm. |
While the music, food and festivities were being held outside on a beautiful evening, our Depot staff gave tours inside the Depot. Some of the movie props were still in place from the summer filming of the yet to be released movie "Marshall," see June above. This venue brought many people who had never visited the Depot and they were amazed at how wonderful it was. |
Coming up in no time at all will be our Greater Buffalo Train and Toy Show on November 19th and 20th. Our crew will be there maning the Society table and answering questions. After the Train Show, we will host "Holiday in the Park" on December 3rd. As always, there will be tree decorating, a parade, dancing and a visit from Santa! This year the time will be from 12:00pm until 3:00pm. |
Work sessions will continue every Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 to noon. Anyone interested in spending some time at the depot please call our number, 662-7002, and let us know you are coming. |
What a year 2016 was at the Orchard Park railroad Depot. Looking back is something we don't usually do but last year was somewhat remarkable. The Depot Crew managed to do quite a bit. We're not patting ourselves on the back we're just happy we were able to do all of the things that happened on our watch. Here's a brief review. • Prepped and manned the depot for the movie "Marshall." • Painted the baggage car roof. • Moved track switch machines, tie plates, rail joiners and boxes of railroad records to Lee Street. • Moved crossing arms from Bank Street to depot including pieces of rail. • Participated in memorial for deceased mayor John Wilson. • Spring cleaned the property and hired Trugreen to spray entire property to kill weeds. • Prepped depot for Orchard Park Garden Club plant sale. • Repaired lawnmower for the mowing season and also repaired the wheelbarrow. • Added additional scenery to layout. • Worked on support posts track side of passenger depot. • Prepped and manned depot for annual Village Ice Cream Social. • Held BBQ chicken dinner fundraiser. • Brought speeder back to depot from storage in Concord, NY. • Cleaned and manned the depot for the B&O convention visit. • Worked with Erie/Catt Rails to Trails to promote their project. • Worked with Foit Albert on track side renovation plans. • Opened and manned the depot for the first annual Orchard Park Oktoberfest. • And in November we prepped the depot, disassembled the layout and moved it into the baggage room and cleaned the depot so the Orchard Park Garden Club could hold their biennial holiday sale. • Moved and reassembled the layout and cleaned the depot once again so that the Village of Orchard Park could hold Holiday in the Park at the depot on the first Saturday of December. • Also after every event there was always a major cleanup to be done. |
Web Site Hosting by TRAIN WEB
The WNYRHS, Inc. P.O. Box 416, Buffalo, NY. 14231-0416 is an independent organization and has no affiliation with any other local or national group.
The Society is a fully qualified organization under 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all donations to the Society are tax deductible.
©Copyright 1999 , WNYRHS Inc. all rights reserved