CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
BY
graphic design and production by
85 MAIN STREET GREAT BARRINGTON MA 01230
tel: 413.528.3556
www.williamcaligari.com
fax: 413.528.5104
MISSION STATEMENT
Goal
The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, Inc., is an allvolunteer not-for-profit organization whose mission
is to foster interest in the history of railroading in the
Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts and beyond.
This mission is accomplished in part through the
provision of safe, educational, and entertaining
train rides between Lenox and Stockbridge. The
revenues generated by these train rides, shall
be used to maintain the station, equipment,
artifacts and exhibits.
The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum desires to expand and enhance its “museum” aspect (as opposed to
the “train ride” aspect) by developing a Master Plan with long-term goals designed to transform the museum
into a premier railroad museum. The transformation will provide a destination for tourists and serious railroad
historians alike and will benefit the overall tourist industry in Berkshire County. The museum will focus on, but not
be strictly limited to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad – the former railroad that owned our station
and rail line.
To further this mission, the Museum shall
collect, restore, preserve, operate and
display railroad equipment and artifacts.
The Museum shall provide a repository
for artifacts and information of an educational and historic nature relating
to the history of railroading in the
Berkshires.
History
The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, Inc is a not for profit 501(c)(3) corporation established in 1984.
The Museum is located in a restored 1903 New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad station located in Lenox,
Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum’s restoration and preservation activities are funded almost entirely through grants and donations, with revenues from the train operations covering most
operating expenses and maintenance. The Museum is operated entirely with volunteer labor; there is no paid staff.
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The Master Plan calls for the construction of three new, historic replica structures and landscaping to return the
area to an early 20th century configuration. This will be accomplished in phases.
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Phase I - Block Station
Construction of a replica “Block Station” – Yokun. Block stations were used in the days
of the telegraph to stop trains and give them orders to proceed to the next block
station or stay and wait for another train. They were critical to the safe and efficient
movement of trains in the era before modern signaling systems and radio communication. Our block station will be a replica of Rising block station located 14 miles to the
south of our museum in the village of Housatonic. As railroad block stations had to be
named to be identifiable to trains, ours will be named “Yokun” in honor of the original
name of Lenox – Yokuntown.
Not only will this structure be a museum exhibit , it will be a piece of “living history” as it
will become an office for our train crews to work out of. This will free space in our station
for exhibits or proper storage of historic documents and artifacts.
We hope to construct this exhibit as soon as possible with locally donated materials and
volunteer labor.
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Photo realistic rendering of the proposed improvements to the
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum complex. New buildings (from
top) include an Engine House, Block Station, and Freight Station.
Phase III - Historic Restoration of Station Grounds
Identify funding to purchase adjoining property and building. Historically, the entire corner of Willow Creek Road and
Housatonic Street was owned by the railroad for its passenger and freight stations. The museum would like to be able
to purchase the neighboring property and level the building to allow the view and landscaping to be returned to its
early 20th century appearance. This would present a breathtaking view of Woods Pond and October Mountain and would
become a superb gateway to this wonderful recreation area for boating and hiking. In addition, this would allow us to work
with the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area in promoting and fulfilling their mission of exposing our youth to
the rich heritage of our region.
ABOVE View of Woods Pond from the
station, RIGHT satellite photo of Woods
Pond and, BELOW Aerial photo of the
station and adjacent property.
This phase would be a benefit not only to the museum, but would establish a recreation area that the town of Lenox and
its residents could certainly be proud to show off to visitors.
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Phase IV - Freight Station
Construction of a replica Railroad Freight Station. Unlike the other two
construction projects, this project will be a reconstruction of a building that
was originally on this site and torn down. This will open a door to visitors that
they may not know much about. Freight stations are the unsung, forgotten
siblings to the passenger station. Our station will be based on the station that
originally existed on this site and a remaining New Haven freight station located
in Housatonic, Mass. In addition to telling the story of freight stations, and
offering more exhibit space than we currently have in the passenger
station, part of this building will serve as a library to store and preserve many
historic documents that we have collected and will continue to collect. These
documents can then be properly cataloged, preserved and accessed by
anybody wishing to do research. This will be a very important addition to our
museum.
Time line
We have no specific time frame for implementing the phases of our master
plan. We will begin immediately and proceed as rapidly as we can. All of these
projects are dependent on our ability to identify and secure the necessary
funding. Where possible we will work on multiple phases concurrently so that
we may realize these goals as quickly as possible to share them with our visitors
and accomplish our mission.
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Phase II - Engine House
Construction of a replica Engine Servicing Building. Engine servicing facilities were critical on the railroad for keeping the trains running. Just as the
New Haven Railroad needed them, so too does the Berkshire Scenic Railway.
Currently all maintenance and restoration activities are done outdoors in the
open, subject to weather conditions and limited to three seasons. Rather
than build a modern building that would only serve the purpose of actual
maintenance and restoration, we feel it would be more appropriate to build
a historic replica so that visitors can experience railroading as it was and
view our restoration projects underway.
This phase will be broken down into two parts. Funding will have to be
secured for engineering; design and permitting in the first part to then identify the necessary funding needed to actually complete construction.