KTWU Sunflower Journeys 1703C - Great Overland Station
Produced by Bill Shaffer
The station was flooded with almost nine feet of water during the 1951 flood. Seven months of cleanup, remodeling and refinishing changed the station somewhat, but it helped it continue in active use up until the 1970's. Passenger trains ceased to stop at the station during the 70's and, after a fire gutted large portions of the structure, the Union Pacific station was closed and abandoned...and faced demolition.
Narrator: A group of local history and railroad buffs stepped in
to save the building. Because of their interest and enthusiasm, Union
Pacific has deeded the property to them and contributed $100,000 towards
its restoration. Now, the station is being fully restored to as near its
original 1927 grandeur as possible and in 2004 will reopen its doors as
a multipurpose museum facility. Kevin Kelley - President/Kelley Construction: We're the general contractors on the second phase of the Great Overland Station. Phase One was completed before we moved on job site and that was a renovation of the west end of the facility to create offices for the Overland station organization. Phase Two that we're currently on, is a interior restoration and an upgrade of the remainder of the inside of the Overland station. Phase Three as I understand will be a completion of (the) parking area and landscaping and those kind of exterior components. (Pause) It's a real plus for the impact of north Topeka and revitalization of this area as well as for all of Topeka. It's going to be a real central location and for us, it's a major renovation. It's unique in some of the renovation aspects. It's fun for us to learn some of those things, to be around some of those renovation type aspects that we haven't been around before, but it's also fun to be able to use some of the expertise that we've had in the past with renovation and continue that. Russell Wolf - Field Supervisor/Kelley Construction: What's happening behind me right now is this newly constructed mezzanine was provided for two different reasons. One is for an observation viewing deck so you can observe the floor below and plus the train activity on the outside. It was also created for the handicapped ability to access the east gallery because this building has only one elevator that currently works and it was added during the first phase. We've brought everything up to date. We went from the original steam hydronics. We're still using the hydronics system, but it's not steam comes through anymore. It's 180 degrees and the air-conditioning is the same way. It's a cooling system that will cool water and it'll be a lot more efficient than it used to be." (Pause) "The only thing that has really changed like I say, is the mezzanine that they've run across here. Everything else is going in just like it used to be. All four of the entryways will go through a process to bring the pediments (and that's what that's called) back to their original historical value. When we got here, they were gone completely. There was nothing there at all so they've taken old photographs that they've had of the station. They've taken them back to New York. They've scaled everything down and then they're recreating it just exactly like it used to be. The same cartouche, the same moldings, everything. They will be the same grand entrances and exits that we had before. Narrator: Among the many different workers contributing to this unique project is Penko Platikanov, a Romanian sculptor who put together many of the moldings around the newly restored station. Some of these moldings had to be designed from existing pieces. Others had to be created from studying photographs. Penko Platikanov, Sculptor, Flushing New York: The first thing I had was a small picture...and then I had this blueprint which I had to use for creating all the pieces, but the blueprint didn't give me exactly the depth of the pieces so I had to figure that out by myself starting from the base to the top of the pediment. I m adjusting...it's not that fast as it looks like and...because, starting from the bottom, I have to be sure that all of the pieces above...they (are) going to fit correctly so the first pieces are more difficult because I have to think about the second one and actually the last pieces...they're the easiest ones because there is nothing above (them). Russell Wolf: In this bay here, we're about as close as we're going to get to being ready for stenciling. It has HVAC's installed, lighting's ready to go, sprinklers in and so is smoke detector and emergency lighting. The banded sheathing that you see which makes this border around it is existing. That was never removed. The stenciling will be centered up inside of this sheathing making up diagonal lines which create about a seventeen-inch square. Now, the hand painting stuff on the sheath - that'll all be done by hand. They'll have a scaffold set up. They'll have a backboard on it. They'll lay on their backs and they'll paint it. It's really amazing how much that has not changed in the last hundred years. The process is almost identical. Narrator: The Great Overland Station will open its doors for the first time in three decades when it reopens in the summer of 2004. Kevin Kelley: The building's been left in a state of disrepair and no or zero maintenance for so many years that just redoing the surfaces that we're redoing will protect the building plus...heating and air conditioning will allow this building to last forever.
This transcript is from KTWU's Sunflower Journeys 2004 season. A production of: |
