This is a link to an amazing stop-action video series of the project to raise the ex-ATSF Fort Madison IA station back up to track level - so it can be re-used as an Amtrak station.
ATSF/BNSF had raised the main line to avoid flooding in this area by a good four feet, leaving the station significantly below grade. This structure-raising project for the city-owned site is almost completed.
One of the best railfan B&B’s/hotels in the US is just out of sight to the left - the Kingsley Inn, looking over all that rail traffic and the river as well.
You forgot Timmy is still in the hide-out he built in the basement and Lassie was captured by Animal Control because she was barking at the workmen who don’t speak Dog and thus didn’t know he was trapped under the concrete they poured to reinforce the failing jack. Where is June Lockhart when you need her?
Besides, I can’t get a video to run… when I follow the link I get a page with some overlapping images and only one button seems to work and it is a thumbs up ([tup]) that I suppose means I gave it a “good on you” vote without even seeing it. The web page may need JAVA installed, which I remove it because of the security concerns associated with JAVA.
Someone should be given a medal for preserving this station, the mentality in this day and age is to quickly demolish the old station and build a box structure for 3 times the money as preserving the old one, great work guys, take a bow !
I agree with you about the importance of preserving old structures. These are not just important to our history; they are our history. If they are lost they can never be replaced.
But preservation does not necessarily come cheap. Often it is cheaper to tear down and rebuild than to preserve and bring up to current standards. It is a question of what is really important to us.