Staff estimate construction will take about four to six months, but it could take a bit long to get it outfitted with memorabilia, said City Manager George Rodericks in an email. The council has expressed hope that the museum will be ready in time for the town's centennial celebration in September, but that may not be the case.
Council members agreed it seemed like a steep price, but ultimately voted unanimously on Wednesday to direct a $400,000 grant from Caltrain to outfit its 620-square-foot train station depot into a museum. Caltrain ended service in Atherton in late 2020, making Menlo Park the nearest stop for catching a train.
The main elements of the work include fixing up the structure with wood and roof repairs and replacement, along with improvements inside and outside the building and new furniture. The building will be enclosed with new doors added, and there will be restriped accessible parking, providing path a from Town Center and from parking into the building, with limited landscape treatment along track side.
Within the museum, the town envisions displays of Atherton's train station history, the trains and the riders, according to a staff report. The museum will be outfitted with a video display and benches, free standing historical displays and a display case that will feature model trains on a track as a focal point. These model trains will present a chronological evolution of the history of the train in Atherton.
The town committed $96,000 on the project's design, so the grant won't able to cover all the fixes the council is hoping for, such as furnishing and installing a mechanical heating and air conditioning unit; rehabilitation and painting the existing monument sign; and cleaning and repainting the exterior of the clock, which amount to about $43,000 in costs. Staff members previously said an HVAC unit would be necessary to protect historic displays and electronic equipment.
Vice Mayor Diana Hawkins-Manuelian said people already go to the depot to sit and changes need to be made no matter what to make the building safer.
The council also gave the go-ahead to use library funds for the 2022-23 fiscal year to support the production of two Atherton history videos for the town's upcoming centennial celebration, which could run in a loop at the history museum, City Hall and library for about $25,000, according to a staff report.
Learn more about the history of the train station, here.
Watch a video of the meeting here.
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