Restoration Road (2021–…): Season 2, Episode 2 - Idaho Train Depot - full transcript

At the dawn
of the 20th century

there was one way to travel
and move goods efficiently

through the beautiful
and wild mountains
of Northern Idaho

and that was by train.

If you were lucky enough
to ride one of these
early railroads,

chances are you stopped
in the charming little town
of Deary, Idaho.

I'm making my own
pilgrimage to Deary

with Kevin Durkin
of Restoration Living.

We're here to uncover
a key landmark

in the history
of these railroads.

One that's been hidden
in plain sight for decades



and is now ready
to be brought back to life.

What have you unearthed
this time, Kevin?

I'm Clint Harp
and I'm traveling America

to shed a light on some
incredible restorations
and transformations,

get hands on
with some of the builders

bringing these amazing places
back to life

and make sure
these new stories
live on for years to come.

Whoo. Isn't she a beauty?

This is Restoration Road.

Tell me there's something
special under there.

A vinyl clad... Ugh.

Under there is the original
Deary train depot.

-No joke.
-Right there.

- This was Deary's own station.
- Wow.



Do we know
how old this depot is?

1907, when
the railroad went through.

Okay.
How long was this depot in operation?

- It was, like, 1955.
- It was in operation

for 50-60 years,
something like that.

-You're on your horse...
-Okay.

-...tied it up here...
-Okay.

...then getting your bags
and you're walking
in the door here

and you'd go inside and wait
for the train to come in.

In small railroad towns
all across America

the depot served
as an important community hub.

Mail arrived here,
telegraphs were sent
and received here

and it's where residents
embarked on journeys

into the outside world
and later returned home.

In many ways, the depot
was the heart of the town,

so restoring it
to its former glory
is a big responsibility.

So, help me
in terms of layout,
where we're standing.

So, this was
the entry side here.

Okay. Okay.

That door may very well be
where a door was
for the entry.

They have
some early photographs

of people standing
on the other side,

showing the platform,
where the trains came in

and it's going to be
a manner of unwrapping it.

The big picture
is that my friend, Webb,

found this train station
and he wants to

restore that back
to a vacation rental place.

-Maybe multiple rooms...
-Yes.

...or all that.

-How fun.
-Yeah.

All right.
Well, let's go inside.

- Let's check it out.
- Yeah, I'm ready.

-And--
-Here it is.

You recognize it
and you can see

the three main sections.
Waiting room,
station master...

Yeah.

...baggage freight.

Lots of space
over there

'cause you got
lots of things
coming in and out.

What I like is that...

Is you can see just
what I call the ghosts
of windows and doors.

Oh, yeah. Right there.
One, two, three, four.

- Look at that
cut line there--
- Yeah.

This was a bay window
in the photo.

So, it comes out.
Why a bay window
on a station?

You want to get out there
to be able to look down
the tracks each way

to see if a train was coming.

Now, in my head, I'm thinking,

"Well, I mean,
just open the door," right?

- And look out there, but we're in Idaho.
- -Yeah.

It's cold out here.

-You do not want to go out--
-You don't open
the door, no.

- "Shut the door!"
- Yeah.

So, going around, we can tell
just from the silhouettes
left of the paint,

window, looks like window.

This was the door coming in.

-This is such a cool detail.
-Yeah.

- Right there...
- The crown.

...you just see
the trim of the door...

-Yeah.
-...and how it angled out.

Can you walk me through
what the plan ultimately
might be.

I mean, I know how you work.
Sometimes it's...

-Design--
-...design as you go.

...design as you go.

But if you have
a general vision
in mind already, what is it?

- A unit in here.
Vacation rental unit.
-Mmm-hmm.

-Another one in here...
-Okay.

...going out onto the platform
and this was the baggage room
in here.

This is open and if this is
left like an open space

- to leave it like this...
- Mmm.

- ...I think it would be kind of nice.
- -Yeah.

Well, let's take a look
out front

'cause we'll really
get a sense

- of what the platform side of the station was.
- -Beautiful.

So, here I would have been
walking out

-and getting on the train.
-A platform here.

It would have just gone level.

It looked like in the photo
it comes out to about here.

-Okay.
-And the trains
pulled right up here,

right next to it.

What is ultimately
going to happen
with this depot

in terms of visually,
what am I going to see
when I roll into Deary,

is this going to be the front?

It's going to look the same,
I mean, big freight doors,

the bay window
put back in place.

- Okay.
- The original siding being back in there.

-Okay.
-The two windows

and the door in the middle
over here

and then the platform out here
will be like you can walk out
from each unit.

It's going to look like
a train depot.

It's going to
look like it looked.

First piece of siding
we take off,

- we're going to start to see...
- -Oh, yeah.

- ...the old stuff.
- Right away.

Oh, my gosh.

The fact that you can
actually bring it back,

- give it life again, as its original form...
- -New purpose.

...but just
with a new purpose...

- Yeah.
- ...is really cool.

We can't get there
unless we have a little fun
taking this nasty siding off.

All right, let's go.

Oh, my goodness.

As we peel back the layers
of this old train depot,

we're looking for two things,
the original layout

of the doors and windows
and the original color.

A-ha! It's under there, Clint!

Oh, yeah. There it is.

Right there.
Look at that, Kevin.

That is nice.

-There's our original siding.
-Yeah, door opening...

-Okay.
-...right here.

-It looks like
it was always red.
-Mmm-hmm. That's beautiful.

Watch out. Don't get sliced.

So, Kevin, this right here,
this is that bay door.

Just like the photo,
right down to halfway
through that plywood.

That's the whole door
that you're uncovering.

-Your hand is right where
a transom probably was.
-Transom hole, Kevin.

Very nice.

That's a fun day right there.

Step back
and survey the damage, right?

Well...

-That is a day.
-It's everything I hoped for.

-I'm so glad to hear that.
-It is. Oh, yeah. There it is.

I can't tell you
how happy I am

that you're happy
'cause I'm really tired.

I'm very happy.

If you were disappointed,
all that work...

-Oh, yeah.
-...for nothing.

No, that's wonderful.
It's telling the whole story.

On the outside you can
read right across
the building.

-Window.
-Yes.

-Door.
-To the... Down below, yep.

-Window.
-Yes.

- Window.
- Bay window.

Perfectly preserved
between the clapboards
cut right off.

To reveal a piece of history
like that.

- Yeah.
- That's a fun deal.

-This is going to
come back to life...
-Yeah.

...and just sing.

There's one more
major part of this project
that I have yet to show you

-and for that we have to
take a road trip.
-Let's do it.

My road trip
with Kevin

has brought me
to the northern tip
of the Idaho Panhandle,

to the beautiful vacation
community of Priest Lake.

Here the water
is crystal clear

and the views
are breathtaking.

It's here, along these shores,
that Kevin has unearthed

another component
for our restored
Deary depot

and I'm so curious
to see what it is.

Wow. Would you look at that.
Man, that is something, Kevin.

This is caboose 3006

from
the Great Northern Railway.

How do you
find something like this?

Well, Webb found it
and wants to

bring it down
to Deary to the train depot.

Webb's plan
for this caboose

is to convert it into a quaint
but comfortable
guest space

complete with bedroom,
bathroom and kitchenette.

People will be able to
come stay in the caboose
when he's done with it.

-Right.
-It's going to
fit perfectly down there.

-Mmm.
-And it's an old one.

It was built in 1929
so it is 92 years old.

We got a little bit
of history on it.

- Mmm-hmm.
- It was the Great Northern.

-It was always with
the Great Northern.
-Mmm-hmm.

The Great Northern Railway
started in Minneapolis
in 1893

and ran through the Dakotas,
Montana, Idaho and all the way

to the west coast
of Washington.

It was a major factor
in the European settlement
of this part of the country.

It was moved here
as a little cabin,

but this is the area
it ran in.

This goat
stenciled on the side...

- Yeah,
a mountain goat.
- ...is awesome.

- It is.
-That is...
That is just really cool.

That's their symbol.

- That's the Great Northern Railroad line symbol.
- Yes, it is.

- Okay.
- In the 1830s,

the first cabooses
for trains were built

and they were places,
often box cars like this,
this is the size of a box car,

- that were used for the crew to stay in...
- - Okay.

...cook in
and even sleep in
on long trips

and they were
the end of the train
with a red light on them

and they'd watch for things,
but, you know,

then, later on in 1863,
they put the first cupola
on them.

- Okay.
- Some cupolas

were in the center
and some were at one end.

-Okay.
-But that thing right there

is very interesting.

- This window?
- From what I read, in 1923

they built the first
bay window cabooses.

-There'd be
a bay right here...
-No way, really?

-...coming out like this...
-I've never seen--

-Windows.
-On a train?

-On a train. Yeah.
-No way.

This is original.
Look at the door.

Look at the little chamfering
on the door up there.

Yeah.
Do you think
this beadboard

-is underneath this?
Oh, boy.
-Yeah.

If that's still there
and in good shape,

how gorgeous
is that going to be?

- You got red underneath here.
- Oh, you do?

- Yeah, look at that.
- Oh, wow.

Oh, it was red. Look at that.

It was a red caboose.
Isn't that something? Wow.

Finding stuff.

None of what we see
is original

except that little bit
up in there.

- It's all covered up.
- -That is original, though, yes?

Well, you know, that space
and its use I think is,

but this facade on it
I don't think is.

-You don't think so?
-No. Look inside, let's see.

Yeah, see that.
This compartment,
a bathroom, and this thing...

"To get in or out
of upper berth

please use the ladder,
ring the bell

and ask the porter for it."

Shall we ring the bell or what?
Do you think he's around, or?

- I don't see the bell.
- Okay.

- Uh-oh.
- So, is this...

- I think so.
- No way.

Well, only way to tell
is, what?

-Uh-huh. Yep.
-Try it out.

Yep.

Okay. No way.

Another version
of sleep tight, huh?

Okay, Clint.
See you tomorrow morning.

Night.

This old caboose
may be almost 100 years old

but it has plenty of space
to create a warm

and inviting
modern guest suite.

-We'll come in this end.
-Uh-huh.

Sitting area and then bath
in that whole end and...

-Oh, the cupola.
-Cupola.

- That would be pretty neat.
- Wow.

Also, we don't see it,
but is there going to be
a bay window right here?

You could do both, maybe?
A cupola and the bay window?

Well, they didn't,
but it's tempting to do both.

But why not, right?

-This is, essentially,
one room.
-Yeah.

Okay, so, maybe you do
both the cupola and
the bay window.

So, we get this thing
out of here

and we get it to Deary
and put it in place.

Set it to feel like
it just pulled into
the station.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

What are we
going to find

when we start
stripping the layers back?

That is what I want to know.

As I head back to Texas,
Kevin and Webb

have a team of moving experts
carefully load up

this nearly 100-year-old
caboose,

taking extra care
not to damage it.

With the car securely
fastened, it's ready
for its journey to Deary

and to start a brand-new
chapter of life.

Over in Deary, our caboose
is greeted by the owner
of the project,

Webb French, a man who has
been around trains
his entire life

and is eager to see
what kind of shape
3006 is in.

That's it.
The caboose has landed.

Take a look at this.

Uh-oh. Oh.
Oh, Webb, that hurt.

Oh, Webb. Oh!

-That's spongey.
-This whole area

and then it gets
sort of hard over here.

-Yeah.
-But there's
a leak up there.

There's going to
need to be some repair.

Lots of work to do.

Now delivered
to its new home

next to the train depot
and securely seated
on its foundation,

Webb and Kevin can start
peeling back the layers

of this 100 year-old caboose.

-So, here it is.
-Yep.

Wow.