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The SBHRS started in late 1984 as a small
group of disgruntled members of the San Jose Society of Model Railroaders
(SJSMR). This group got together with the intent of finding a bigger,
better, and cheaper place to build model railroads. The SJSMR was located,
at that time, at 711 Lincoln Street in San Jose. The place was small and
the rent was high. After the rent was paid, there was little money left
to build a model railroad. A group of about twelve members met to form
a new organization and attempt to relocate to the old Santa Clara Railroad
Depot.
At that time, the depot belonged to the State of California. It was in
a bad state of disrepair and the current tenant was being requested to
leave. Early in 1985 some of our founding members met with then Santa
Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon to request his support in the SBHRS
efforts to acquire usage of the depot. He willingly agreed to work with
us and provided a contact point within CalTrans/Caltrain. A meeting was
held between Burch Bachtold of CalTrans and Robert Dolci, Ed Peterman,
Bill Trudeau, and Doug Gross to discuss the possibilities. Because we
could not afford rent on the depot, a proposal was made to restore the
depot as an offset to rent. A draft proposal was prepared along with a
meeting requested to present it. The SBHRS organizers met with CalTrans/Caltrain
officials, the State Historian, and the State Architects Office which
resulted in an agreement after several meetings. The SBHRS would be able
to used the historic building and receive rent credit for restoration
efforts. This was a unique situation in that the SBHRS was the only volunteer
organization designated to renovate any of the Caltrain depots. To qualify
for the agreement, the SBHRS was required to incorporate as a nonprofit
public benefit corporation. This occurred on May 10, 1985.
The goals set forth in our agreement with the State and our corporate
charter were the renovation and preservation of the Santa Clara Railroad
Depot along with the establishment and operation of a railroad museum
and library. The original agreement called for the restoration of the
building exterior, excluding the deck, to be done in stages, which provided
for our first five years of rent.
The City of Santa Clara was instrumental in our early dealings with the
State. The City provided sponsorship for a federally funded grant of $25,000
to help us restore the depot. We also received a $5,000 grant from the
City for building materials.
After the first five years, a new agreement was reached with the State
to restore the decking, both interior and exterior, along with shoring
up the foundations. We also came to an agreement as to what modifications
we could do to the interior to meet our organizational, museum, and scale
model railroad display needs. Funds from this new 6-year agreement covered
our rent until February 1997.
We have now negotiated with the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
(JPB), our current landlord, a new 10 year lease to cover our rent until
the year 2007. To fulfill our obligations we will need to do a number
of maintenance and renovation activities that include painting the exterior
every five years.
Guardian of the Historic San Francisco Peninsula Depots
Because of our outstanding record with the State in restoring the Santa
Clara depot, we were invited in March 1992 to act as monitors for the
preservation of all of the historic peninsula depots. We entered into
agreement with the State of California to ensure the preservation of the
historic structural integrity and appearance for the six designated historically
significant railroad depots along the peninsula commute line. The six
depots are San Jose, Santa Clara, Menlo Park, San Carlos, Burlingame,
and Millbrae. Our responsibilities are to inspect the depots periodically
or when any modifications are done to ensure compliance with State and
Federal historic building rehabilitation standards and guidelines. Inspections
will be carried out by appointment with the occupant or contractor and
are to be done by designated corporate members or their appointed representatives.
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