A broken water pipe dumped thousands of gallons of water into the historic railroad depot in downtown Laramie last weekend, damaging the building’s restrooms and the hardwood wall on the south side.
The cost and extent of the damage is unknown, according to Larry Ostresh, vice president of the Laramie Railroad Depot Association, but includes peeling plaster walls, watermarked hardwood, damaged ceilings and saturated insulation.
The pipe may have broken because of cold weather, Ostresh said, or because a small furnace that heats the restrooms may have gone out.
The Laramie Railroad Depot Association, a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers, owns the building. Funding comes primarily from rental activities at the depot, grants and private donations to the association. The bulk of the association’s expenses are related to maintaining the depot. The association will shoulder the cost of the repairs.
Crews have already cleared out saturated insulation, and plumbers have re-established running water.
“Obviously, we’ll have to replace the insulation, but whether we have to do anything to the ceiling or the walls … we’ll have to see if the plaster is compromised, or if we have to tear down the ceiling and replace that,” Ostresh said. “That would be a huge expense.”
Ostresh said the association will let the damaged wood paneling dry before determining if it should be replaced or if it can be repaired.
The association recently remodeled the northern section of the building, which had been closed to the public and to rentals for several years.
“We thought we were done with renovations, and then this,” Ostresh said.
“This building is our signature asset that is a reminder of Laramie’s railroading history, besides the railroad itself,” he said. “The history, the importance of the railroad to the people of Laramie and the county — and everywhere, they come in from everywhere — that is the single best reminder of the railroad presence in Laramie.”
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