Whistle Stop Books

What's not to love? Whistle Stop Books, a used bookstore located fifteen feet from the mainline of the Norfolk Southern Railroad, in the trackside waiting room, provides funding for the ongoing preservation of the historic Victorian Italianate Cambria/Christiansburg Depot (c. 1867-1868).

We decided that we wanted a bookstore that also functioned as a small community space, which is the reason we are adding a small, comfortable sitting area; a coffee pot (.50 per cup); a popcorn machine for weekend treats; and a small game table, with two chairs, a cribbage board, and cards. We located the majority of the bookshelves in the center of the room and left the windows unobstructed so that children have a safe (and relatively quiet) place to watch the trains pass by.

The vast majority of books in the shop have been donated from personal collections (ours, friends, family, and depot supporters), which is one of the reasons we can keep the costs fairly low (most books are priced between $1 and $5). When you pick up a book (or five or ten) or you buy toys across the hall at the Cambria Toy Station, your purchases are going to help maintain and restore the historic Cambria Depot.

RESTORATION WORK: The original restoration of the depot occurred in 1983, and a second round of restoration work is slated for the next two years. When we first saved the depot in 1983, we did so because we thought the building should be saved and that it should be open, at least to some degree, to anyone who wanted to see what a depot used to look like. At the time, the building was between 16" and 18" out of plumb, 12" off the foundation at the rear, had no back wall, had broken windows from one end of the building to the other, had a fair amount of rot under the building, and had a demolition order on the front door. The upcoming restoration work isn't nearly as mind boggling as the first round, which required nearly two years of work. The building went into the National Register in 1985. The proceeds from the store are slated for replacing the back wall, re-adding the windows at the rear of the building, repairing and repainting the roof, rebuilding the main tower window, adding rain gardens along the sides of the building to mitigate stormwater runoff and control potential flooding, and giving the old girl a new paint job. We would like to complete the restoration in time for the depot's 150th birthday in 2017.