Today (9 May, 2008) my son and I took a drive by Hopedale and were surprised to see the #1001 Alco parked out in front of the engine house! I hadn't heard anything about it on either the Yahoo group or the railroad.net forum so I assumed that this was new news.
There was an excavator there actively working, destroying what looked like some wooden structures. This was at 6pm on a rainy Friday evening, so I assume that they're interested in getting done what they have to do instead of knocking off for the weekend. The flanger was still there, so I assumed that what I was seeing being broken up were old wooden buildings. However I'd forgotten about the old Raritan caboose, and now that I look at these photos (and others recently posted on the web) I think I was watching the excavator take down the old caboose.
Having seen that, I'd be surprised if the flanger survives another day.
Here are the photos I took. With the excavator actively working, I figured we probably wouldn't be welcome to come too close.