Hey Forum visiting Richmond Va I toured the newly restored and reopened Main Sreet Station with Amtrak Service. The Station has a French Romanesque design unlike any other stations I have seen. Richmond also has another station the Broad Street Union Station. This Union Station design is similiar to the Washington, Chicago Union Stations. Union Station now houses the Virginia Science Museum. Though it is now a museum they have kept much of the signage and feel of a grand rail road station. In the back they have preserved and restored the train platforms. Great Job. Though Richmonds primary Amtak station is the hideous Staples Rd Amshack they did cudoes for preserving there great railroad history.
I'm more of a fan of rail road structures rather then the actual trains.
I'd love to here about anyones memories or what your cities railroad structures are being used for today or have any plans to restore them. I'd Love to here about them.
Thanks
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
While it isn't neccessarily 'my city', Greensboro, NC's 1927 Southern Railway station has been restored and reopened as a passenger train station October 1.
Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :
Our Ocala, Florida station was recently renovated, just in time for the cancellation of Amtan service.
None theless it is unique (I believe) in that it is one of the few where the 2 platforms are at right angles to each other, with diamonds on the tracks where they intersect. The old ACL and SCL tracks cross there.
Posted by Tanner929 (Member # 3720) on :
Thanks Notelvis I was in High Point and they did a great job restoring there Depot. I'll have to stop by Greensboro. If any area could use rail lines is NC connecting the The Triad with The Triangle and down to Charlotte. But Alas all I see is Highways and connectors. You know I even enjoy the drive from High Point down to the Myrtle Beach area because much of it is on back roads thru some small towns but I see the Interstate 73/74 ? will soon be completed.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Union Station: Concourse demolished 1968 replaced with 50 story building. The "head house', or Great Hall in Amtrakese, of course remains. Terminus for Amtrak METRA/BNSF and METRA (MILW,IC Heritage, N Central and Southwest)
Grand Central Station: closed prior to Amtrak structure demolished; remains a vacant parcel.
La Salle Street; structure demolished 80's. New METRAShack built for METRA(Rock Island) at Polk St.
Dearborn: structure remains as the HQ for a shopping center attached to a condo development. Area in which located, Printers Row, has seen a revival in recent years. Although the structure was vacated on A-Day, the Wabash commuter train (METRA SW) continued to operate there until "mid 70's" when it was moved to Union Sta.
Central: Structure demolished new condos "from the 500's to the Twos" are being developed on the site.
Randolph: essentially unchanged since A-Day as terminus for both METRA Electric and South Shore. The station area is to get a "makeover" and I believe to be renamed as Milennium Park Station.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tanner929: Thanks Notelvis I was in High Point and they did a great job restoring there Depot. I'll have to stop by Greensboro. If any area could use rail lines is NC connecting the The Triad with The Triangle and down to Charlotte. But Alas all I see is Highways and connectors. You know I even enjoy the drive from High Point down to the Myrtle Beach area because much of it is on back roads thru some small towns but I see the Interstate 73/74 ? will soon be completed.
Interstate 73/74 has been under construction in bits and pieces since about the time I went to work in Fayetteville, NC (1994-98). It's like a new section of highway opens every couple of years and eventually there will be an interstate all the way.....
which means the backroads you enjoy driving now will be even more enjoyable because most of the traffic will move over to the highway!
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
They're not Amtrak stations, but. . .
Not long ago, I visited the former Texas & Pacific depot in Fort Worth, TX. Recently restored, it's now the western terminal of Trinity Railway Express (which runs commuter trains between Fort Worth and Dallas).
Work is ongoing, but the Grand Lobby is one of the most impressive station restoration jobs I've ever seen.
While in Fort Worth, I also wandered past the city's former Santa Fe depot, built during the late 1800s. It did serve Amtrak until fairly recently, and is now being transformed into a catering hall for wedding receptions.
The workmen invited me inside to look around. The place is currently little more than a dusty construction site, but enough remains to give you some idea of what the old station looked like during its Santa Fe heyday.
Another of my favorite restored stations is Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, NJ (across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan).
It's a classic, early 1900s stub-end terminal, built by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western. Today, it's served by NJ Transit commuter trains, the PATH subway to Manhattan, a recently-opened Light Rail line, local bus lines, and ferry boats to Manhattan.
It has a beautifully restored Waiting Room and at least a dozen tracks (all with low-level platforms) in its daylight-filled train shed. Easy to reach from Manhattan, the entire place is highly atmospheric, very busy during weekday rush hours, and well worth a visit. Plus there's a waterfront park right outside with a panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline.
You'll find a few interior pix of Hoboken's terminal here (although they really don't do justice to the building):
The current issue of TRAINS has a great story with photos of the Portland, OR depot. It should certainly fit into the theme of this post.
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
Yes, Portland Union Station is among the most beautiful "survivors" in the nation.
The last time I visited the state of Washington, I spent a large portion of a rainy afternoon parked on one of the station's old wooden benches, just drinking coffee, "passenger watching," and soaking up the atmosphere. And I wasn't even taking a train that day (although I left town later that week on the Cascades).
It's definitely one of the finest stations served by Amtrak. For a photo tour, look here:
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Posted by gibg (Member # 2565) on :
Thank you, Mr. Norman, for your update on Chicago terminals. I have wonderful memories of all of them, having performed an academic commute (at least two, and sometimes three, round-trips per year) between the East Coast and the Rocky Mountain West between 1943 and 1952. I either passed through or visited every one of them. The easiest transfer was from New York Central to Rock Island at LaSalle Street, or Pennsy to Burlington at Union Station. Occasionally I would take the B&O out of Grand Central, mostly because it had a fascinating exit route which essentially went west and south before turning east. Occasionally I would take the UP instead of the Burlington, which meant the C&NW station. And as a late teenager, it was fun to visit Dearborn because it was located right in the middle of Burlesque Row. Since the AT&SF had dropped their Denver cars from the westbound Chief, I could never ride the Santa Fe....it was either CB&Q, C&NW/UP or CRI&P.
Another post mentioned the "through" cars which appeared in the early 50's. I took the Lake Shore Limited/California Zephyr combination several times and usually stayed aboard the "through" sleeper to watch all the switching operations. The big advantage was being able to leave your luggage aboard.
Help me out, Mr. Norman -- didn't the Michigan trains on the NYC arrive at Central Station (the old Michigan Central trains)? And do you remember where some of the smaller lines (Monon, Chicago and Eastern Illinois, Nickel Plate) terminated? Lastly, I can't for the life of me remember where the C&O landed!
In those days, every one of these stations was always a beehive of activity. LaSalle Street, one of the smaller ones, and the one through which I probably passed the most, always seemed to me to be wall-to-wall people, with most of its tracks always occupied with departing or arriving trains.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Texas and Pacific station in Fort Worth is used by Amtrak. Texas Eagle and the Oklahoma train.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
The New York Central Lines that used Central Station were those of the CCC&Stl, or Big Four. The principal route was Chi-Cincinnati which used trackage rights over the Illinois Central Chi-Kankakee.
I am unaware if Michigan Central used any station other than La Salle.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Dilly--
Thanks for the great PDX link. I especially enjoyed the sequence shot of the sign at night!
Our humble 1905 station here in SBA is a nice example of what can happen when local preservationists, the city and Amtrak can accomplish working together. The only fault I can find is the color but we have been assured that it is accurate.
Frank in Sunny SBA
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
quote:Originally posted by George Harris: Texas and Pacific station in Fort Worth is used by Amtrak. Texas Eagle and the Oklahoma train.
Hi George,
Actually the T&P station in Ft. Worth is used only by the commuter trains. Amtrak shares an intermodal station with Trinity Railway Express and the city buses. This new facility opened in 2002 and is about a block north of the old Santa Fe station and about two blocks east of the Greyhound station.
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
quote:Originally posted by George Harris: Texas and Pacific station in Fort Worth is used by Amtrak. Texas Eagle and the Oklahoma train.
Mr. notelvis is correct. Amtrak has never used the Texas & Pacific station, which was empty and abandoned until it was restored, a few years ago, as part of a now-defunct hotel project.
The Texas Eagle and Heartland Flyer did use the former Santa Fe depot (now being converted to a catering hall, as mentioned in my earlier post) until three or four years ago.
Today, both Amtrak trains stop at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center. It's a modern facility, built a few years ago in an architectural style that vaguely "echoes" that of many late 19th century train stations. Oddly, the exterior is more imaginatively designed than the bland interior, which simply looks like the inside of a bus terminal.
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Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
I stand corrected. I was of the impression that whent ehy moved out of the Santa Fe Depot it was to move into the T&P Depot, which is a truly monumental building. However, it has been 17 yeasrs since I was last in Ft. Worth.