Train Stations In Your Town

[Anonymous]

I live in Boylston, MA, and there aren't any RRs in town anymore, the huge Wachusett Resevuar (pardon the spelling errors) was created a long long time ago, flooding the B&M RR which ran through town. The B&M had 2 stations in town. There was also a trolley line; the Worcester & Clinton St. Ry. Co. which ran through "Morningdale", Boylston Center, and ended in Fitchburg. There was even a trolley car barn in Boylston! All this was flooded, paved over, or torn down eventually.

[choochoobuff]

I live in Springfield, OH which was once a town driven by both passenger and freight service.  In my research of local history I have learned that the main passenger terminal which I believe was operated by the Big Four Railroad was razed in 1970 to make way for an overpass.  I have to rely on others for alot of my info as it was gone before my birth.  Several railroads actually had stations here.  A few still exist in other forms.  All that remains of the C,C,C&STL. station is the ticket office.  The main line still runs under NS.

[wcaudle]

I am in San Angelo TX.  History has it that San Angelo was a major hub for the Santa Fe until the 1950's.  The beautiful depot is still here, preserved and ran by volunteers as a museum. It is near a restored Army post, Fort Concho. The Depot also houses a transportation station here.  There is just local freights, Ferro de Mex, running through town now.

North, in Abilene, their depot is used as a Chamber of Commerce center. It is very nice and you can watch the UP fly through town all day long.

[NYCBOY]

The Long Island Rail Road station in East Williston was the third oldest in the system, but unfortunately, it was demolished after having been set up as a photo-op for a NYS Senator seeking re-election a few years ago. Sen. Balboni had obtained historic preservation funds to restore the Victorian-era building to a level approximating its original design.Conveniently, the renovation would be finished in time to receive full court press coverage in the East Williston village newspaper, distributed free to all residents. There was to be a ribbon cutting, speeches and a brass band. An eight foot high plywood barricade was erected around the entire building and a trailer was moved adjacent to the sight to serve as a temporary ticket office and waiting room. Of course, under  Pataki control of the MTA, LIRR ticket agencies were drastically scaled back in the late 1990's so there was no ticket office or agent.

 

The first order of business was to strip the layers of red enamel paint from the red brick facade of the building. Then, all work came to a sudden halt and remained that way for over two years. Suddenly, the trailer disappeared and it was announced that the building was structurally unsound and would have to be demolished. It was subsequently bulldozed one morning in late 2004. I was able to salvage a brick from the debris.

The sight languished for over two years, this time with a four foot high plywood barricade which had to be reinforced from time to time, due to wind damage. Passersby started using it as an oversized litter basket. It was quite an eyesore. Then in 2006, the Village of East Williston erectred a giant "flower box' atop the footprint of the former station building. Essentially, they stacked up three 12"x12"x8' RR ties, filled the box with top soil and planted mums and Montauk daisies. This year, benches were added, one on the north end and one on the south end of the planter, but neither weather protection nor a  pay phone was restored.  As of June, 2007, all  manner of weeds are taking over the former flower bed. It is quite an eyesore and all parties involved in this debacle simply point fingers of blame at eachother and then conveniently pass the buck and blame to the ultimate scapegoat, the Long Island Rail Road, a political football for the last one hundred years.  

[inch53]

 Thought I'd post a few stations I've got photos of in east central ILL, where I live and a couple a little farther out.

The station here in Martinsville, IL was closed in the 50's and is long gone. In Marshall were I was raised, the PRR & NYC stations were both closed in the early 60's and too are gone now. I'm trying to find photos of them; they were still there when I was a youngster  

There are a few standing within 50 mile of me yet [all in Illinois]. The PRR/IC station in Effingham is still there and in use by Amtrak [no agent].

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41120/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41114/ppuser/4309

Not to bad a rail fan spot also, of morning or evening. And the Mattoon, the IC also is still there and in used] no agent]. The NYC side is gone though,

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/19907/ppuser/4309

Those are the only working ones round here. Note on them; the doors open 1 half hour before train arrival time.

The Greenup station is there

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/42172/ppuser/4309

 but moved and used as a museum. Here's some history on it

http://www.rr1.net/users/historic/html/depot_history.html

The NKP station in Charleston is there, but closed. That section of track is now own by the Eastern Illinois RR [short line], which runs from Neoga [IC] to Metcalf, CSX [B&O]

 http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/32449/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/32447/ppuser/4309

The NYC in Robinson is closed [tracks gone], now a war museum operated by the VFW

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/37489/ppuser/4309

C&EI in Westville is a museum, no tracks, but for a caboose there

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41132/ppuser/4309

A couple a little father out are; the one Chatum, now a museum. Tracks are still there and used by Amtrak

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41188/ppuser/4309

 And in Bethany, closed, last used as a restaurant, all so closed

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/32441/ppuser/4309

The Monticello Rail museum operates two stations on their tourist line

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20503/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20516/ppuser/4309

Here's a link for more info on them

http://www.prairienet.org/mrm/

 and there one more I know of [so to speak] these are the remains of the NCY station in Terre Haute, IN

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/42070/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/42071/ppuser/4309

They also have two inter-locking towers there, more info on them

http://www.haleytower.org/

These are the ones I know of so far and got photos of so far. Course the Lincoln station in Springfield is still standing, museum now and the IC station is operated by Amtrak.

[hope all these links work]

[DaveBr]

   Glendale Train Station.As I said the Glendale Train Station is only there for Amtrak jr.

to stop at for a few minutes.Metrolink trains have their own station about 500 feet

west of the refurbished train station.The train station has a parking lot for almost

300 cars.these spaces are being used by all the employees who work around the

station at no charge.Thare is a small company that rents the tiny inside where tickets

used to be sold and as of 2 weeks ago the Greyhound office was closed. Maybe for 2

monthes or longer.                      Dave Br

[jpwoodruff]

The old Southern Pacific depot in Livermore CA - built 1892 - was
restored in the 1970's and has been kept in outwardly good repair as
an office.  

But just this year major downtown development needs the land it sets
on for commerce and residences. There's talk of relocating and
preserving, but we'll have to see about that.
 
The depot has been fortunate to live as long as it has as a preserved
structure.

John 

[Andrew Falconer]

After you visit the passenger stations in Grand Haven and Holland, Michigan go north to Muskegon, Michigan to see the big passenger station on the Former Pere Marquette. The Muskegon Station is a quiet and calm place compared to a fully active passenger station.

Andrew

[Andrew Falconer]

In Vicksburg, Michigan the Union Depot was fully restored by the Vicksburg Historical Society and the High School Building Trades class between 1977-1983. The Union Depot is now the main office of the Vicksburg Historical Society. The passenger station was built in 1905 and it has brick walls on the outside.

There is a website for the Vicksburg Historical Society that can be found using a search engine.

The station in Schoolcraft, Michigan is a wood structure that was last maintained when the President Bush Passenger Train came through for the 2004 election campaign. The Schoolcraft station is used for storage.

Andrew

[Erie Lackawanna]

   Well we have a beautiful Train Station here in Glendale,Ca.One thing wrong,Amtrak

Will not stop here any more.Arguments between The city and Amtrak.Such a shame

Abeautiful piece of work by our grandparents being neglected by ingorant politicians,

 Amtrak California does make a minute stop ,but nothing to brag about.

                   Dave Br in Glendale

 

Amtrak has four Surfliners a day in each direction (a total of eight trains) that stop at Glendale CA.  The Coast Starlight stop was moved from Glendale to Van Nuys so that there would be baggage service available. (Amtrak California is not a separate railroad from Amtrak - it's the name painted on equipment that belogns to the state of California as part of their funding of Amtrak services in the state. Three corridors are part of this arrangement, including the Surfliner.)

And as a plus, Glendale's depot is fully restored and sees a large number of Metrolink trains each day.

[penncentral2002]

Where I live now in Richmond is very privileged as far as surviving stations.  Broad Street Station which I believe was RF&P, Seaboard(?), and Atlantic Coast Lines is now the Science Museum of Virginia and at least last time I was there had a lot of the old train station stuff still visible.  That survival would be the jewell of most places, but of course, Richmond also has Main Street Station (think it was originally used by the C&O) - probably the most beautiful large train station in existance (at least the most beautiful I have seen).  While used state offices for a while, the station is again being used for trains by Amtrak (although most Amtrak trains in Richmond use the standard box station that replaced Main Street Station as an active station).  And the restoration is very nice - with good exhibits on the history of the station and the C&O.  Near Main Street Station is a former freight station which is also still standing - think that was the former Seaboard freight house and is currently used for offices of some sort or the other.  There are other former stations - south of the James, there is a former station now used as a railroad museum - not really too sure of that one's history because I have yet to make it to the museum when it is open (only recently moved here).  I'm sure there are others around.  Of course, Main Street Station, complete with its train shed intact is the jewel of Richmond - they even made I-95 take an ackward curve to go around it.

Where I grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia, there is one remaining station (although it might be two, since I think that the former B&O Pleasant Valley station is still standing and still within the city limits).  The former Chesapeake-Western Railway station/offices are still standing despite being damaged by fire (mainly just the offices) about 10 years ago.  Currently, they are used as storage space by a lumber company.  As for proposals for adaptive reuse (everything from a restraunt to an agricultural museum), they keep appearing, yet nothing keeps happening.  At least it is still there.  The Southern Railway Freight Depot disappeared when I was a kid (early 1980s) and there is now a grain storage tower for a feed mill on the site.  Harrisonburg Union Station (Southern and B&O) disappeared long before I lived there - it likely was demolished shortly after Southern stopped passenger service to Harrisonburg (which I believe was in the 1940s) and the B&O sold their tracks south of Harrisonburg to the Chesapeake Western (which was I think in 1943, but that may have been when the Norfolk & Western bought the Chesapeake Western).  Chesapeake Western/Norfolk Southern also has a highly ugly concrete freight building whose primary distinction is being the only place to still see a Chesapeke Western logo in its natural habitat.

Near Harrisonburg, the Pleasant Valley B&O station remains (as of last time I was there).  In Bridgewater, the Chesapeake Western station remains, having been moved to a park after the tracks were removed.

[DaveBr]

   Well we have a beautiful Train Station here in Glendale,Ca.One thing wrong,Amtrak

Will not stop here any more.Arguments between The city and Amtrak.Such a shame

Abeautiful piece of work by our grandparents being neglected by ingorant politicians,

 Amtrak California does make a minute stop ,but nothing to brag about.

                   Dave Br in Glendale

[Trailryder]

  I have spent the last 2 years traveling around Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin & Eastern Iowa documenting the surviving railroad depots. The photos and histories are at this online photo gallery, http://www.pbase.com/trailryder/railroad_depots

As for my hometown of Sterling Illinois, they bulldozed the C&NW depot in the late 70-early 80s and now it's an empty gravel lot. so much for progress..  the CB&Q Depot has been saved as the Chamber of Commerce.

Enjoy the site and comments are always welcome.

Later Bill

[P42 108]

In Windsor Locks, CT along Amtrak's Springfield Line, there is an abondoned train station. Amtrak built and uses a new unstaffed station at the other end of town. There is a big effort underway to save the station. I am not sure what the specifics are...maybe somebody else knows more than I do. I'll look further into this and respond back later.

[stridge]

Danville, IL

The Wabash depot has been leveled to a lot for the Vermilion Co recycling drop off point. It was a rather large stone building. Danville was the crew change point for passenger trains.
The C&EI station is still standing but is being used as a warehouse.
The Big Four station is the site of a meat store, the site of the freight station is a pizza joint with a LOT of local RR photos, Etc. The Danville Jct chapter of the NRSH has monthly meeting there.
Milwaukee Road never had a depot that I know of.

 

[Rwulfsberg]

In Madison, WI:

 The local gas & electric utility incorporated the C&NW depot into its office building. The classical limestone facade is still impressive, although 1970's-era office windows have replaced the original doors.

Amtrak operated a ticket office in the MILW station for a few years after startup, and the MILW used the building for yard operations until the final breakup. A series of restaurants used the passenger terminal. A bicycle shop is in there now. A developer has attempted to make a mini-mall out of the place, letting out the freight office and a static display of a cab unit and coaches as offices or boutiques.

Near the MILW station, the IC freight depot is a U-Haul center.

In nearby Middleton, the MILW station is now used by that city's tourism bureau. It was recently refurbished and given a coat of orange and maroon paint.

Much farther west, the tracks have been gone for many years in Mineral Point, but its 1850's-era station has been refurbished and serves as a museum.

Rolf Wulfsberg

 

[gentletaz]

The railroad depot here in Holland,Michigan has been here as long as I can remember. I believe it was originally built by the Pere Marquette railroad and eventually became the property of CSX. For many years, sometime after Amtrak took over passenger service, it just sat and slowly deteriorated with the freight house used for possibly maintenance crews and storage. The city of Holland tried to buy it for many years, but the railroad's price was too high. The railroad finally settled on a reasonable price and the city bought it and turned it into a transportation center, serving Amtrak, Greyhound, a local taxi company, and is now in the process of being expanded to also serve our local bus transit company. The city did a beautiful job of refurbishing it and landscaping the immediate area and making use of the freight house for some of the above mentioned uses, plus it also provided space for the offices of Tulip Time, our annual celebration in May. As I understand it, the Tulip Time offices will be moved when the bus transit compny moves in.

I can remember when, as a kid, I rode the C &O to Chicago with my elementary school class on a field trip. The outside of the building has only seen small changes in design, but the interior has changed considerably for it's present uses.

[snagletooth]

Well, this is the station in my town, and it's going to be the center of a major development project in the coming years:

Some place I have a shot of both of the stations in my home town of Aurora, IL. I'll have to dig those out, though, as I can't find them on my PBase site.

You got shots of all three?

[oldyardgoat]

 Ps.  Thanks, Chris, of Denver for the photo of "my" station.  You're from Aurora, Ill.; I rode my bike from Aurora (Colo.) down to that magnificent station. 

ardenastationmaster 

[oldyardgoat]

 I'm probably one of the luckiest guys around. I got bit by the train bug when I was five watching the big U.P. steamers roll by my uncle's house.  Two of those monsters still live.  As a teen I rode my bike down to Union Station to watch the daily parade of trains coming and going from both ends of the terminal.  Two years ago was able to walk through the front doors and into the great hall, walk down into the subway and up onto the platform, and then out to where 844 stood ready to take me and a trainload of other UPHS members from Denver almost to Cheyenne.  The track behind my uncle's house is still there, albeit out of service.  To quote Lou Gerhig, I consider myself the luckiest man alive!  By the way, my uncle was a Special Agent for the U.P. and his office was in the 19th Street Freight House, where my maternal granfather also worked.  It still stands, complete with the U.P. System "Overland" shield cast above the door.  Only now, it is the Denver Chop House, where they brew eight varieties of their own beer (which is not bad).

ardenastationmaster 

[massconrail]

In regards to the earlier posting regarding the Palmer MA train station, you can go to www.steamingtender.com to see the station and the restaurant located inside. It also has some good shots of the exterior and passing trains. The new owners have done a great job restoring it. It was pretty much abandoned when I was growing up.

[CTValleyRR]

We're very lucky here in Southeastern CT.  Formerly New Haven territory, most of the railroads and stations around here managed to survive the New Haven ---> Penn Central ---> Conrail / Amtrak transition.  The Old Saybrook station still handles about 15 Amtrak trains (including Acela) every day, and has since expanded to be the NE terminus of the Shore Line East Commuter Rail (owned and operated by ConnDOT), although the former freight depot is now a pizza joint -- albeit a classy one with 2 operating HO layouts upstairs!

The tracks connecting Old Saybrook and Hartford no longer have a roundhouse and turntable in Old Saybrook (although the foundations are still there, and are now a historic site).  The first quarter mile or so of the CT Valley branch is used to park Shore Line locos and MOW equipment overnight.  The balance of the track, and the beautifully restored station in Essex is now the HQ and property of the Valley RR Company, which operates the Essex Steam Train, a tourist line which runs 10 miles or so up the Connecticut River Valley.

If there's any interest, I'll force myself to run over and take some pix for posting.

[Bob-Fryml]

The Union Pacific Station in Omaha has been kept well maintained and is now called The Durham Western Heritage Museum. They have some UP passenger equipment, some other train related displays, and they usually introduce a new history based theme about once a month.

The Burlington Northern Station (right across the tracks from the Durham Western Heritage Museum) has been left to decay, but there has been some talk of turning it into condos and a restaurant in the near future.

Within the last four months or so the Omaha Wierd Harold World-Herald newspaper has reported that a developer is now gutting the interior of the Omaha "Q" station in preparation for adding condominiums and retail space.  Another developer is seeking to convert the adjacent (but presently abandoned) "Omaha Post Office / Burlington Station" building into apartments.  Both structures are sited hard by both the BNSF Lincoln-Omaha-Plattsmouth "passenger main" and The Overland Route U.P. mainline.

[frankow]

The original Yazoo & Mississippi Valley (I.C.R.R. subsidiary) passenger station on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA is in good repair and now serves as an arts and science musem along with a planetarium which was added on. (The station was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1994.) At its north end, it displays an I.C.R.R. switcher and a string of passenger cars with include an RPO and an office car. This train has been allowed to deteriorate to the point that it is a shameful eyesore. The station remains on an active rail line, now Canadian National.

The KCS depot from which I used to board the "Southern Belle" has been leveled with nary a trace. For a short time before KCS passenger operations terminated, there was a station in the KCS yard in the north part of the city.

[SactoGuy188]

Here in Sacramento, CA, there are two major passenger railroad stations.

One is the Sacramento Valley Station, a very large depot building that used to be a Southern Pacific depot and has found new use servicing the Amtrak California Zephyr, Coast Starlight and Capitols trains. There are plans to move the entire structure a couple of hundred feet north as part of the massive construction project that will replace the SP yard there.

The other one is the Roseville Station, which is on the north side of the east end of what is now today J.R. Davis Yard (the largest railroad yard on the UP system on the US West Coast). They just started work on a train viewing platform just east of this station that will allow a commanding view of the east end of the yard plus the wye there that leads to the train route going geographic north.

 

[Erie Lackawanna]

SP Caboose... the SP freight depot was standing in your town up until early this year.  It was about a half block south of the passenger depot that burned down. Sadly, it's now gone too.

[TheS.P.caboose]

There aren't any stations in my town.  The old Canoga Park station burnt down several years ago.  That station was on the Burbank Branch.  The track from the Burbank Branch was taken out before the Metro bus line (Orange Line) was put into place.  The closest station is about 5 miles away in Chatsworth, California.

[enr2099]

Train stations in my area(Vancouver, BC).

Canadian National Railways Pacific Central Station: Now used by VIA Rail Canada, Amtrak, Greyhound and Pacific Coach Lines. Pacific Central has been beautifully restored and features a Golden Arches next to the VIA Rail ticket kiosks.

CN Port Mann station: Demolished in the 1970's when CN expaned Thornton yard. The expansion of Thornton yard swallowed up a good chunk of the Port Mann townsite. 

Canadian Pacific Railway: The old CPR station has been beautifully restored as well and is now Translink's Waterfront station. It is used by Skytrain, West Coast Express and Seabus(passenger ferry connecting Vancouver with North Vancouver).

Great Northern Vancouver station: The GN station, next to the CNR station has been demolished. The BNSF main line still heads off towards the old depot from Glen yard but is no longer used. 

BN New Westminster station: No longer used for passengers the BN New Westminster station now serves as yard office for New Westminster and head offices for BNSF in Vancouver, BNSF also has an RTC(Dispatcher) office located in the New Westminster station.

BC Rail North Vancouver depot: Building remains vacant, Whistler Mountaineer has new shelter and platform immediately north of the old passenger depot.

CPR New Westminster station: Located at the Westminster Quay the old CPR station is now a Keg Steakhouse. 

The current Rocky Mountaineer station in CN's Vancouver Main yard is actually the old CN Vancouver diesel shops that CN shut down years ago in favour of the facilities at Thornton yard in Surrey/Port Mann. 

Those are the only stations I can think of, I've probably missed a few.  

[cogloadreturns]

the train (railway) station where I live is alive and well and sold around 1.5m tickets last year. It can be seen at www.salisburyasc.co.uk (yes I am a Brit) and as an added bonus I am on there as well. However I shall not be divulging whom.