Dearborn, Michigan has a new Amtrak station which considering the loss of all of the great Detroit rail facilities seem unremarkable. The new building in Dearborn, however, houses an historic 0-4-0 Davenport steam narrow gauge switch engine inside the concourse of the building. This new station seems remarkable for being a modern copy of the grand style it is constructed in. Across the platform is Henry Ford Museum with operating steam locomotives as well as housing former Lake Shore And Michigan Southern passenger 4-4-2 as well as a pristine C&O 2-6-6-6.
There must be other classic Amtrak facilities with a steam locomotive heritage worth discussing. Anyone have a favorite?
Not too far from Dearborn is the Durand, MI station, on Amtrak's Blue Water line. It was the crux of the GT, where the Canada-Chicago main crossed the Detroit-Grand Haven line. Ann Arbor RR (now Great Lakes Central) also crossed there. In steam days it had a roundhouse that almost made a full circle. The large (for a small town) station is mostly run by a preservation group. It's a great place to watch trains, and attracts railfans.
Utica Amtrak station....classic architecture and direction connections to the adsr. No live steam but some great first generation diesels.
Seattle King Street. Beautiful building that fits Seattle and the Northwest well.
Anyone familiar with the Buffalo NYC terminal? It was on TV lately in the record snow fall coverage Buffalo got this fall. Detroit NYC terminal still stands highly gutted by scrappers who just recently tore down its steel smokestack for scrap.
What a waste to see some famous national rail terminals saved and others just blighted. Construction like that will not come again easily.
Am a real fan of Grand Central, Washington DC, St. Louis without trains and Chicago Union. Not sure what happened to Cincinati, Buffalo, and in California etc.?
Doc
Ocala Union Station, Florida. Pity I cannot board a train there anymore.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Wes
I like the Amtrak Station at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. I am surprised about the number of people that use this station that are not flying. It shows the practicality of building suburban stations for Amtrak.
Toledo Central Union with NS freight trains blasting thru the lower platforms
Another great station...tol
I will put in a vote for La Grange Road IL on BNSF. It is admittedly primarily a suburban stop for Metra but Amtrak's trains to and from Quincy all stop there. The station is relatively large with a nice waiting room and is located in the La Grange business district. The trainwatching is really good, too.
Los Angeles Union Station and the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego have been well preserved and well used as multimodal transportation hubs. Not sure how to classify Sacramento, IMO the politicos really screwed up the new track layout to accomodate developers but the old SP depot is preserved.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
IMHO there actually be 4 items that need consideration.
1. Outside design of the building
2. Inside layout of terminal and beauty of design.
3. Ease of access to board train and platforms.
4. Platforms themselves.
Here are my picks
for #1 Hard to beat Washington Union station or Cincinnati.
for #2 LAX waiting room although it does need more lighting. Tunnel to platforms lacking.
for #3 San Diego Ease of access from both station and light rail. Dallas comes in a close second.
for #4 Sacremento. Nice wide platforms great for railfans and the service stop passengers. Access to platform from station is terrible.
Did not include train waatching possibilities as #5 as not enough experience.
Hey blue if we go by your criteria, again I would put in my vote for Utica central station. Classic design, main concourse with shops and eateries. Serves both Amtrak and the Adirondack scenic railroad Thur its original tunnels. A fair amount of Amtrak trains and on the former NYC, now CSX mainline.
Although not a classic station my favorite for the 21st century would probably be Anaheim.
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/content/media/20/files/MTL315_MetrolinkMattersSinglePages(m1bh).pdf
My favorite would be Penn Station in Newark NJ. The main attraction is the track platforms; six through tracks for Amtrak and NJ Transit, and another track for the PATH heavy rapid transit system. What makes this special for the railfan is that there is open access to the platforms (except for PATH); no ticket is needed to just watch.
The afternoon weekday rush hour is very busy; a quick timetable review for the 4 PM - 6PM period showed 40+ trains through the station.
Additionally, in the basement, is the terminal for the two Newark Light Rail routes. One route, the original Newark City Subway, goes to Bloomfield. The newer route goes to the E-L Broad Street Station, and includes some street running down Broad Street.
There ought to be a second category for stations not located in urban areas, many of which have been renovated and re-purposed and which do much to preserve rail heritage: Winslow, AZ and Las Vegas, NM for example. The Dodge City, KS station was rescued through gov't and private grants several years ago and still boards AMTRAK passengers. It's a gorgeous 1898 red brick, two-story structure which hosts a number of other civic functions and anchors the historic downtown area. Although the roundhouse was torn down a number of years ago, the turntable is still in use a quarter mile east in the yards.
Are there still a caboose and GG1 on display at the Harrisburg Station?
Of all time: The original Penn Station in NYC
Today: Restored station in Selma, NC. Two platforms at 90 degrees, to serve 2 lines, one of which no longer has passenger service. But passenger trains stop on the connecting curve.
Another small-station gem is the new Winter Park, Florida Amtrak station (built in the summer of 2014.) Beautiful building, beautiful setting. Be sure to check out the Peacock stained glass window, and the Craftman style lights.
Newark Penn Station has my vote. Walk in off the street and step into 1934 in all it's original restored art deco glory. Take a seat on the polished and suprisingly comfortable waiting room 'pews' and note they retain their PRR keystone end decorations. Move your eyes up to the original ceiling and lighting fixtures. Hear the clacking of the Solari board every few moments. Stroll the concourse with shops, access to the City Subway (today's Light Rail), bus platforms, taxi stand, and the clearly numbered track platforms. Go through the heavy brass and glass doors under one of the track numbers, then up an escalator or climb the stairs and you find yourself in a small window-enclosed platform waiting room. Step out onto the steel and glass covered platform, find a bench, and watch the endless comings and goings of AMTRAK, NJ Transit, and PATH. This is a busy big city station like they used to be and Newark Penn is the second busiest station on the AMTRAK network.
Of course, mine would be St. Louis Union Station "back in the day" when it had lots of trains still running, no more.
I like GCT in NYC which does not host Amtrak, but left from there with parents on New York Central again "back in the day" . Buffalo was a huge station too, spent hours there waiting on connection from Niagara Falls back home, traveling on a pass that often happened.
Also like Los Angeles Union, can still remember the stuffed armchairs, more comfy than benches. Still see them when TV show is filmed there. And KCUS and CUS which are still used.
Portland has a nice station too, very attractive outside. And so was Wash, DC. That Newark station above looks super, we probably stopped there on way to NYC on Pennsy, but didn't get off and it probably didn't look like that, had a newer look.
Glenwood Springs, CO.
Have not travelled through Cincinatti lately, but as a child made several connections to Southern's Carolina Special at CUT. (Seattle-Asheville, NC, by train is quite an adventure for a youngster.) Always in awe of the murals depicting US history near the ceiling. Wish I had a tape recording for those boarding calls for trains now long gone, but heading off to places on exotic sounding railroads.
White River Jct VT. Still a classic waiting room, staffed by a volunteer attendant.
The obsevations are interesting. Any real discussion of the "best" staion has to start with the living breathing (125 trains per day in four directions) 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Everything else is minor league.
Union Station in Chicago. I wish they kept Northwestern Station in both Milwaukee and Chicago both were also great stations and would awe visitors to both cities.
To Sunnyland:
Gotta tell you ... the above photos of Newark Penn are recent; it is well-maintained. Also look up NJ Transit's Hoboken Terminal. Although not an AMTRAK facility it is truly one of the best surviving stations in the country. Built on the Hudson River by DL&W in 1907 it may be the first intergrated intermodal transportation center in the world. From the beginning it has hosted long distance varnish, suburban commuters, streetcars, subways, ferries, and buses. The Bush train sheds still cover the platforms and the waiting room is capped by a huge Tiffany Studios stained glass ceiling. Hoboken Terminal was fully restored for it's hundreth anniversary; it is an architectual gem and absolute joy for train buffs.
A Florida favorite that is being restored in the era of stations built at that time.
http://bungalower.com/2015/03/amtrak-station-renovation-coming-along-nicely/
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