Favorite Amtrak Stations?

[gswager]

Favorite place: LAUS and PDX. Chicago, too (only the Great Hall, others are so dreary!)

Worst: Williams Jct., AZ

 

[Shawn Ryu]

I dont think its fair to call any small town stations worst. They cant build a large building to accommodate small passengers.

NYP is terrible in that it is uggggly. reminds me of a cramped airport, which I dont wish to experience when I am travelling.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Its hard to pick on favorite station several come to mind, but for different reasons.

I LOVE walking through the LIRR concourse of Penn Station in the middle of rush hour the low ceilings, and all the people hustling around I'm not sure why I enjoy it, but I do.

Otherwise

1. Chicago Union Station

2. Philadelphia 30th Street Station

3. Los Angles Union Station

4. Washington Union Station

5. San Diego

 

[D T Nelson]

... [seattle King Street Station] is difficult to get to by cab or bus.

... There are probably at least a dozen buses that stop within 2 blocks of SEA, maybe more. ...

A dozen sounded a little low, and it made me curious, so I did a count -- counting the northbound and southbound runs of a route as separate routes, I come up with 155 King County Metro and Sound Transit bus routes that stop within two blocks of the station. Most of those 155 are rush-hour weekday only, and a handful are "Night Owl" buses that only run in the dead of night, but by my count there are 63 that run all day every day (all day meaning from before dawn until well after dark, every day meaning seven days a week). I could be off by a few one way or the other.

Granted, there are no bus stops on the same side of the street as the station, so one does have to cross a street or two to get to the bus; some may find it difficult to cross a street.

The number would have been higher if I had bothered to count buses run to Seattle by the Pierce County and Snohomish County transit agencies, but I got tired, and I am pretty sure almost all of those are rush-hour only.

I would say the biggest drawback to taking the bus from King Street Station would be frequency of service at night. Some buses serving the station area cut back to hourly service at night, and an hour spent waiting for a bus is a very long hour, whether you wait at the bus stop in the dark or stay in the station until the time your bus is due -- especially when you could pay a bit more and hop in a cab and be on your way.

Anyway, people trying to figure out how to get to or from King Street Station by bus can use the trip planner on Metro's web site to find their routing, difficult or not. In King County we are also fortunate to have the very powerful OneBusAway which, on your smartphone, will show you all the bus stops in your area with real-time arrival information for each one.

 

[Misty.]

I'll add another vote for Chicago Union Station and LAX to the list, and I hope that The Gathering will see some of you adding Gateway Station to your lists.

 

[LA Resident]

Its simple. Post your favorite Amtrak stations, small city or big city. and if you want post your least favorite Amtrak stations.

Favorite-

30th Street Station (Philly)

Chicago Union Station

LA Union Station

Washington union Station

Oceanside Transit center

Portland Union Station

New haven Union Station

Albany Renassler

Least favorite-

North Philadelphia

New York Penn

It must be because San Diego is tucked away in the southwest corner of the Mainland that no one has mentioned the beautiful Amtrak nee Santa Fe, station. It must be considered in any list of favorites: a beautiful California Spanish design decorated with palm trees around its exterior and on the open-air platforms, and a real working station with the original wooden benches and imposing chandeliers.

I give kudos to LAUS, the beautiful Southern Pacific depots at Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, the imposing Portland Oregon station, Whitefish Montana, and Washington DC.

Yes, Kansas City has a beautiful building but as a working station, it falls short of many others because Amtrak is shoehorned into a dismal corner with a waiting room that's akin to a decrepit Greyhound bus station.

Ditto for Chicago Union Station with its claustrophobic feel and plastic seats in the waiting area.

And as for the Oceanside Transit Center on the Surfliner route: yucch! It's not even a building, just a sterile concrete walkway with an A&W on one side and a postage-stamp-sized Amtrak counter on the other side of the walkway.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

MTZ is a nice place.

 

[bretton88]

Favorite would definitely have to be PHI. it's such a beautiful station. Osceola also holds a special place in my heart. A real, working small town station.

My least favorite has to be Omaha, my home station. It's so depressing to be at an Amshack underneath the crumbling Burlington station. I wish the City of Omaha would buy the old depot and turn it into a transit center with Amtrak in it too.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Its hard to pick on favorite station several come to mind, but for different reasons.

I LOVE walking through the LIRR concourse of Penn Station in the middle of rush hour the low ceilings, and all the people hustling around I'm not sure why I enjoy it, but I do.

Otherwise

1. Chicago Union Station

2. Philadelphia 30th Street Station

3. Los Angles Union Station

4. Washington Union Station

5. San Diego

I like what you say about LIRR. In fact one time I am sure I saw Judge Judy standing there somewhere.

 

[Cristobal]

Awesome...let us know if you received cheerful helpful assistance from the Station Host on duty.

As a matter of fact, I did have a nice little sit-down chat with the woman working as Station Host last Wednesday evening. My bags and my arrival time at the station must have first clued her in that I might be boarding the CS but imagine my surprise when, after telling her that I was heading to Tacoma in a sleeper, she said "You must be Chris."

Then she pulled out her cheat-sheet which I'm assuming is a copy of the manifest of all pax boarding at SJC. A very pleasant gal and I was almost sad to see our conversation cut short by the early arrival (~10 min) of the CS.

 

[PVDtoGO]

My Favorites:

WAS - Beautiful Architecture, Ease of Connection to Metro, Services, Not to mention direct access to Acela track for boarding from the lounge.

WPB - Cute Station, Lots of Family Memories from Arriving or Departing. ^_^

BOS - Similiar to WAS though on a smaller scale (wish it had the track access)

PVD - Come On!!!! I have to include it, plus I like the access to the tracks at all times/lack of gate control, I can leave my house 10 mintes before the train leaves, that is awesome.

NYP - Only as it is the gateway to the World - hate the station.

My Anti-Favs:

NYP - To say its a Rabbit-Warren Insults Rabbits!

BBY - Cramped Platform....Just waiting for someone to be pushed to the tracks

MIA - Sad bit for an originating station.