How Many "Union Stations" Are There?

[railiner]

This is what I was referring to....doesn't do much for HVAC, but the canopy, and sawtooth style ticket plaza was an attempt to 'modernize' in the 50's...all it really did was mar the appearance of the classic station, IMHO...

http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/52d8/2d6d/e8e4/4e45/1200/000e/large_jpg/PennStation_Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_Cervin_Robinson_Main_Waiting_Room.jpg?1389899114

 

[zephyr17]

This is what I was referring to....doesn't do much for HVAC, but the canopy, and sawtooth style ticket plaza was an attempt to 'modernize' in the 50's...all it really did was mar the appearance of the classic station, IMHO...

http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/52d8/2d6d/e8e4/4e45/1200/000e/large_jpg/PennStation_Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_Cervin_Robinson_Main_Waiting_Room.jpg?1389899114

That thing also blocked what had been the main corridor between the waiting room and the concourse, messing up circulation.

 

[railiner]

This is what I was referring to....doesn't do much for HVAC, but the canopy, and sawtooth style ticket plaza was an attempt to 'modernize' in the 50's...all it really did was mar the appearance of the classic station, IMHO...

http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/52d8/2d6d/e8e4/4e45/1200/000e/large_jpg/PennStation_Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_Cervin_Robinson_Main_Waiting_Room.jpg?1389899114

That thing also blocked what had been the main corridor between the waiting room and the concourse, messing up circulation.

And it was carried over to the "new Penn Station" when the ticketing plaza was in the rotunda....at least Amtrak improved on that when they did a major remodeling of the Penn Central era station in the eighties, and relocated the ticketing area to its present location on the west side of the concourse, where retail space once existed...

 

[Railroad Bill]

Cleveland's Terminal Tower served several lines in the 30s to 60s including New York Central, Nickel Plate and CCC&STL. The B&O, Wheeling and Erie also were to utilize the facility. Amtrak moved to its new station on the Lakefront in 1977. All had to utilize 22 electric locomotives to gain access to the underground terminal during the steam era. Wish the old TT could be brought back to life but much of the track and access are now gone.

 

[railiner]

Cleveland's Terminal Tower served several lines in the 30s to 60s including New York Central, Nickel Plate and CCC&STL. The B&O, Wheeling and Erie also were to utilize the facility. Amtrak moved to its new station on the Lakefront in 1977. All had to utilize 22 electric locomotives to gain access to the underground terminal during the steam era. Wish the old TT could be brought back to life but much of the track and access are now gone.

Yes...it's a very nice Station. It was the Easternmost outpost for the Fred Harvey Company, who had a restaurant, lunch counter, and gift shop within.

IIRC, other than the rapid transit and light rail, the last train to serve it was the Conrail (former Erie) commuter train to Youngstown, which lasted until around 1980 or so, (not sure)...

 

[dlagrua]

Union Station in Omaha, NE has been fully restored and is in beautiful pristine condition. While it still sits along the tracks, many of the features of the Golden age remain including the 1930's style lunch counter (still serving food) with the old fashioned stools. It is now a museum. The other station in Omaha is Burlington station that was used by Amtrak until 1982. It was then abandoned and fell into disrepair until a few years ago when it was fully restored and is now the headquarters of a television station. As for Amtrak they built an "Amshack" style station a block away. No more need for large Union Stations when there is only one LD train arrival and departure each day.

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Union Station in Omaha, NE has been fully restored and is in beautiful pristine condition. While it still sits along the tracks, many of the features of the Golden age remain including the 1930's style lunch counter (still serving food) with the old fashioned stools. It is now a museum. The other station in Omaha is Burlington station that was used by Amtrak until 1982. It was then abandoned and fell into disrepair until a few years ago when it was fully restored and is now the headquarters of a television station. As for Amtrak they built an "Amshack" style station a block away. No more need for large Union Stations when there is only one LD train arrival and departure each day.

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

Were/are those stations owned by Amtrak or by the cities or someone else?

 

[railiner]

There used to be a nice long enclosed bridge spanning the tracks, and connecting those two Omaha stations.

As for ownership...I believe both railroads unloaded them years ago, to get out from realty tax liabilities...I think the City may own the Union Station, or the local historical society, perhaps. And I suppose that TV Station must now own the Burlington station building...Amtrak probably owns or leases its current station...

 

[jis]

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

St. Louis Union Station is not really used by any trains at all, except occasionally by PVs parked on one of the two remaining tracks.

The St. Louis LRT Union Station is a good walk from the Union Station Hotel to an area that is just outside the edge of the old station canopy, near where the old signal bridge used to be. The old waiting room is now the Union Station hotel's lobby. While the Hard Rock Cafe and the Landry's are still in business, the rest of the Mall development there seems to have collapsed. There is lot of construction going on to repurpose the property into a Convention Center or something like that. Most of the old Mall area is now sealed off for construction. Unless you have a hotel key to enter through one of its back doors, you have to walk along sidewalks outside the station property to get from the LRT Union Station to the hotel lobby (the old headhouse).

We were there just a couple of weeks back during the OTOL Missouri Texas Rail Fest and most of us stayed at the Hilto Curio Collection St. Louis Union Station Hotel in the active construction zone.

 

[Eric S]

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

St. Louis Union Station is not really used by any trains at all, except occasionally by PVs parked on one of the two remaining tracks.

The St. Louis LRT Union Station is a good walk from the Union Station Hotel to an area that is just outside the edge of the old station canopy, near where the old signal bridge used to be. The old waiting room is now the Union Station hotel's lobby. While the Hard Rock Cafe and the Landry's are still in business, the rest of the Mall development there seems to have collapsed. There is lot of construction going on to repurpose the property into a Convention Center or something like that. Most of the old Mall area is now sealed off for construction. Unless you have a hotel key to enter through one of its back doors, you have to walk along sidewalks outside the station property to get from the LRT Union Station to the hotel lobby (the old headhouse).

We were there just a couple of weeks back during the OTOL Missouri Texas Rail Fest and most of us stayed at the Hilto Curio Collection St. Louis Union Station Hotel in the active construction zone.

Evidently an aquarium - http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/listings/st-louis-aquarium/

 

[jis]

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

St. Louis Union Station is not really used by any trains at all, except occasionally by PVs parked on one of the two remaining tracks.

The St. Louis LRT Union Station is a good walk from the Union Station Hotel to an area that is just outside the edge of the old station canopy, near where the old signal bridge used to be. The old waiting room is now the Union Station hotel's lobby. While the Hard Rock Cafe and the Landry's are still in business, the rest of the Mall development there seems to have collapsed. There is lot of construction going on to repurpose the property into a Convention Center or something like that. Most of the old Mall area is now sealed off for construction. Unless you have a hotel key to enter through one of its back doors, you have to walk along sidewalks outside the station property to get from the LRT Union Station to the hotel lobby (the old headhouse).

We were there just a couple of weeks back during the OTOL Missouri Texas Rail Fest and most of us stayed at the Hilto Curio Collection St. Louis Union Station Hotel in the active construction zone.

Evidently an aquarium - http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/listings/st-louis-aquarium/

Ah. Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Big Green Chauvanist]

Seattle Union Station is no longer a train station, but has been renovated and is the headquarters of Sound Transit.

Make that "beautifully restored" to its former glory. Seattle must be one of the few with two great old stations, across the street from each other, still extant. King Street Station served the Great Northern and Northern Pacific in the day; Union Station the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road. Must have been some sight!

 

[dlagrua]

Union Station in Omaha, NE has been fully restored and is in beautiful pristine condition. While it still sits along the tracks, many of the features of the Golden age remain including the 1930's style lunch counter (still serving food) with the old fashioned stools. It is now a museum. The other station in Omaha is Burlington station that was used by Amtrak until 1982. It was then abandoned and fell into disrepair until a few years ago when it was fully restored and is now the headquarters of a television station. As for Amtrak they built an "Amshack" style station a block away. No more need for large Union Stations when there is only one LD train arrival and departure each day.

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

Were/are those stations owned by Amtrak or by the cities or someone else?

IIRC, Amtrak originally used Burlington Station in Omaha until the early 80's. The station had a circular staircase in the middle that led to tracks below. It was abandoned and left to rot until two years ago when a television station purchased the structure, restored it and made it their headquarters. As for Union Station; that was also abandoned (don't have the exact date) taken over by the city of Omaha and re-purposed as a museum. It still looks very much like it did back in the day. Today Amtrak passengers use a small Amshack station across the way. We will be there next May to take pictures and will have a full report. It must have been great during the golden age of passenger rail. It is a shame that more people today don't appreciate how relaxing and enjoyable rail travel can be, instead preferring a 16-18" wide seat and 28" of legroom on a plane.I guess everyone is in a hurry these days.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Union Station in Omaha, NE has been fully restored and is in beautiful pristine condition. While it still sits along the tracks, many of the features of the Golden age remain including the 1930's style lunch counter (still serving food) with the old fashioned stools. It is now a museum. The other station in Omaha is Burlington station that was used by Amtrak until 1982. It was then abandoned and fell into disrepair until a few years ago when it was fully restored and is now the headquarters of a television station. As for Amtrak they built an "Amshack" style station a block away. No more need for large Union Stations when there is only one LD train arrival and departure each day.

Did we mention St Louis Union Station? Still used by commuter trains but not by Amtrak. Its a large place, part hotel, part mall and they certainly have the room but Amtrak likes their Amshacks.

Were/are those stations owned by Amtrak or by the cities or someone else?

IIRC, Amtrak originally used Burlington Station in Omaha until the early 80's. The station had a circular staircase in the middle that led to tracks below. It was abandoned and left to rot until two years ago when a television station purchased the structure, restored it and made it their headquarters. As for Union Station; that was also abandoned (don't have the exact date) taken over by the city of Omaha and re-purposed as a museum. It still looks very much like it did back in the day. Today Amtrak passengers use a small Amshack station across the way. We will be there next May to take pictures and will have a full report. It must have been great during the golden age of passenger rail. It is a shame that more people today don't appreciate how relaxing and enjoyable rail travel can be, instead preferring a 16-18" wide seat and 28" of legroom on a plane.I guess everyone is in a hurry these days.

You say USED. I asked if they owned the stations. You've said before that Amtrak likes it's Amshacks which implies to me that you are saying they abandoned the big stations. If they did not own the big stations, maybe the owners abandoned them and Amtrak had to build the Amshacks because they were evicted.

 

[jphjaxfl]

It really wasn't practical for Amtrak to continue to use the large stations for so few trains. A good example is Jacksonville, FL which still has a grand old Union Terminal which is now used by the City as a convention auditorium. Amtrak use the Terminal for almost 2 years after they started for its 10 trains that continued to serve Jacksonville. The New York to Florida trains and the Floridian had lengthy back up moves to use the Terminal. The current Amshack serves only 4 trains and is loacted in the railroad yards in a not so great part of the city. The New York - Florida schedules were reduced by about 45 minutes after they changed to the new station. There has been "talk" through the years of moving Amtrak back to the terminal, but most of the passenger infrastructure has been removed from the convention center with no discussion of who will pay to replace it. If the Trump plan is implemented, it will be a mute point. If Brightline implements service to Jacksonville, they would likely build a modern station like the ones in South Florida perhaps close to the convention center.

 

[railiner]

Anyone remember Kansas City Union Station during Amtrak's early years?

Besides being way too large for the few remaining trains, the building became so decrepit that in desperation, they erected a large inflatable dome inside to reduce HVAC costs, as well as the leaky roof...

 

[Bob Dylan]

Anyone remember Kansas City Union Station during Amtrak's early years?

Besides being way too large for the few remaining trains, the building became so decrepit that in desperation, they erected a large inflatable dome inside to reduce HVAC costs, as well as the leaky roof...

Yep, and there are pictures in this Beautifully Restored Gem that show it in its Glory Days and just how bad it got before the Restoration.