How Many "Union Stations" Are There?

[TinCan782]

A friend who knows I travel by rail a lot asked this of me. So, I'll throw his question out here and see what happens!

How many union stations do you think (or know) there are in the U.S.?

I never gave this much thought, might be interesting.

Thanks

 

[me_little_me]

Does it count if they were built by non-union labor? Just kidding. :giggle:

 

[Bob Dylan]

Are you including those no longer used as Amtrak and other types of Rail Stations?

Additions to Third Rails List would include Portland,OR,Dallas,El Paso,Utica, Little Rock and Grand Central Terminal!!!!

Seattle's Union Station is now a Transit Headquarters and Office Building Complex as Bill says.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Off the top of my head, I know Den/Denver, HFD/Hartford, NHV/New Haven,SPG/ Springfield(Mass),CHI/Chicago,WAS/Washington DC,CIN/Cincinnati,LOS/Los Angeles,IND/Indianapolis,KCY/Kansas City,STL/St. Louis and CVS/Charlottesville.

Years ago, Amtrak had a bus connection to Nashville, which I believe served a defunct Union Station.

 

[PRR 60]

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

 

[Maglev]

Also Portland, Oregon.

 

[pennyk]

I think Tampa, FL is a Union Station.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

I think Tampa, FL is a Union Station.

Yes; it was originally used by the Tampa Northern, Atlantic Coast Line, and Seaboard Air Line.
Raleigh's new train station is called Union Station, despite only serving Amtrak (unless the Piedmont is counted as an individual railroad). There are plans in the future for commuter rail and/or high speed rail, however.

To add to the list, St. Paul and Pittsburgh are both Union Stations, despite Pittsburgh's station serving only the Pennsylvania Railroad for much of it's history.

If modern stations not known as Union Station but that serve multiple railroads (usually Amtrak and one or more commuter railroads) are counted, the list gets much longer.

Also, the station code for Los Angeles is LAX, not LOS.

 

[the_traveler]

Yes, Tampa is Union Station. The code for LA is LAX, not LOS. St Louis Union Station is no longer used by Amtrak.

Isn't NOL a Union Station too? :huh: How about Memphis & St Paul?

 

[WICT106]

Also, Des Moines Union Depot, Jackson, MS Union Station, and Milwaukee Union Depot, and Toronto, ON Union Station. For a starting point, see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Union_stations_in_the_United_States.

 

[TinCan782]

Are you including those no longer used as Amtrak and other types of Rail Stations?

Additions to Third Rails List would include Portland,OR,Dallas,El Paso,Utica, Little Rock and Grand Central Terminal!!!!

Seattle's Union Station is now a Transit Headquarters and Office Building Complex as Bill says.

For this discussion, don't think it really matters. Obviously some still are, some have been re-purposed into other uses. I guess a number of major cities, served by more than one railroad (pre-Amtrak), had or have a "union station".

 

[TinCan782]

Also, Des Moines Union Depot, Jackson, MS Union Station, and Milwaukee Union Depot, and Toronto, ON Union Station. For a starting point, see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Union_stations_in_the_United_States.

Bingo...I'll send the Wikipedia link to my friend. Thanks

 

[StriderGDM]

As that list shows, even small towns could have Union Stations. Canaan CT is a fairly small town (only a few thousand residents) and has never had Amtrak service.

 

[railiner]

One of my favorite small town Union Station's, was that of Effingham, Illinois, originally the crossing of the IC "Main Line of Mid America" and PRR's "Panhandle Route"....now CN and CSX...

Through the years I made several connections between the National Limited and CONO or Shawnee.....

Other favorites were Englewood, in pre-Amtrak era, and Joliet...and of course Omaha Union, which was also connected to the Burlington Station via bridge...

Ogden was another good one, then there's Albany, Springfield, Worcester....the list just goes on and on....

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Also, Des Moines Union Depot, Jackson, MS Union Station, and Milwaukee Union Depot, and Toronto, ON Union Station. For a starting point, see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Union_stations_in_the_United_States.

Bingo...I'll send the Wikipedia link to my friend. Thanks

I don't know if that is any worthwhile reference. For example, it lists Penn Station in NYC, as a Union Station.

 

[Karl1459]

I think a "Union Station" usually indicated a joint ownership of the station and associated trackage arrangement of various railroads, rather than a host-tenant relationship. Portland OR was jointly owned by UP(OWRN), SP, SP&S, NP, and possibly GN and others. Seattle's was primarily owned by UP(OWRN) and Milwaukee and though a "Union Station" did not serve the Hill lines (GN/NP etc).

Which brings up that the station in Union, Oregon many years ago was not a Union Station!

 

[jphjaxfl]

Peoria. Illinois had a beautiful Union Station which was built in 1882, but, unfortunately, destroyed by fire in the early 1960s. It's last passenger train was in 1955. It was built and owned by the Peoria and Pekin Union Railroad which was a terminal railroad owned by several major railroads. It served over 100 passenger trains daily including trains of the C&A, RI&P, P&E (division of the New York Central), IC,PRR, C&NW, CB&Q, NKP, CP&STL, M & SL ,TP&W, P&PU and Peoria Terminal. The only trains that didn't serve Peoria Union Station were the CRI&P trains from Chicago and Illinois Terminal Interurban Electric trains. In the 1920s there were 10 trains each direction to and from Chicago on 3 different routes.

 

[Maglev]

St. Paul is a "Union Depot," not "Union Station." Also, Los Angeles used to be a "Union Passenger Terminal."

 

[TinCan782]

St. Paul is a "Union Depot," not "Union Station." Also, Los Angeles used to be a "Union Passenger Terminal."

And LAUPT is now referred to as LA Union Station (LAUS)

 

[MikefromCrete]

St. Paul is a "Union Depot," not "Union Station." Also, Los Angeles used to be a "Union Passenger Terminal."

And LAUPT is now referred to as LA Union Station (LAUS)

Union Station, Union Depot, Union Terminal. It makes no difference in the general discussion of "Union" facilities, which refer to a depot, station or terminal used by more than one railroad. I'm sure there were hundreds of them at one time. Only a few active ones are left today.

 

[railiner]

." Also, Los Angeles used to be a "Union Passenger Terminal."

New Orleans used that, too. And since it now is shared by Greyhound, you can say it is still appropriate....

 

[hastybob]

Being from the South, I'll add a few:

Birmingham Union Station (at least until the Terminal station was built in 1906), Montgomery, Atlanta, Augusta, Albany (Ga)(Although it is technically Albany Passenger Terminal), Charleston had one until it burned in the late 1950's. Meridian, Ms, Memphis (not the IC station that is Amtrak served), Shreveport. Wasn't the station in Columbia, SC that the Southern served also a Union Station?

 

[ehbowen]

Houston's Union Station is now the lobby for Minute Maid Park. I must say, however, that the restored waiting room looks much better than it ever had since it was "modernized" in the 1960s.

(What is it about a dropped acoustic tile ceiling which seemed so automatically "modern" to those in the years of the Johnson administration...?)

Edit To Add: Found a picture:

 

[railiner]

Good observation, but I believe the 'modernized' railway station 'dropped ceiling movement' started long before LBJ...some examples include the IC's Central Station in Chicago, and the original Pennsylvania Station in New York, although in the case of the latter, it was only a partial cover up over a new ticketing area in the '50's....

 

[Green Maned Lion]

It cuts HVAC costs massively. It's cost cutting, not modernization.