Smallest places Amtrak serves?

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CHamilton

CHamilton

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Based on some other threads, I started wondering what towns with Amtrak train stops have the smallest populations. Here are some that I found with populations of less than 500. What others are there? The online population numbers sometimes don't agree, so the ones I picked may be wrong, and some places are much bigger at certain seasons.

  • East Glacier Park [Village], MT (GPK), population 396
  • Essex, MT (ESM), population 104
  • Lamy, NM (LMY), population 214
  • Port Kent, NY (PRK), population 265
  • West Glacier Park [formerly Belton], MT, (WGL); population 45
  • Williams Junction, AZ (WMJ), population 0 [the town of Williams is bigger]
  • Wishram, WA (WIH), population 213
 
Smallest in in KY is: South Shore. The population is1,226.

 

Only a small bus stop covering on a concrete pad for the station. The Cardinal passes by at o'dark thirty.
 
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This could be pretty tricky. Does the station need to be inside the city/town/village limits? What about stations in unincorporated areas? What about in New England, do you count the town, or the village population?

Not to through cold water on this idea, just wanted to point out some of the complications that will pop up.
 
Eric S said:
This could be pretty tricky. Does the station need to be inside the city/town/village limits? What about stations in unincorporated areas? What about in New England, do you count the town, or the village population?

Not to through cold water on this idea, just wanted to point out some of the complications that will pop up.
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How about start with the township based on the name of the station. IE: I wouldn't include Williams, AZ, because the station is on private property and the town is 3 miles away.

Lamy, NM: 137
 
It's Thurmond, WV, hands down. This town had a population of 5 in the 2010 census. The annual ridership during FY11 was more than 50 times that figure.
 
When passing through Thurmond in March, I was riding with my Mother and mentioned how small the population was. There were about four people standing near the station as we pulled in and she quipped " look, there they all are". It was a funny moment, but maybe you had to be there.
 
How about San Clemente Pier on the Surfliner route? Does anyone actually live at that pier? :giggle:

Anyhow, some of the small stations mentioned here have a rationale behind them. IE the three mentioned

in the vicinity of Glacier National Park don't really serve the town, they actually serve to bring inbound tourists.

Lamy serves as a Thruway connection point to Santa Fe.

Williams Jnct is a connecting point of sorts to the Grand Canyon.

Port Kent is a seasonal stop with a ferry connection to the much larger Burlington, Vt.

Chemult serves as a Thruway connection point to the respectably large Bend/Redmond area.
 
This question came up in a slightly different form some months ago.

The station where NO ONE lives (within 3.5 miles at the minimum) in Surf, California, on the Pacific Surliner route (Coast Starlight does not stop.) It's within the launching portion of Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the closest town is Lompoc, 3.5 miles away east of the south gate to the base.

Surf has Thurmond beat down flat. (The houses of the five or so Thurmond, W.V. residents are perched on the hillside just north of the NS tracks; the station is on the south side of the tracks.)

As for San Clemente, there are thousands of residents within walking distance of the San Clemente Pier stop.
 
Swadian Hardcore said:
JayPea said:
A couple of others:

Chemult, OR (pop. 300)

Thurmond, WV (pop. 5)
Click to expand...
Wait, I thought it was 4 people! :blink: Somebody new moved in?

Don't forget Sanderson, I think that's also really low.
Click to expand...

As of the 2010 census, Sanderson's population was 837 -- way too big to be considered here. :p :D :lol:
 
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fairviewroad said:
How about San Clemente Pier on the Surfliner route? Does anyone actually live at that pier? :giggle:

Anyhow, some of the small stations mentioned here have a rationale behind them. IE the three mentioned

in the vicinity of Glacier National Park don't really serve the town, they actually serve to bring inbound tourists.

Lamy serves as a Thruway connection point to Santa Fe.

Williams Jnct is a connecting point of sorts to the Grand Canyon.

Port Kent is a seasonal stop with a ferry connection to the much larger Burlington, Vt.

Chemult serves as a Thruway connection point to the respectably large Bend/Redmond area.
Click to expand...

Wishram serves as a stop for its much larger neighbor across the Columbia River in Oregon, The Dalles.
 
I believe that the Lompoc/Surf stop should be considered. It right along a popular beach, but there is no population within multiple miles. So it's frequented by regular people, unlike the Williams Jct. stop, but yet it has no population.
 
JayPea said:
Wishram serves as a stop for its much larger neighbor across the Columbia River in Oregon, The Dalles.
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It's still 16 miles away and there's no local transportation. I know Amtrak give a shout-out to The Dalles in the EB

timetable, but it's a bit of a stretch IYAM. In fact, The Dalles is almost as close to Bingen-White Salmon as it is

to Wishram.
 
To go with this same thought, which Amtrack stations have the lowest ridership?
 
JayPea said:
Thurmond, WV (pop. 5)
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What happens if one day all the five people board the Cardinal from the station? Thurmond then becomes a temporary "ghost town" until someone returns?
unsure.gif
 
I believe this is a complete list of all stations with fewer than 1000 passengers in 2011. Interesting that the least-used stations (with the exception of Sanderson and Lordsburg) are all in the east, with the Cardinal getting the most.

Thurmond, WV 254

THN - Cardinal

Sanderson, TX 344

SND - Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited

Philadelphia North, PA 389

PHN - Keystone, Northeast Regional

Montgomery, WV 437

MNG - Cardinal

Lordsburg, NM 510

LDB - Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited

Connersville, IN 532

COI - Cardinal

Alderson, WV 659

ALD - Cardinal

Port Kent, NY 692

PRK - Adirondack (seasonal)

South Shore-South Portsmouth, KY 856

SPM - Cardinal

Windsor-Mount Ascutney, VT 867

WNM - Vermonter
 
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benjibear said:
To go with this same thought, which Amtrack stations have the lowest ridership?
Click to expand...
Sanderson, TX and North Philadelphia, PA come to mind. I don't think there is even one station in California with less than 2,000 passengers (excluding the Metrolink stops of Orange and Laguna Niguel, one of which actually did pass that threshhold). I think I've also heard that Windsor, VT is light as well.
 
JayPea said:
Swadian Hardcore said:
JayPea said:
A couple of others:

Chemult, OR (pop. 300)

Thurmond, WV (pop. 5)
Click to expand...
Wait, I thought it was 4 people! :blink: Somebody new moved in?

Don't forget Sanderson, I think that's also really low.
Click to expand...

As of the 2010 census, Sanderson's population was 837 -- way too big to be considered here. :p :D :lol:
Click to expand...
Thanks, now I know.

alanh said:
I believe this is a complete list of all stations with fewer than 1000 passengers in 2011. Interesting that the least-used stations (with the exception of Sanderson and Lordsburg) are all in the east, with the Cardinal getting the most.

Thurmond, WV 254

THN - Cardinal

Sanderson, TX 344

SND - Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited

Philadelphia North, PA 389

PHN - Keystone, Northeast Regional

Montgomery, WV 437

MNG - Cardinal

Lordsburg, NM 510

LDB - Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited

Connersville, IN 532

COI - Cardinal

Alderson, WV 659

ALD - Cardinal

Port Kent, NY 692

PRK - Adirondack (seasonal)

South Shore-South Portsmouth, KY 856

SPM - Cardinal

Windsor-Mount Ascutney, VT 867

WNM - Vermonter
Click to expand...
Interesting to know that THN has much more passengers than population while SND has more passengers but much more population. Looks like the people in SND don't like Amtrak much, probably due to the poor station and maybe U.S. 90.

Also, three of those are in WV. May not be so low if the Cardinal ran daily, well, THN is the exception.

johnny.menhennet said:
benjibear said:
To go with this same thought, which Amtrack stations have the lowest ridership?
Click to expand...
Sanderson, TX and North Philadelphia, PA come to mind. I don't think there is even one station in California with less than 2,000 passengers (excluding the Metrolink stops of Orange and Laguna Niguel, one of which actually did pass that threshhold). I think I've also heard that Windsor, VT is light as well.
Click to expand...
PHN has low Amtrak ridership but tons of commuters, so it's not that bad. If the Clockers used to stop there I bet Amtrak ridership was also a lot higher.

I checked, and Windsor is low but just passes 1,000.
 
I am too lazy to try to quote only part of Swadian's post, but perhaps Thurmond's ridership is 254 compared to its five residents because (a) Amtrak is the only type of intercity transportation nearby and (b) the whole town is essentially a National Historic District and is owned by the National Park Service.
 
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