"I coulda been a contenda stations!!

[sunchaser]

Salt Lake City!!!!!!!
Horrible little Amtrak station, no sign of movement towards the new intermodal station ... and two absolutely spectacular historic railroad stations still intact just a few blocks away.

(Of course, neither one has tracks anymore ... but hey. Since we're dreaming ...)

Greyhound probably has nicer stations than Salt Lake City Amtrak.

The old Salt Lake stations are much nicer than the 'new' one. Wish they would refurb them back into train stations again.

This is the SLC Greyhound station-ugly!

Click here

 

[tp49]

4. SAC

I thought about this one a bit, then dropped it, then walked over to the station and realized you're right. While the city did a beautiful job with the REA building immediately next door to the station they didn't do anything with the existing station building. I think part of this is because with the issues surrounding the development of the railyards the city was either going to move the building north once they realiged the tracks or use the building as a "front" for a new station which would have been built at the point of the eventual track realignment. IIRC the existing building will stay put but I'd like to see it restored and maybe have air conditioning added as well.

 

[RTOlson]

^^

I concur with your recollection that they dropped plans to try to move the historic SAC station. The track relocation is apparently still in the works.

The old Salt Lake stations are much nicer than the 'new' one. Wish they would refurb them back into train stations again.This is the SLC Greyhound station-ugly!

Click here

The Greyhound station isn't at that Main Street location any more. According to Greyhound, it moved to Salt Lake Central Station next to the Amshack.

Here's the new location (plus Street View):

300 S 600 W, Salt Lake City, UT

 

[D T Nelson]

Thats why I mentioned the beautiful Union Station next door that Paul Allen bought and rebuilt?the Transit authority has offices there, why waste $$ trying to refurbish King Street when Union is so much better?

King Street Station was/is on the Great Northern, now BNSF, mainline, tracks that continue through the Great Northern Tunnel under downtown Seattle and on to points north, including Stevens Pass and the East, as well as serving the old Northern Pacific tracks to the south and points East. Union Station was on the Union Pacific tracks from the south that ended at the station. When Amtrak started up it was a no-brainer to use the station that allowed for service to both the north and south. And now, the tracks to Union Station have been gone a long time, and Paul Allen has built large office buildings on the old Union Station train yard (which was the real reason he bought the station, to get the yard, a big patch of unbuilt property next to downtown), so Union Station will never be a train station again.

 

[Rafi]

Indianapolis comes to mind as a standout example of what could have been.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thats why I mentioned the beautiful Union Station next door that Paul Allen bought and rebuilt?the Transit authority has offices there, why waste $$ trying to refurbish King Street when Union is so much better?

King Street Station was/is on the Great Northern, now BNSF, mainline, tracks that continue through the Great Northern Tunnel under downtown Seattle and on to points north, including Stevens Pass and the East, as well as serving the old Northern Pacific tracks to the south and points East. Union Station was on the Union Pacific tracks from the south that ended at the station. When Amtrak started up it was a no-brainer to use the station that allowed for service to both the north and south. And now, the tracks to Union Station have been gone a long time, and Paul Allen has built large office buildings on the old Union Station train yard (which was the real reason he bought the station, to get the yard, a big patch of unbuilt property next to downtown), so Union Station will never be a train station again.

Thanks for the info,that splains that!Since you live there perhaps you have some info on when they will finish the rehab work on King Street,seems

like its been going on forever,it really does have potential if they would go ahead and finish it!Any stimulus $$$ plans to speed up the project since it is,as they say,a "shovel ready project"?Especially finish the waiting room,utilize all the closed spaces and open the front entrance and staircases eliminating the dead end turnaround where the cabs and busses now load!

 

[D T Nelson]

Thanks for the info,that splains that!Since you live there perhaps you have some info on when they will finish the rehab work on King Street,seemslike its been going on forever,it really does have potential if they would go ahead and finish it!Any stimulus $$$ plans to speed up the project since it is,as they say,a "shovel ready project"?Especially finish the waiting room,utilize all the closed spaces and open the front entrance and staircases eliminating the dead end turnaround where the cabs and busses now load!

You can read about the King Street Station renovation, and see pictures, at this page maintained by the Seattle Department of Transportation. Although they have been talking about the renovation for a long time, and the State of Washington did pay for a remodel of the Compass Room (the entryway) and replacement of some of the outside awnings a few years ago, the renovation really only began in earnest when the City of Seattle bought the station from the BNSF last year for $10. It appears they are just about done with the exterior work, and are ready to start the interior work -- behind schedule.

Regarding the "front entrance," which I don't think was ever an entrance, my understanding is that, although they ARE going to reopen the staircase up to Jackson Street, they are going to turn the upper parking lot into a pedestrian plaza, which seem silly to me -- that would make an excellent taxi stand, to free up the King Street side for private car passenger drop off. Or vice versa. At the King Street entrance, there is to be "a widened pedestrian area and reconfigured vehicle circulation plan," but I'm not sure exactly what that is going to be. (I got that quote from the environmental impact document for the project, which is the most detailed description of the planned work I have found.)

 

[sunchaser]

^^I concur with your recollection that they dropped plans to try to move the historic SAC station. The track relocation is apparently still in the works.

The old Salt Lake stations are much nicer than the 'new' one. Wish they would refurb them back into train stations again.This is the SLC Greyhound station-ugly!

Click here

The Greyhound station isn't at that Main Street location any more. According to Greyhound, it moved to Salt Lake Central Station next to the Amshack.

Here's the new location (plus Street View):

300 S 600 W, Salt Lake City, UT

Wow! Even though I don't like the architecture, that's much nicer than the Amtrak station! Just goes to show I haven't gone greyhound in a while. Have used UTA (Utah's bus system) & Trax (light rail). Always late, not enough east-west service.

 

[Montanan]

Wow! Even though I don't like the architecture, that's much nicer than the Amtrak station! Just goes to show I haven't gone greyhound in a while. Have used UTA (Utah's bus system) & Trax (light rail). Always late, not enough east-west service.

As I understand it, the idea was that the Amtrak station stop was supposed to be moved over into the new intermodal facility ... which at this point makes a lot of sense. Why that's never actually happened, I don't know.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Why is GCT an almost? It is probably one of the top five most busy stations in the country. And a beautiful building- a top five most beautiful buildings in the U.S. in fact.

 

[dart330]

Jefferson City, MO. The old station is one block from the current station, is in great shape and has a nice big parking lot. It is now used as a crew base for Union Pacific. Lots of passengers get on and off and Jeff City.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4VJH

That is crazy! I have used the Jefferson City station the last couple summers to go on winery trips in Hermann and never knew a real station was just next door. I will have to check it out next time I am there.

Looks much better than the basement of this building.

 

[jmbgeg]

What is the deal with Seattle King Street Station? For years, upgrades have supposedly been underway but I see little progress. It is a busy multi-modal station and deserves the capital investment.

Actually King Street is only semi-multi-modal. While Sounder trains depart from the tracks of the station, one doesn't actually enter the station if one wishes to board a Sounder train. There is a seperate entrance for boarding Sounder trains that leads directly from the street. Only Amtrak passengers actually walk into the station building for boarding purposes.

And passengers de-train at Amtrak at King Street station and wait inside until departing on buses to Vancouver.

 

[manchacrr]

Another station that needs to be refurbished and restored is New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. At least they have plans to enlarge the Magnolia Room now that the offices behind it are vacant.

 

[frj1983]

Another station that needs to be refurbished and restored is New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. At least they have plans to enlarge the Magnolia Room now that the offices behind it are vacant.

Really?

That's great news! Being a favorite place for the wife and I to vacation and having spent time in the MR, it could use a bit more room!!

 

[como]

Jefferson City, MO. The old station is one block from the current station, is in great shape and has a nice big parking lot. It is now used as a crew base for Union Pacific. Lots of passengers get on and off and Jeff City.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4VJH

That is crazy! I have used the Jefferson City station the last couple summers to go on winery trips in Hermann and never knew a real station was just next door. I will have to check it out next time I am there.

Looks much better than the basement of this building.

The "new" station is actually in one of older buildings in Jeff City. There's an art museum upstairs that is run by Missouri State Parks. Anyway, the "new" station used to have a ticket office and a fairly nice waiting room, before the Missouri Legislature decide to not pay Amtrak to staff it. So the present waiting room is small and staffed by volunteers.

 

[espeefoamer]

Thanks for the great response to the Best and Worst Amtrak Stations!I think we all learned from your feedback so I pose thisto the members and guests: IYO; Which rr Stations,currently used or not by Amtrak,should be refurbished/used by Amtrak as

a railroad station limited to those youve actually seen or been in??

IMHO My List:

1)Buffalo Central

2)ST. Paul

3)Tacoma Union

4)San Antonio Sunset

5)St. Louis Union(I know its a mall!)

**Honorable Mention: Seattle Union**

I won't disagree about #2, and last year I walked through Seattle Union's great hall. It's really a spectacular room (much nicer than King Street Station in its present dilapidated state).

What is the deal with Seattle King Street Station? For years, upgrades have supposedly been underway but I see little progress. It is a busy multi-modal station and deserves the capital investment.

Thats why I mentioned the beautiful Union Station next door that Paul Allen bought and rebuilt?the Transit authority has offices there, why waste $$ trying to refurbish King Street when Union is so much better?The repairs seem to be dragging on forever in King Sttreet and its very hard toi get to/from,cabs have to make U-turns and busses load "under the tree" outside!I can see the potential but they need to finish it ASAP,its another coulda been a contender!

Does Union have a track connection to the north? At King St. trains can run through between Portland and Vancouver,BC.

 

[jis]

1. NHV

New Haven? I admit I have no idea of the history of the New Haven Station, or if there was more then one, but I was impressed with the current station its pretty well done and compared to most places in the Amtrak system its a "grand station". Large well done old style main hall, the hallway to the tracks was a little off felt like you were walking between Amfleets but still a nice place.

Indeed I was wondering why New Haven got a mention in this thread too. It has been completely rebuilt/restored both headhouse and trackside including comlte realignment of tracks and re-elctrification with new catenary. Of course it is a Metro North managed station that hosts Amtrak trains. But I doubt that that would justify its mention on this thread.

 

[jis]

Salt Lake City!!!!!!!
Horrible little Amtrak station, no sign of movement towards the new intermodal station ... and two absolutely spectacular historic railroad stations still intact just a few blocks away.

(Of course, neither one has tracks anymore ... but hey. Since we're dreaming ...)

Link to pic of old Union Pacific station.

Link to pic of old Rio Grande station. According to the caption under it, it's about 1/4 from the "Amshack" shown above.

And plans are for the Amshack to be replaced some day by a planned extension of the building that currently houses the bus terminal, in the direction of where the Amshack is located.

 

[jis]

Wow! Even though I don't like the architecture, that's much nicer than the Amtrak station! Just goes to show I haven't gone greyhound in a while. Have used UTA (Utah's bus system) & Trax (light rail). Always late, not enough east-west service.

As I understand it, the idea was that the Amtrak station stop was supposed to be moved over into the new intermodal facility ... which at this point makes a lot of sense. Why that's never actually happened, I don't know.

That is mainly because AFAICT the portion of the building that Amtrak is supposed to occupy is yet to be built. It is to the south of the current building. I have a picture of the plan that I will try to load and make available over the coming weekend.

 

[jis]

Does Union have a track connection to the north? At King St. trains can run through between Portland and Vancouver,BC.

I don't believe Union Station has any remaining track connections to anywhere anymore. It is most unlikely that it will ever be used as a train station again.

 

[DET63]

Does Union have a track connection to the north? At King St. trains can run through between Portland and Vancouver,BC.

I don't believe Union Station has any remaining track connections to anywhere anymore. It is most unlikely that it will ever be used as a train station again.

I believe someone pointed out, either in this or another thread, that Seattle Union Station never had a track connection to or from the north, whereas King St. did.

 

[pebbleworm]

A grant has arrived for bringing the old Fort Madison, IA depot up to current standards so Amtrak service can move from the "new" late 1960's Santa Fe stop to the old Santa Fe stop downtown:

http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=348254

I posted a few links to pictures further up in this thread. Although the current station is pretty nice compared to some, the old depot has a much nicer location- right downtown, in a park, and right next to the Mississippi.