New BHM Station Moving Forward

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lepearso

lepearso

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Tennessee
The Birmingham City Council unanimously approved a $2.57 million contract to begin infrastructure work for the new mass transit hub downtown. The long-awaited facility will bring Amtrak, Greyhound, and local transit under one new roof and replace one of Amtrak's worst station facilities.

Click here to read a full press release from AL.com.
 
I was admittedly "Wiki-napped" after clicking on the above article. There are only a few pictures returned by Google of the current station in its grimy, horrible and run-down state. It consists of nothing more than one half-used platform, one fully abandoned platform, a tunnel beneath the two and the foundation of a former station headhouse building.

The Wikipedia article does not offer much in the way of information on why the current station is in such a state.

I've never been to Birmingham, so I only have the internet to go off of for information.

I am saddened but not surprised to learn of the fate that befell the Birmingham Union Terminal Station; it was torn down much in the same way most grand stations were in the 1960's. However, the current Amtrak station is a former L&N station that was built new in 1960. That's pretty "new" by a lot of standards, meaning that this was likely one of the newest stations in the Amtrak network on A-Day. There are two photos I can find of it:

2315906872_c374346a04.jpg


I suspect this photo was taken shortly after its completion.

http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/BHM/station_image

What looks like the same architecture of the above building is behind the Amtrak sign. I suspect this is sometime in the 1990's.

So, why was the actual depot headhouse structure torn down? It seems perplexing why you would tear down an in-use station and leave only the tunnel and platforms.
 
L&N had moved out of the main terminal in the early 1970s. They didn't need the office space upstairs, and they didn't need a large waiting room for the number of passengers who were still using it. (The station was conceived in the mid-late 1950s when the L&N was still operating 4 or 5 trains a day in each direction through Birmingham.) L&N, or it might have been Amtrak by that point, began operating out of what was formerly the baggage room to the side of the terminal. For a while the terminal was leased to a law firm, but I believe the structure eventually became vacant and deteriorated beyond the point of economic repair.
 
I haven't read any detailed information about the master plan. Besides the fact that it will have Amtrak, Greyhound and area transit under one roof, it will have retail space as well.

I see no indication of plans to remodel or upgrade the platform and canopy at the track level, through that would be nice. I also haven't read anything about parking improvements. Some Amtrak passengers park in a garage near the station. I know of a family here in Tennessee who parked in that garage and found all four wheels missing from their car when they returned.

No matter what happens, it will be an improvement. The Crescent doesn't do near as much business between Atlanta and New Orleans as it does from Atlanta north. However, this new station will undoubtedly give ridership a boost when everything's in place.
 
lepearso said:
I see no indication of plans to remodel or upgrade the platform and canopy at the track level, through that would be nice.
Click to expand...
It's likely to be required by law, since the current situation is not ADA-compliant, mainly due to elevator deterioration. I read something about the master plan some months back and it involved a replacement elevator to the platform, implying *some* platform work. I assume the platform would at least be rehabilitated with the usual yellow tactile strips.
However, this contract is only for site prep and doesn't actually build anything, so it may be a while.
 
Nathanael said:
lepearso said:
I see no indication of plans to remodel or upgrade the platform and canopy at the track level, through that would be nice.
Click to expand...
It's likely to be required by law, since the current situation is not ADA-compliant, mainly due to elevator deterioration. I read something about the master plan some months back and it involved a replacement elevator to the platform, implying *some* platform work. I assume the platform would at least be rehabilitated with the usual yellow tactile strips.
However, this contract is only for site prep and doesn't actually build anything, so it may be a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, if they are building a new station, it will have to be ADA compliant along with platform access. Since this will be new construction, the level boarding requirement will have to be addressed. Looking at the station photos and Google Earth, looks like the platform is on a pullover track. Don't know if they would or could build a full length high level platform ($) or Amtrak would build a mini-high platform.

As for when the new station might open, the article says this: "The latest timeline for the project calls for completion by fall 2015. " Which, given the history of delays for the project, probably means 2016 for the new station.
 
Even CSX has been OK with full-length high levels on passenger-exclusive platform tracks (as shown by the Rochester, NY station under construction). NS will presumably be OK with that too.

The station seems to have two original platforms serving four tracks, of which at most one track might be used for freight trains. I would expect that the platform further north (closer to the station building) would be rebuilt as a high-level, possibly with the southern platform being used as the tempory platform during construction. Having the spare platform should simplify the construction a lot. Dunno whether the northern platform is considered long enough for the Crescent, though. Probably is.
 
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the unused station tracks were used for HFCS unloading. It provided an interesting aroma for Amtrak passengers.

In part, the platform layout (or what's left of it) dates from the 1930s when the L&N and Southern tracks through downtown were elevated.
 
Blackwolf said:
http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/BHM/station_image

What looks like the same architecture of the above building is behind the Amtrak sign.
Click to expand...
Don't know about the date, but the brick building to the left in the picture was definitely the L&N station building.

On A-day the Amtrak train using this station was the now long gone Floridian. At that time the Crescent was outside Amtrak still being operated by Southern Railway and using a small building built on a part of the site of the monumental Terminal Station, which was the station used by all railroads serving B'ham other than L&N and ACL. There was a relatively brief period when both the Crescent and the Floridian were using the same station.

In 1962, the L&N had three daily and one every other day trains through B'ham. Daily there was unnamed trains 1 and 4, Cincinatti to Montgomery, the Pan American, Cincinatti to NewOrleans and the Humming Bird out of both Chicago and Cincinatti to New Orleans, although I don't think any of the Chicago equipment got past Mobile. The South Wind ran every other day Chicago to Miami, Tampa, and St. Petersburg. It alternated with the City of Miami which also went through B'ham, but stopped at Terminal Station. By the way, these trains had no common points north of Jacksonville FL. At their three common intermediate stops, Chicago, Birmingham, and Waycross GA they stopped at different stations.
 
In the 1950s, L&N trains 1/4 were called the Azalean. The name was dropped after the equipment was downgraded and the train truncated at the ends. Also note that before the City of Miami and the South Wind began running every other day, there was a third Chicago-Florida train, the Dixie Flagler, that ran via Atlanta. At that time each train ran every three days. The Dixie Flagler was the first to be discontinued as a through train.
 
xyzzy said:
In the 1950s, L&N trains 1/4 were called the Azalean. The name was dropped after the equipment was downgraded and the train truncated at the ends.
Click to expand...
More Late and Nasty trivia :)

I rode the Azalean (named after Mobile, the azalea city) around 1950 and even then I thought the coaches were decidedly downscale, at least in comparison to my only other frame of reference, the GM&O Gulf Coast Rebel.

By 1957 the Azalean had lost its name, but still operated between NOL and at least Louisville. I remember it having about 14 head end cars and two coaches (the 2nd was for legal reasons). I don't ever recall an L&N train terminating in Mobile.

During the early 50's there was a 5th, no name. train that ran between CIN and Ardmore, AL near the border with TN (or was it between NOL and Ardmore).

By the mid to late 60's, the Humming Bird/Georgan was still a respectable train. In addition to the CHI and CIN sections, there was also a STL section that combined with the CHI section in Evansville, IN. While the CHI-STL and CIN sections were being combined in Nashville, they were also being split, with the Humming Bird going to NOL via BGH and Mobile, and what was called the Georgan to ATL. Switching cars in those days mustn't have been the brain surgery that it has become. As late as 1967, the STL section still had a dining car that got dropped in Evansville and possibly a sleeper that went to ATL.

Then there was the NOL to Waveland, MS train that stopped at very small places in the swamps south of Lake Ponchartrain whose only other way in or out was via boat. In 1961 someone from Waveland told me that the L&N wanted to discontinue the train, but the town threatened to post a 5 MPH speed limit through town and the L&N backed down, although obviously not for very long. I was too young at the time to know whether he was pulling my leg or not.

I don't remember much about the BGH station, but I do remember the L&N station in Mobile that looked like it dated from the Civil War until being replaced the 50's with one that looked similar the BGH pictures above. It was still quite nice during the SSL-east era, but was destroyed by flooding during Katrina..

PS George will have to correct me if my memory is failing in all of this.
 
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The former Azalean terminated/originated at Montgomery before it was discontinued completely. South of Montgomery, the L&N had the two New Orleans-Atlanta-NY trains (Crescent and Piedmont) plus the Hummingbird and the Pan American.

The Mobile station was indeed a counterpart to the Birmingham station. Now a parking lot, sadly.
 
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A short history of passenger stations in Birmingham to get things straight.

The first station was the Relay House, which was a local hotel. They just built the railroads next to it and it became a hotel and station.

This station quickly became too small and the "Birmingham Passenger Station", (otherwise known as Union Station). This was built in 1889.

This Station served the Southern Rwy, L&N, AGS, C of Ga, KCM&B, etc. In 1906, all but the L&N moved out and into the newly built Birmingham

Terminal Station. IN the early 1930's, the L&N and Southern(AGS) track through Birmingham was raised and the train shed at the Birmingham Passenger

Station was torn down. New platforms and storage tracks were built - all of these still exist today. In the early 1960's, the L&N built a new station

at the corner of 19th st and Morris ave (former location of the Relay House). This is the one in the picture above. It used a portion of the under track area

formerly used by the REA Express to access the track. A new tunnel was built under the track and the old one was torn out and 19th St was built

under the track in it's place. In the mid 1970's, the L&N threw Amtrak out of the 1960's L&N station and into the hole in the wall that it is in now.

This was to enable the railroad to sell the land where the L&N station was located to a developer to build "Morris Towers"... never happened.

(This is similar to the Birmigham Passenger station, where the L&N kept the land and a developer built the Bank for Savings building.)

A few years later, the railroad sold the station building to a local law firm. Amtrak was guaranteed 6 parkiing spaces... weren't they generous!

The Station went through several ownerships and actually wound up the property of the railroad again at one point. The City of Birmkingham started

working on a new station project about 1984! Phase one, Central Station, was built about 2000. Originally, Amtrak was supposed to be in that building.

Oh, and the Sugar transloading facility.... What a mess that was. It all started about 1970. The L&N lookiing for a use for the unused track, began leasing

out the south storage tracks. there were at one time, two different companies unloading Sugar and, at one time, cooking oil. ONe of the companies claimed a right

to the whole front of the place and would park trucks blocking the entrance to the station at times. They have finally been sold and moved.

The 1960's L&N station was left unused and maintained for about 15 years and became a real mess. You could not seeit from the front, but it was full of mold and mildew. Amtrak was stuck in the middle of the stench of mold, mildew and rotting sugar! Once, the station building was torn down and the sugar company moved, Amtrak's ridership exploded, even with the poor excurse that the railroad provided for a station.

I have created a photo album that will detail the work being done to build a new station. It can be viewed here:

http://hastybob.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=94874

Oh, also to clear up what the project will include - Amtrak area only- The new building will be built in the dirt area in front of the existing facility. Amtrak and Greyhound will share the building. The existing parking lot will be the area where Greyhound buses load/unload. The existing area is not a part of the project other than some

work to blend the two buildings together. The area under the track and the track level is not property of the City of Birmingham, therefore, the City cannot do any work. The platforms, stairs and elevator work will have to wait until Amtrak is able to get money for this work.

I hope this clears up some of the facts.

Bob
 
Thanks for the history lesson and photos. Keep us appraised as the construction begins.
 
I have always wondered the history of the 1960's L&N and why Amtrak wasn't using it. Whenever I have asked people just answered with "cause they tore it down" - now I know! Awesome.
 
If you look at one of the PTJ's from right after Amtrak started, you will find an article on the stations. Birmingham was listed as one of the few Modern stations Amtrak had. There is a photo of the inside of one of the waiting rooms. Amtrak stayed in that building until about 1974/75. I came thru changing trains Labor Day 1974 and waited for several hours for the southbound Floridian.

It was a nice place but only one of the two waiting rooms were used at that time. And, the lunch counter had already closed.

The Building had 2 LARGE Amtrak "pointless Arrows" on the corner. Unfortunately, like in numerous stations, Amtrak was thrown out of the station into substandard buildings/spaces. The buildings were sold off and Amtrak was left with sketchy "easments" for passengers to get to the trains. Simply put, the railroads did not want Amtrak and did not think it would last and still would do anything they could to make riding a train frustrating and difficult.

But, believe it or not, at the time Amtrak was put in the space behind the station and under the tracks, it was still considered one of the best Amtrak stations. It even won divisional and national Station of the Year awards in the late 1970's for quality of the station and ridership.

Hopefully, with this new building, and all the other projects int he works around the area in downtown Birmingham, it will be looked at again as one of the best.

(Projects completed: Railroad Park, Region's field, Alabama theater, Projects starting or started: Lyric Theater, Pizitz Building, Parisian Building, Thomas Jefferson Hotel building, Several new large apartment buildings, numerous new restaurants and breweries)

Bob
 
I was hoping they would put the platforms on the other side so Amtrak wouldn't have to cross 4 tracks and hand throw a switch going south into the station only to hand throw a switch getting out and cross back over those same tracks to get back on the right main.This would save a good bit of time on both ends.
 
The existing switches could be upgraded to power. All it takes is money. Would cost a lot less than moving the platform to the Southern tracks because the tunnel under the L&N tracks doesn't extend that far.
 
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