What to see AT THE STATION

[railiner]

Another note about the Fred Harvey Company...

As mass amounts of travelers abandoned rail travel in the 50's and '60's for the new super-highway's, the Fred Harvey Company followed them and operated a chain of 'Oasis' rest stops on the Illinois Tollways...

 

[anuenue]

Any more recommendations for D.C.?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Any more recommendations for D.C.?

Across the street is the US Postal Museum, free admission and very nice museum. You can even choose 3 or 4 free canceled stamps to take home as a souvenir!

The station is basically a fancy mall inside now... Some neat architecture remains, but overall it's pretty modern inside. Outside is very imoressive with many cool photo ops.

 

[railiner]

Her works for the Fred Harvey restaurants were quite special as well. One was a space in the Santa Fe section of Union Station in CHI; I don't know if anything at all survives from that. (Her design work also included the Membreno pottery special to the Super Chief.

Santa Fe never operated a train out of Chicago Union Station, although they may have maintained a ticket office there. However, Fred Harvey did have a substantial off-line concessions operation there. I'm sure they had a restaurant (even larger than their on-line operation at Dearborn) and I believe they also had newsstands, a gift shop, and cocktail lounge.

Santa Fe did not have a ticket office in Union Station, Chicago...I believe they did have a "City Ticket Office" at their headquarters building on Michigan Avenue...

 

[anuenue]

More questions!

I know I'm supposed to be at the station 1 hour prior to departure. How much before departure does boarding actually start? I know it'll be somewhat variable, but trying to get an idea of what to expect.

I'll be departing from all 3 stations mentioned: LAX (or is it LAU?), CHI and WAS. I'll be using Red Cap assistance. Is Red Cap assistance available in WAS boarding NEC coach?

 

[neroden]

Pretty quick before departure in LA, incredibly early in WAS and CHI.

 

[VentureForth]

Sadly, the hardest thing to see at some of these stations are...trains!

There are no cafe's or lounges overlooking the tracks, you can't go sit out on the platform and just watch people...

Ugh.

 

[ainamkartma]

As far as I know, there was no real-life shooting incident at Chicago Union Station, but one was staged there in 1987 for a memorable scene in the film "The Untouchables":

A great great scene. Famously an homage to the "Odessa Steps" sequence from the 1925 Russian film Battleship Potemkin.

(The part with the steps starts at about 4:50.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laJ_1P-Py2k

No trains in the Odessa Steps sequence, but there is a baby carriage...

Ainamkartma

 

[domefoamer]

Nearby Washington Union Station -- about four blocks away, IIRC, is the National Building Museum, home of DC's best architectural exhibits. The building itself is the greatest attraction, a huge Victorian atrium forested with huge columns of colorful sandstone. You could spend a good hour of three here...

 

[SarahZ]

Regarding Kansas City:

"There are marks on the front of the building that for years were claimed as bullet holes from the shooting, but tests by Kansas City, Mo. police recently showed the marks could not have come from bullets. However, the myth and the mystery of the incident live on."

http://www.unionstation.org/timeline

Sorry.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Regarding Kansas City:

"There are marks on the front of the building that for years were claimed as bullet holes from the shooting, but tests by Kansas City, Mo. police recently showed the marks could not have come from bullets. However, the myth and the mystery of the incident live on."

http://www.unionstation.org/timeline

Sorry.

The Myth is always Better than the True Story!

 

[SarahZ]

Regarding Kansas City:

"There are marks on the front of the building that for years were claimed as bullet holes from the shooting, but tests by Kansas City, Mo. police recently showed the marks could not have come from bullets. However, the myth and the mystery of the incident live on."

http://www.unionstation.org/timeline

Sorry.

The Myth is always Better than the True Story!

I know. As much as I love research and truth, sometimes I'm a little sad when the myth/legend is proved wrong.

Here's one of my favorites:

http://www.blumhouse.com/2016/06/09/the-strange-mystery-of-the-paulding-light/