Focusing on Railroading...Depots and a Little History (#2)

Railway fans, here is another grouping of my favorite railway depot photos.  As I did the last time, I'm moving back in time...beginning in 2021 and stopping again in February of 2019.  I'll continue to 'mix it up' as regards my blog topics and in the next month or two I will have published a recap of all of my favorite depots...for as far back as my photos go.   

                          

This time I'll start with one of the depots close to our home in East Tennessee.  This is the old Southern Railroad Depot in Loudon.  It was built by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1914.  After it was closed, it became home for the local Chamber of Commerce...but then it sat empty for quite a while.  That big sign said that a small local chain of restaurants was planning to open soon.  The good news is that it actually happened, so the old depot is now occupied by The Monkey Town Brewing and Restaurant.

This huge and impressive Richardson Romanesque style railroad depot is the former Union Station in St. Louis Missouri.  It was completed and opened by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis back in September of 1894.  Originally, this part of the depot was referred to as the 'Head House'.  Behind this structure was the "Midway", which led to the 11.5 acre Train Shed...where all the trains would arrive and depart.  When St. Louis's Union Station was built, it was the largest depot in the world that had the tracks and the passenger service on one level.

                      

  

I just had to include a current photo of the beautifully refurbished and massive lobby/waiting area inside St. Louis' Union Station.  An upscale hotel now occupies this section of Union Station.  The last Amtrak passenger train departed from the depot in 1978. 

Think about the hustle and bustle enveloping this depot in its early days.  A total of 22 different railroad lines converged on this station...hence it was a 'union' station.  At peak times around the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 as well as during World War II, up to 100,000 passengers came and left in a single day.

This is the former Chesapeake and Ohio Depot in Ronceverte West Virginia.  This craftsman-style depot is the only one of its type remaining on the Chesapeake and Ohio (now CSX) line.  The depot was built in 1915 and it has been restored by the railroad.  CSX personnel utilize part of the building as office space.  In its early years, up to 65,000 passengers passed through this station with its 12 passenger trains each day.

In New Milford Connecticut, we ran across this attractive old depot with its covered passenger boarding platform shown on the right.  The depot was built in 1866 by the Housatonic Railroad Company.  The Housatonic Railroad was chartered in 1836.  In 1892, it was acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.  When the Housatonic was purchased, the railroad was 175 miles long and it had 60 passenger depots.  The last passenger train operated on the line in April of 1871.  The building is currently occupied by the New Milford Chamber of Commerce.

This is the former Erie Railroad Depot which is located near downtown Middletown New York.  This Romanesque revival style structure was built in 1896.  Located on Erie Railroad's mainline, it served trains operating between Jersey City New Jersey and Chicago Illinois.  This depot served as a passenger railroad station until 1983 when local rail service was moved to another line.  Today the old depot serves the community as a library.

                              

This Gothic revival style stone structure is the former Stockbridge Massachusetts depot.  It was built in 1893.  The city was originally served by the Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad...then the Housatonic Railroad and finally, by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railway.  The latter railroad offered passenger service to Stockbridge until 1968.  The Penn Central Railroad continued to operate the passenger service until 1971.  The building is now owned by the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum.  Their goal is to restore tourist trains to Stockbridge using this depot as its endpoint.

This is the Canaan Connecticut's Union Depot.  This former 'union station', (serving more than one railroad), was built in 1872.  It was at the junction of the Housatonic Railroad and the Connecticut Western Railroad…with the latter acquired by the Central New England Railway.

The depot is located between 2 rail lines.  The depot is in the center of a triangle…actually with tracks on all 3 sides of the building.  The 3-story tower was occupied by the electric telegraph operator.  Each of the 2 90-foot wings of the building were occupied by a railroad company.  The first floor contained a large restaurant to serve passenger, a very important benefit for travelers before dining cars became a common part of passenger trains.

This depot was the terminus of the Woodstock Railroad, a short line that operated over 14 miles of track between Woodstock Vermont and White River Junction where the Woodstock railroad connected with the Central Vermont Railroad.  This 2-story Gothic Revival depot was built in 1885.

I'd originally found information that led me to believe that the depot was completed in 1893 but, this time around I was able to find the correct date as well as this photo looking at the old depot from across the tracks.  Note the 2 horse drawn coaches waiting for the train.  One of them belonged to a local hotel.  Woodstock was a popular tourist destination.

The covered passenger boarding area with its protection against sun, snow and rain is long gone.  The heyday of this rail line was from 1890 to 1915, with the train making 2 trips a day, 6 days a week in either direction.  The 14 mile trip took 40 to 45 minutes.

Things have changed since I took this photo of the former Vergennes combination passenger and freight depot.  When we visited, the depot had been moved closer to Ferrisburgh and restored.  It had been placed adjacent to the local park and ride lot.  Older railroad depots are hard to find across the USA.

Originally built ca. 1851, in its early days it was segregated by sex.  Male passengers entered on the right side and women entered on the left and there were separate waiting rooms.  The center of the building was occupied by an office used by the station master and the telegraph operator.  The station master and his family lived on the second floor which included a kitchen, living room, dining room and bedrooms.

The old depot wasn't in use when we stopped by a few years ago.  There were rumors or talk that it would be repurposed as a visitor's center,  or for office space and perhaps it would include an historical display.

Fast forward a few years and everything has changed.  Between the date of our in person visit, the station has been brought to life again!  As you can see in the first photo, the front of the depot is set up for convenient passenger drop off.  Trackside, a long passenger platform was built.  

When Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express was extended north from Rutland to Burlington Vermont in July of 2022, for the first time in 69 years the Vergennes-Ferrisburgh depot was back in business.  The station is not staffed but it does offer a waiting room.  Amtrak makes one daily round-trip along this route.  In 2023, 3,341 passengers utilized this rail service

This cute little Italianate style brick depot is located in New Haven Junction Vermont.  It was built in the early 1850s.  It was constructed by the Rutland and Burlington Railroad.  That railroad was founded in 1843 and its name was later changed to the Rutland Railroad.  It was the key means of supporting the movement of marble from Vermont's quarries as well as lumber and farm products.  It's now the home of a construction company.

This large brick Romanesque style depot in Rouses Point Vermont was built in 1889 by the Delaware and Hudson Railway.  The Rutland Railroad took over the station and this route in 1901 and passenger service continued until 1953.  After that, the depot was used off and on by different railways until service ceased in 1971.  After being refurbished using Federal and local resources, the depot now serves as the Rouses Point Welcome and History Center. 

Amtrak does serve Rouses Point as a stop along its Adirondack Route between New York City and Montreal Canada.  There are no services offered and there isn't any shelter either...just the boarding platform next to the old depot.  This is a US Border and Customs checkpoint.  In 2023, 287 passengers boarded Amtrak at this location.

This is Burlington Vermont's old Union Station. Located along the Lake Champlain waterfront, this large and impressive Beaux Arts style structure was completed in January 1916.  It was built by both the Central Vermont Railroad and the Rutland Railroad.  This station was last used as a true railway station in 1953...until Amtrak established service here.

This postcard shows what the Burlington Depot looked like at trackside back around 1920.  It was very passenger friendly with boarding available for as many as 3 trains at a time.

A new passenger boarding platform was completed here by 2022 and the Depot now serves as the northern terminus for Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express Service that operates from here to New York City.  Amtrak served 21,150 passengers from this depot (waiting room only) in 2023.  Vermont Railroad's excursion trains also use the same boarding platform.  Space in the depot building is leased to a variety of businesses.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit...especially the railroad fans!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave