(rshsdepot) Lake City, FL

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Lake City's station wasn't always compared to a local bus shelter

By BILL HIRSCHI - Lake City Reporter
bhirschi_@_lakecityreporter.com
Ask someone who remembers the golden age of American passenger trains to
describe a small-town train station, and you're likely to hear about a
picturesque building nestled alongside the railroad tracks, sometimes built
of wood, sometimes stucco or brick, but always unmistakable in its purpose.

Inside the depot, a nattily-dressed stationmaster sells train tickets
through a wrought-iron barred window. Perhaps a wood-burning stove sits in
the corner to provide warmth on a winter day. A classic Regulator clock
ticks quietly on the wall, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to
the next arrival or departure. Long wooden benches invite weary travelers to
sit and rest a while, or to stretch out for a quick 40 winks if the hour is
late.

Outside on the platform, near the baggage door, a wooden cart stands ready
to carry passengers' checked bags to the front of the train.

Such depots have been a fixture of small towns across the country for more
than a century. But Lake Citians who turn north onto Lake Jeffery Road off
U.S. 90 and cross the railroad tracks just past the Florida Department of
Transportation maintenance building won't find any of those amenities
waiting for them.

Lake City's Amtrak station represents the new reality of train travel in the
jet age, where reservations are frequently made and tickets purchased online
or with a toll-free telephone call, and budget cuts often mean the little
luxuries - and even the basics, such as a stationmaster and checked baggage
service - fall by the wayside.

The building at 1200 Lake Jeffery Road isn't a train station, at least not
in the classic sense. "Bus shelter" would be a more apt description.

Of the seven Florida stops made by the Sunset Limited from Jacksonville to
Pensacola, only three cities - Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Pensacola -
have traditional train stations (though the stations at Tallahassee and
Pensacola are no longer staffed, because of Amtrak budget cuts). Chipley's
station is fully enclosed.

The other three, including Lake City, Madison and Crestview, are served by
open shelters.

Lake City didn't always have a bus shelter for a train station. Train
service first came to the town - then still called Alligator Town - with the
arrival of the Florida, Atlantic & Gulf Central Railroad on March 13, 1860.

Seaboard Air Line took over the line through Lake City in the early 1900s,
and train service continued through Lake City until the day Amtrak took over
most U.S. routes.

The last pre-Amtrak train, the Seaboard Coast Line's "Gulf Wind," stopped on
April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak was officially born. According to a
front page story, the train was due at 8:20 a.m., but arrived at 10:05.

By then, Lake City had been reduced to a "flag stop" - meaning the train
would only stop if there were passengers waiting to board.

"The usual method of stopping the train at Lake City was by notification
ahead by telephone. On Friday, H.D. Casterline station agent resorted to
stepping onto the tracks and manually flagging the train.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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