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(rshsdepot) Norman, OK
Back on track
Officials gather to reopen Norman Depot/Amtrak Station
01/18/03
By Tom Blakey - The Norman Transcript
While city, state and railroad officials gathered to reopen the Norman
Depot/Amtrak Station Friday morning, Laurie Williams was just there to catch
the train south.
Williams, an attorney, boards the Heartland Flyer many weekdays at 8:45 a.m.
and rides to Ardmore, where her office is located. In the evening, she
boards the Flyer on its return trip to Norman. Friday was no exception.
"This means access," Williams said while standing on the depot's restored
brick passenger loading platform. "This means fun. This means a beautiful
view of the Arbuckle Mountains and the Oklahoma countryside. This means
everything."
An obvious advocate of the passenger rail system, Williams said she would
like to see the service expanded to Kansas and beyond. "We need a train from
Texas bringing Texas dollars to Oklahoma in addition to the train from
Oklahoma taking Oklahoma dollars to Texas," she said.
While Williams waited on the Flyer, local and state dignitaries filled the
depot's passenger waiting room.
"It looks great," said Arn Henderson, University of Oklahoma architecture
professor emeritus. "It looks like it should."
Inside, the depot is pristine with new white paint, brown-tiled flooring and
wood-trimmed doors and windows.
Henderson, the principal architect on the restoration project, said: "I
worked on the depot 12 years ago when we converted the train station to a
community center, and now we've converted it back. There's some kind of
irony in that."
Project planner Bob Goins said the Norman Depot, almost a century old, is
"probably the oldest building in the center part of Norman."
"I'm very proud of what the city's done here," Goins said.
The first train passed through the Santa Fe Depot on June 13, 1887. The
present depot was built in 1909 and served the city until passenger service
ended in 1979. The Santa Fe Depot Preservation Committee, which later became
Norman Depot Inc., formed in 1986 and reopened the building in 1990 as a
multipurpose community facility.
Amtrak passenger rail service returned to Oklahoma June 14, 1999, with stops
in Oklahoma City, Norman, Pauls Valley, Ardmore, Gainesville, Texas, and
Fort Worth.
Oklahoma's only passenger train service could be history soon if supporters
don't find more money to fund its operation, said Rep. Bill Nations,
D-Norman.
"Federal policy has to change," Nations said. "It's hard to understand why
passenger rail is being required to pay for itself when other transportation
doesn't."
Nations said the passenger rail system should be subsidized by the federal
government in the same manner as the trucking, automobile and airline
transportation systems.
The state has enough money to subsidize the Heartland Flyer for at least a
year, but funding after that could be a problem, he said.
Nations said "two rays of hope" are contained in a bill introduced by Sen.
Robert Milacek, R-Enid, to put a gasoline and diesel fuel tax increase to a
vote of the people so additional revenues can be generated to improve
Oklahoma's transportation infrastructure.
"Passenger rail is a piece of that," Nations said.
A ribbon-cutting marked completion of the year-long renovation work, which
included installation of new baggage doors, lighting, heat and air
conditioning, general repairs, landscaping and other improvements.
The $480,000 project was funded with 80 percent of the federal money -
$384,000 - coming from Federal Surface Transportation Program Funds, and 20
percent - $96,000 - provided from Soft Match Credit funds available to ODOT.
The remainder has come from the city's capital fund.
Reporter Tom Blakey covers city government and can be reached at 366-3540 or
via e-mail at tblakey_@_normantranscript.com.
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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