(rshsdepot) Buena Park, CA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Los Angeles Times.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
Metrolink's Buena Park station open for business

 
It  is thought to be the first passenger train to stop in the city in at 
least 40  years.

By David Reyes, Los  Angeles Times Staff Writer 
September 5, 2007 
More than 170 Metrolink passengers boarded the first 10  trains to pull into 
Orange County's 11th and newest station, which opened  Tuesday in Buena Park.

A contingent of City Council members, city  staffers and county Supervisor 
Chris Norby arose early to take the first train  that rolled into the Lakeknoll 
Drive station at 4:45 a.m.

"Everyone was  very excited, and this was something the council wanted to do 
before an official  grand opening is held," said Jim Vanderpool, deputy city 
manager, who rode the  train to Union Station in Los Angeles and back.

Councilman Art Brown said  the station was a needed "transportation 
milestone." 

It will probably  alleviate parking congestion at the nearby Fullerton 
station, he said.

It  is believed to be the first passenger train to stop in Buena Park in at 
least 40  years, though no one was quite sure when the last train actually came 
to the  city. 

"I believe it's at least 60 years," Norby said, who contacted the  county 
archivist's office in an effort to pin down the facts. 

The  $14-million station was designed to replicate the tower at Knott's Berry 
Farm,  which itself is a replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. 

The tower  is also featured in the city's logo. 

The station was built with local  and federal dollars through Metrolink and 
the Orange County Transportation  Authority.

Like other stations, it has a large boarding platform, ticket  machines, 
parking and a canopied waiting area with benches.

The station  represents part of the Metrolink expansion in Orange County. 

By 2009,  the goal is to have commuter trains running every 30 minutes from 5 
a.m. to  midnight on weekdays, between Fullerton and Laguna Niguel.

Seven  locomotives and 59 more passenger cars have been ordered, new track 
has been  laid, and parking lot improvements are scheduled for Fullerton, 
Orange, Tustin,  Irvine and Laguna Niguel. 

_david.reyes_@_latimes.com_ (mailto:david.reyes@latimes.com)  




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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1602
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org