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(rshsdepot) Austin, TX
Link to editorial in the Austin American-Statesman.
Link to photos at:
_http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/08/18/0818temple_e
dit.html_
(http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/08/18/0818temple_edit.html)
Bernie Wagenblast
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Next stop: Turning Austin train depot into showcase destination
Monday, August 18, 2008
TEMPLE — The train station in this Central Texas community is not just
another stop between Austin and Dallas. The renovated Mission-style depot built in
1911 is a museum, social gathering place for local residents and ticket sales
office for Amtrak.
On a recent night, young men and women danced inside the station's expansive
hall (the original waiting room) while others sat at tables covered with
white cloths. A train whistle blew as passengers got on and off the train. The
second-floor Railroad and Heritage Museum was closed, but there were several
historical treasures sitting in full view outside the station's doors. An
antique polished Pullman car and troop sleeper were parked on unused tracks on
the grounds.
All of that is an hour car ride north of Austin. (By train, the trip is
scheduled at just under two hours but can take longer because of delays caused
mostly by Union Pacific freight trains.)
All across the country, small towns and big cities are renovating old depots
or building new ones. And like Temple, many of those have become destinations
unto themselves with retail and coffee shops, restaurants, banquet halls and
museums. Some serve as major transit centers for commuter rail, Amtrak and
city bus service.
Temple renovated its old Sante Fe depot in 2000 after decades of neglecting
the structure, said Judy Covington, executive director of the Railroad and
Heritage Museum. The city used local, state and federal grants totaling $4
million for the project. The museum serves as the official repository for the
Sante Fe Historical Railway and Modeling Society that traces railroads from the
mid-1800s to today. The museum's rolling stock consists of nine antique
varieties of rail cars, including a steam locomotive, box car, two cabooses and a
diesel locomotive awaiting restoration.
Before 2000, the depot was an eyesore used by hobos and the homeless. Now, it
is rented out for weddings and social events.
Other Texas cities are rediscovering their once abandoned or neglected depots
and bringing them back to life, said Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak.
Fort Worth built a station five years ago. Dallas is upgrading its station
that connects via tunnel to a hotel and the Reunion Tower. Mineola, Marshall,
Del Rio and El Paso have renovated or built beautiful stations, and Taylor is
trying to build a new station. A notable exception is the Austin passenger
train station that Amtrak leases from Union Pacific.
Just trying to find the station is a challenge because of its isolated
location on an obscure road behind the Town Lake YMCA. The structure, built in
1947, is very plain and too small for the the number of passengers who board the
train there. It has no amenities other than restrooms, a ticket office and
small waiting room. It gives no hint of the grand structures that once served
the Texas capital.
Austin's first railroad station still stands — the 1871 stone building that
houses Carmelo's Restaurant on East Fifth Street. But the two signature depots
that served Austin passengers through the great age of rail travel, standing
opposite one another at the corner of Congress Avenue and Third Street, are
long gone.
The buff-brick station of the International-Great Northern (later Missouri
Pacific), with its distinctive round turret, was built on the southwest corner
in 1881, and the handsome red-brick Houston & Texas Central station (later
Southern Pacific), was built on the northeast corner in 1902. Trains of the MP,
SP and Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroads — 18 a day in the 1920s — stood on
tracks in the middle of Third Street.
With airlines cutting service and gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon,
Amtrak is experiencing a surge in ridership on its Texas Eagle train that runs
daily between Chicago and San Antonio (including Temple). This year, 28
million riders are expected to travel on Amtrak trains, up by 2 million from last
year.
Ridership is up sharply on the Texas Eagle, as well — 11.7 percent between
October 2007 and July 2008 (the company's fiscal year) and that period last
year. That translates to 262,081 passengers. Of those, 19,388 came through
Austin, Magliari said.
There are other reasons that Austin should pursue renovating and expanding
its train depot so that it is more of a destination.
Texas Department of Transportation officials are in discussions with Amtrak
and others about the possibility of upgrading infrastructure for passenger
rail between Austin and San Antonio to provide more frequent trains to transport
commuters.
And despite being somewhat isolated, the location could be a benefit. The
Austin depot borders several condos and apartments and sits near Austin's Second
Street retailers.
Temple and other cities wisely have turned their depots into destinations in
which passengers cross paths with tourists, shoppers and residents. Austin
should do the same.
— Alberta Phillips
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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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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1767
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org