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(rshsdepot) Vancouver, WA
From The Columbian.
Link to original article and photo:
_http://www.columbian.com/article/20090114/BIZ01/701149974/0/FRONTPAGE_
(http://www.columbian.com/article/20090114/BIZ01/701149974/0/FRONTPAGE)
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Old style, modern amenities for depot
By Cami Joner
Columbian staff writer
Vancouver’s 100-year-old Amtrak train station reopened Tuesday with
refurbished ties to its historic past.
A $650,000 remodel of the old depot’s interior is complete. During the
six-month-long project, Amtrak conducted business from a single-wide trailer next
to the station at 1301 W. 11th St.
The European-style post sits between the north- and southbound tracks near
the Port of Vancouver, and has since 1908, said Daniel Norfleet,
superintendent of facilities for the city of Vancouver.
“The building is owned by the city and leased to Amtrak,” he said.
The remodeling focused on maintaining the depot’s historic charm and
streamlining its ticket counter, waiting room and restrooms to accommodate more
people and make the areas wheelchair-accessible, said Dan Gregory, project
manager with Ridgefield-based Skyward Construction Inc., general contractor.
The historical finishes included matching up the existing wall plaster,
refinishing the original maple wood flooring and custom-manufacturing solid
Douglas fir doors for the station. Project carpenters also replicated the building’
s interior wainscoting, bead board and trim patterns in the style of the
early 1900s, down to “mortise and tenon” or right-angle joints.
The past and the future
Some city leaders viewed the project as a dual-purpose update that should
maintain the building’s historical significance, said Vancouver Councilwoman
Pat Jollota. An expert on local history, Jollota said many notable passed
through the Vancouver station before automobile and plane travel surpassed
railroad travel.
“The Prunarians (a 1920s-era local prune industry group) presented (U.S.
President) Warren G. Harding with a box of prunes when he stopped here on his
way to Seattle,” Jollota said. “Truman came through there, although not on
his famous train campaign.”
At the same time, Jollota said, she sees train travel becoming an important
part of the future.
Vancouver purchased the local train station for $1 from the BNSF Railway on
the condition that it be used only as a passenger depot for Amtrak or any
successor.
“I have convinced a lot of people to take the train to Seattle. You can
relax, read the paper and have a cup of coffee,” she said.
About 100,000 passengers a year pull out of the Vancouver Amtrak station,
according to Bob Pixley, a station agent who has worked at the station for
about nine years.
Pixley said the open lobby makes it easier for both passengers and Amtrak
personnel to see the trains coming out the building’s wooden-framed,
south-facing windows.
“We can see ’em coming all the way down to the bridge,” Pixley said.
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