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Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts

Thursday, February 29, 2024

The Train Station was constructed in 1907 as a combination passenger and freight depot. Passenger service was available 5 days per week with stops at 6am, 7:30am, noon and 6pm. Freight and mail service was available twice daily. The ticket booth is in the center of the building with men's and women's passenger waiting areas on either side. In the waiting room to the left of the ticket booth is an old floor-integrated Fairbanks platform scale. The express mail room is through the next door past the scale on the far end of the building. Across from the scale, stairs lead down to a basement made of stone and brick and an earth floor running the length of the building.

The increased ownership of automobiles in the United States, which was most notable from the 1950's through the 1970's, correlated to an 80% decline in the use of commuter trains across the country. Passenger service at this rural location was subsequently discontinued in April 1967. Freight service was terminated shortly thereafter and with it, this depot's 60 years of service came to an end. The building was later briefly used as a residence but it has otherwise been abandoned and mostly unchanged since it closed back in 1967. This means that for the ~120 years of its existence thus far, this station has now been sitting empty for nearly the same amount of time that it was operational. The tracks that run right past its doors, however, have kept humming all this time. And so, at the same regular daily intervals to which it has long been accusomed, the old bones of this depot still shake to the scheduled rhythm of passing trains which rumble and hiss and stir up ghosts in their wake to dance among the cobwebs and the shadows until the last locomotive disappears down the tracks as quickly as it arrived and the dust settles once more where riders no longer disembark and from where no travelers depart.

Note: This post is #2 in a series of 4 loosely related upcoming blog posts which will culminate with the juiciest location/post ever*. Stay tuned..

*This claim has not been verified.

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

The Train Station copyright 2024 sublunar
The Train Station by sublunar

Monday, July 1, 2019

Located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railway is a working museum located at the site of the town's fully restored railroad depot which was built in 1913 and appears to be appropriately furnished inside, though it was closed on the day I visited.

This museum is home to a collection of vintage train cars and other relics including steam locomotives, compressors, pumps and engines. During the summer, you can book a ride on one of the cars pulled by a more modern diesel locomotive. There's also an old locomotive turn-table which they evidently still operate from time to time, despite its rather unstable appearance. One of the more prominent trains on site include the old No. 201, a 2-6-0 (Mogul) built in 1906 by the American Locomotive Company in Patterson New Jersey as a coal burner and was later converted to oil. It is one of only three known surviving locomotives to have worked on the Panama Canal. Attached to this machine is an old caged circus car, complete with an animal doghouse style enclosure inside. There's also an interesting 1951 Chevrolet converted to use as a track inspector's car, among other things.

I didn't bother to bring my camera on this stop so these photos were shot on my crappy old phone. The town itself is pretty cool; it's full of old buildings scattered around the unique and porous geography.

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

 ESNA © 2019 sublunar

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

This site started out in the 1870's as a locomotive repair shop for the Clover Leaf District of the Nickel Plate Railroad (which was formed through a merger of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad). The roundhouse and turntable were added in the early 1920's. "The Nickel Plate Road was one of the last major steam railroads to switch to the new diesel-electric locomotives. One reason for this was the famed 'Berkshires' a 2-8-4 wheel arrangement steam locomotive capable of pulling heavy freight trains at high speed. In the early 1950s, the Nickel Plate took a look at the diesels and decided to stick with the Berkshires."(3) Nickle Plate, with other mid-western railroads, eventually merged with Norfolk Southern in 1964 but the roundhouse here continued to service locomotives and rail cars through the 1970's. These buildings eventually fell into disuse and after 40 years the structure is unfortunately experiencing demolition through neglect and as of the time of this trip, most of the roof has collapsed.

Here's an awesome video of the last time this roundhouse saw action.

Source: 1, 2, 3.

Nickle Plate Roundhouse

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar

Nickle Plate Roundhouse © 2015 sublunar