Amtrak Loneliest depots

I just received my September Trains and on the cover is mentioned "Amtrak's Loneliest Stations". I immediately thought of Port Kent, NY and Montpelier Junction, Vermont and both of them were listed numbers 1 and 2 in this feature. There is a good reason for both of these lonely outposts: Port Kent is only functional when the ferry runs between Port Kent and Burlington, VT which is a decent size metro area and this provides a second rail departure for New York. I have never boardered the train at Port Kent but the ferry ride between Port Kent and Burlington is a delightful experience. This provides a good overnight link out of New York by going one way to Essex Junction and the other way via Port Kent. The other stop Montpelier Junction is not far from Montpelier which is a great part of the central region of Vermont. Montpelier has good restaurants, hotels and attractions and makes a good destination for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the metro areas to the south. Both of these stops might be lonley but very legitimate stops in the Amtrak network and I suspect the other locations in this feature have very legitimate reasons for their existence as well.
I can still remember my ski trips to Vermont back in the mid 69's (before 1966) spending the night in Montpeilier and heading over to the station at the Junction to see the SB "Boot" in the evening. It would be right on time with two sparkling clean GP-9's and maybe eight or nine cars. A decent number of folks would be waiting there to board for points south and leaving time came, two beeps on the communicating whistle and time to go. Start the train in the first notch but by the time the last car cleared the platform he would really be moving. In the station which was staaffed 24/7 one could hear the key as they still were using the telegraph for communication between the stations. In those days White River Junction, Randolph, Montpelier Junction, Waterbury, Essex Junction and St. Albans were all open 7 days a week around the clock and all staffed by friendly people. Lots more great memories. The Central Vermont was the shining star in New England in those days.
Noel Weaver

Not too much in the way of civilization around Green River, UT

Gone now, but I would have put Williams Jct, AZ at the top of that list. Lamy, NM is pretty high too.

Connersville, IN served only by the Cardinal (it's south of Indianapolis so no Hoosier State).

I haven't seen the Trains article in question so I don't know what their definition of "lonely" is, but the Montpelier Junction station is only about two miles from downtown Montpelier, and while there's nothing much around the station itself other than a tank car unloading facility it's hardly in a remote location. Montpelier itself is a busy little city and the state capital. I'm sure there are a lot of stops that are "lonelier" than that. Port Kent, on the other hand, really is pretty much in the middle of nowhere except for the ferry dock, and the station is just a platform shelter.

Green River Ut is the "gateway" to Moab Ut and Arches National Park.
It is a decent size town in desert country.

Lamy NM is considered the "gateway" to Santa Fe NM by Amtrak.

Consider Sanderson Tx on the Sunset Ltd route,it was almost a ghost town the last time I drove thru there!

Mr. Backshop, the Sanderson station does "not exactly" look like anywhere I'd want to be for much longer than five minutes.

I thought Sanderson had a greater presence "once upon a time" with the SP.

Anyone have some recent passenger counts handy?

The Station bldg was allowed to rot by UP,believe leveled in 2011,the "Main Street" had may vacant storefronts.
The Nearest Border Patrol "encampment" was Dryden Tx, about 21 miles southeast of Sanderson Tx

Thurmond, WV should make that list. Population 5, Cardinal 3x a week each way.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. Backshop, the Sanderson station does "not exactly" look like anywhere I'd want to be for much longer than five minutes.

I thought Sanderson had a greater presence "once upon a time" with the SP.

Anyone have some recent passenger counts handy?

I drove thru there years ago, and stopped by the Amtrak platform. Not much going on in Sanderson.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Anyone have some recent passenger counts handy?

Sanderson had a derelict SP wood depot that was the subject of a failed preservation campaign (never really went anywhere). Sanderson is one of the least used stations in all of Amtrak. Regularly in the bottom 10 every year. I recall 400-700 passengers per year.

Temporary loneliest is Clemson SC. Any one know the progress of rebuilding and when station will reopen to passengers ?

east point wrote:Temporary loneliest is Clemson SC. Any one know the progress of rebuilding and when station will reopen to passengers ?

Lies and slander, according to the Sonic Drive-In next door and the university a mile away I wasn’t impressed by it, but there are much worse.

Sanderson had a classic 2- story SP style Depot that was allowed to rot,may have been a base for a UP section crew till 2011.
Alpine Tx,at one time a joint SP/ATSF depot,is the "gateway" to Big Bend National Park,and unstaffed.

Deming NM,Station moved and restored,was also a joint SP/ATSF station,now a gravel patch at the former station site.
Lordsburg NM,Classic SP 2 story station leveled,replaced with a shelter,now uses the grade crossing as the platform.

Green River, UT, is a lot lonelier than Port Kent. Port Kent is next to a busy ferry stop for part of the year, and it is in an area with lots of little towns and tourist places and so on. It has a yacht harbor. Green River is a larger town than anything within a few hundred yards of Port Kent, but the town Green River itself is in a lonely place, with a whole lot of nothing for miles around. It may be the gateway to Moab, but Moab is 20 miles or so away along either a deserted two-lane highway in the sagebrush or a spectacular but barely populated smaller highway along the Colorado River. Last time I rode through Green River most of the "platform" was just stray ballast. I have driven through Green River, too, and found a decent little park with a decent public bathroom, but it is the only such place for a long way in any direction -- see desert, see mountains, etc. -- so it is lonely. A few dozen miles further west is the most shocking sign I have ever seen on an interstate, to the effect of "No services or water next 150 or so miles on this road".