Stations Closed & Vacant since '71

UP Topeka Kansas closed as a passenger station May 2 1971 when the last remnant of the City of Kansas City passed through. It has since been repurposed outside of UP.

Ditto Junction City, which along with Fort Riley and Manhattan. Junction City has been demolished. Fort Riley stands, but appears completely out of use. Manhattan has seen a realignment of the track and preservation of the building.

Lawrence, KS UP has been repurposed as a museum.

OK. I think we have a winner for UP at Fort Riley, KS. Appears to have been served by Portland Rose and then prior to A-Day was being served by a mixed train (#117/118). Timetable confirmation of this would be helpful. It appears very likely that Fort Riley would have been kept as a stop "to the end" but only the timetable can say for sure.

I would note that UP has been among the hardest railroads to find an example of "closed and vacant" yet. The company appears to have a rather strictly enforced policy of demolition for vacant structures within the right of way. As a result there are quite a few depots in small towns that have been moved in order to ensure preservation. This went so far as to include the remarkable decision to demolish the depot at Columbus, NE once the company decided to vacate offices previously kept there in 2015. It's pretty extraordinary to see a historic structure in good condition demolished. Even more so that the Columbus City Council reportedly stated, "we can't save everything" when told the cost would be $750,000 to acquire the structure.

Thankfully as with many other large railroads there are dozens and dozens of excellent examples preserved of both large and small facilities. Omaha Union Station which is easily the crown jewel of all UP passenger facilities ever built is in near perfect condition and operates as a museum today.

The following stations appear or have been confirmed to have last seen service on A-Day (May 1, 1971 +/-) and have been closed and vacant (railroad use excepted) since then.

(alphabetically by railroad and then by state)

Belen Station, Belen, NM, (ATSF)
DeKalb Depot, DeKalb, IL (CNW) [Note: Closed ca. July 1971]
Kaukauna Depot, Kaukauna, WI (CNW)
Marinette Depot, Marinette, WI (CNW)
Iowa Falls Union Depot, Iowa Falls, IA, (IC)
Ackley Combination Depot, Ackley, IA, (IC)
Gary Union Station, Gary IN, (NYC/PC, B&O/C&O)
Sidney Station, Sidney, OH, (NYC/PC, ex-Big 4)
Plymouth Station, Plymouth, IN, (PRR/PC)
Union Pacific Depot, Fort Riley, KS, (UP) [Note: Unconfirmed but likely, government ownership presumed]

Amtrak Member Railroads Not Represented: BN, MILW, DH, GMO, GTW, LN, MP, NW, NWP (SP), RFP, SCL, SP (BN likely has many in railroad current use ...)
Amtrak Member Railroads Ruled Out: CG (checked both Nancy Hanks II and City of Miami route ...)

Thanks to Col. Perkowski for contributing Fort Riley UP Depot. Very nice find.

Massachusetts has a number of abandoned freight houses, but appears to have just one station building completely unused since A-day: Thayer station in Lancaster. Local service on the line ended in 1960, but the agency in the building apparently closed in 1952.

Rhode Island has no pre-A-day abandoned stations. Connecticut does not either, though Windsor Locks is close - Penn Central used it as a signal workshop until about 1976. It's not planned for restoration.

Worth noting that as intended the topic seeks to include only stations whose service ended on (or as a direct result of) A-Day. Connecticut is definitely "close but no cigar" ... Windsor Locks likely being "closest". Were it not for the service at the platform in the early years the use by PC would meet the railroad use exception.

I am finding conflicting information about Northwestern Pacific's passenger service (Willits-Eureka) and whether or not they were still running on A-Day. Clarification would be appreciated.

Mechanicville, NY is another "close but no cigar". Partial reoccupancy occurred for a brief period and Amtrak's Adirondack also stopped nearby (XO Tower listed in time table as station point) until it was rerouted.

Based on the above and survey of the rest of the line I feel confident ruling out the DH from the list. The route is actually a showcase of preservation. Nearly every town once served has a station and most of them are refurbished DH facilities. When those were not available the new facilities complement the local landscape and have forms that fit in with the overall pattern of the line.

Phoenix Az was a joint SP/ATSF station,vacated when the Sunset was rerouted to the Gila Sub by UP,
still used by UP as a crew base for the Phoenix based Locals.

The EGE wrote:Rhode Island has no pre-A-day abandoned stations. Connecticut does not either, though Windsor Locks is close - Penn Central used it as a signal workshop until about 1976. It's not planned for restoration.

I'm going to disagree with you on this one - you're forgetting the New London, CT-Worcester, MA RDC service provided by Penn Central, that stopped at (still existing) stations in Norwich and Putnam, CT, as well as Auburn, MA. None of those stations saw Amtrak service; all have been preserved in varying non-railroad uses.

All true ... But "vacant" or "abandoned" is what we're looking for. Consequently Phoenix doesn't make the list either as it saw service after 1971.

Mr. O'Keefe, unless"Wiki is just being Wiki", it appears the structure is owned by Sprint Corporation. Likely it is "chuck full" of telecommunications switchgear, and not likely to have any rail related usage today.

Fair Use:

Southern Pacific Communications Company (SPC), a unit of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, began providing long-distance telephone service after the Execunet II decision late in 1978. SPC was headquartered on Adrian Court in Burlingame, California, where Sprint still maintains its Sprint Applied Research & Advanced Technology Labs.

Southern Pacific maintained an extensive microwave communications system along its rights-of-way that the railroad used for internal communications. After the Execunet II decision, Southern Pacific expanded its internal communications network by laying fiber optic cables along the same rights-of-way. In 1972, Southern Pacific Communications began selling surplus system capacity to corporations for use as private lines, circumventing AT&T's then-monopoly on public telephony. Prior attempts at offering long distance voice services had not been approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), although a fax service (called SpeedFAX) was permitted.

Here's how it looked when the Googlemobile was last that way.

Well ... There is one good thing about Sprint in that station ... It won't be getting vandalized anytime soon ... If ever ... "Probably" nice and dry inside as well. Nice touch leaving the Amtrak signage in place ...

jamoldover wrote:

The EGE wrote:Rhode Island has no pre-A-day abandoned stations. Connecticut does not either, though Windsor Locks is close - Penn Central used it as a signal workshop until about 1976. It's not planned for restoration.

I'm going to disagree with you on this one - you're forgetting the New London, CT-Worcester, MA RDC service provided by Penn Central, that stopped at (still existing) stations in Norwich and Putnam, CT, as well as Auburn, MA. None of those stations saw Amtrak service; all have been preserved in varying non-railroad uses.

Earlier someone mentioned Pawtucket-Central Falls, RI station which has been abandoned since 1959

Abandoned? Yes. Vacant and closed due to Amtrak? No. I would consider it a derelict but for Amtrak purposes I don't think there is any reasonable expectation of future service so including it in the "derelict" list seems unreasonable as well.