Jacksonville Florida

Jacksonville Union Terminal

This Beau Arts station, designed by Murchison K. Mackenzie (or possibly Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison a New York Architect who was the son of a Confederate Colonel from North Carolina depending upon your source), was opened in 1919 to serve the burgeoning passenger traffic, particularly in the winter, between the frozen north, places like New York City, Cleveland, Chicago and Charleston WV, and the growing balmy beaches on Florida’s “Gold Coast,” Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and the rest. As such, most of the passenger traffic this station saw was “through” traffic. That is to say, in its heyday 85% of the passengers who used this station had arrived from elsewhere and were going to another location. Thus, this was a “Terminal” in name only for the vast majority of the travelers. Jacksonville was not their destination or the point of departure. They were only there to change trains, have their car switched from one train to another, or to use the station’s platforms as a good place to get out and stretch while the train’s operating crew changed and the train was serviced with fuel, water, and all the other items a passenger train needs (contrary to some Congressional expectations) to operate comfortably and efficiently.

The first Jacksonville Union Terminal was built in 1904. Interestingly enough, when the 1919 structure was built to replace the by-then inadequate structure, instead of tearing down the old station, it was incorporated into the new structure as a baggage and perishable freight facility. Thus, even today, it sits beside, and in the shadow of, its replacement.

The biggest problem with the Jacksonville Union Terminal was getting the trains into and out of it. Because of its location along the St. John’s River, a location dictated in part by the need to be near the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), many of the trains coming and going, had to back into the terminal, or, back out when departing. While most of the trains coming in from or going onto the FEC simply pulled through on the station trackage located on the river side of the building, trains from the other lines using the terminal, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern Railway (and its subsidiary line The Georgia, Southern and Florida Railroad) were forced to make several inconvenient, and potentially hazardous, switching moves. This awkward situation was compounded when, as a result of labor strife, the FEC stopped all passenger traffic in 1963.

Jacksonville Union Terminal, nevertheless, soldiered on into the early days of Amtrak. It finally closed on January 3, 1974, when Amtrak’s Floridian made the last stop at this facility. The next day Amtrak opened its new facility on the northern outskirts of town.

The new location, is not as convenient to downtown Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Landing as the old Jacksonville Union Terminal. However, it is convenient to the tracks Amtrak uses for its “Silver Service” trains. Further, it allows a “run-through” operation (except when the Sunset Limited ran through Jacksonville on its New Orleans LA to Orlando FL leg). While this new facility has never seen 115 trains and 20,000 passengers, the design capabilities of Jacksonville Union Terminal, it nevertheless can be quite busy in the mornings and again in the evenings. Many times I have had to “wade through” a huge crowd of people in order to board at this new station. It does appear to have some expansion room available so that it could handle more trains and people. However, it does not, IMHO, have as much as might possibly be needed if the “dream” of a high speed rail line up and down the east coast is realized.

As for Jacksonville Union Terminal, it has survived to “live another day.” Now it is the key structure in Jacksonville’s Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. Prime F. Osborn was the last president of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and, consequently, the one who led it into the CSX merger.

Baltimore Maryland

The President Street Station

This is all that remains of the President Street Station that was constructed in Baltimore Maryland near the present-day Inner Harbor area. The station itself was erected in 1849-50 as the southern terminus for the Philadelphia Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad (PB&W). In the early years passengers arriving at this station from Philadelphia, had to disembark and take a “hack” down Pratt Street about 6 blocks to the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad’s Camden Street Station. There they could board cars that were pulled out to the B&O’s Mt. Clare Station where a locomotive was attached to the front of the consist and the train ran to Washington DC. The reason for this interruption in travel in Baltimore was caused, in part, by a Baltimore City Ordinance which did not allow the railroads to use steam engines within the inner city area because of the noise, smoke, congestion, etc. By 1860’s, a track had been laid down Pratt Street connecting the 2 stations, but still, steam locomotives were not allowed to pull the cars, they had to be pulled by horses. The events of Spring 1861 demonstrated that these arrangements were inadequate and even dangerous. Two historical events from that era demonstrate the validity of this statement.

The first involved the journey of then-President Elect Abraham Lincoln as he made his way, ever-so-slowly by train from Springfield IL to Washington DC. After leaving New York City, Lincoln made his way to Philadelphia PA. While he was in Philadelphia, one of his travelling aides was approached by the President of the PB&W Railroad, S.M. Felton, and Allan Pinkerton then the head of a well-known (both then and now) private detective agency. Pinkerton reported that there was a plot developing in Baltimore to kidnap and/or possibly kill Lincoln as he moved between the two stations to make his train connections. Both Felton and Pinkerton urged the official party to depart from their published itinerary and depart for Washington immediately. Lincoln was told of the plot, but decided to go on to Harrisburg from Philadelphia anyway so that he could address the State Legislature at the Capitol.

However, once Lincoln had finished his task in Harrisburg, he assented to a deviation from his announced schedule. The plan had been for him and his “party” to spend the night in Harrisburg and depart the next day for Washington through Baltimore. However, under the re-arrangement he agreed to, his “Party” (including his family) stayed in Harrisburg that night, while he and a trusted companion (Ward Hill Lamon) departed for Philadelphia in a special train run just for the two of them. As soon as they departed Harrisburg, the telegraph wires were cut isolating that city, and all the reporters in it, from the rest of the country. That way even if it was discovered Lincoln had left Harrisburg, the news could not get out.

When Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, minus his trademark “Stove-Pipe Hat” he boarded a sleeping car that had been reserved for him by one of Pinkerton’s operatives. The ruse used when making the reservation was that the party traveling was an ill relative who was going to Washington DC.

When Lincoln arrived at the President Street station shortly after 3 in the early morning, his car was quietly and quickly pulled down Pratt Street by horses and attached to a Washington DC –bound train. Lincoln, who apparently was awake during his trip through Baltimore, arrived in DC at 6 AM. While much of the opposition press “ragged” him for his maneuver through Baltimore, later events were to prove that he made a wise choice. (Note: While I have read about this event in several different sources, I used BP Thomas’ Biography in constructing this sequence of events.)

It should be noted, given the posting of this dating, that this Philadelphia-Washington routing Lincoln took in 1861, is the same one taken January 16, 2009, by President Obama when he arrived in Washington for the Inauguration. While obviously the track alignment has changed somewhat from the original Lincoln train ride, and President Obama made his trip in the daylight, and stopped to make speeches, it was, in essence, the route Lincoln had followed in 1861.

On April 19, 1861, only a little over a month after Lincoln’s “Midnight Ride” through Baltimore, and a week after the firing on Fort Sumter SC had marked the beginning of hostilities, the 6th Massachusetts Volunteers arrived at the President Street Station bound for the defense of Washington DC (they and Seventh New York Volunteers were the first Union troops to arrive to defend that city). As the Regiment’s cars were pulled along Pratt Street they were pelted by an angry mob. Finally, the tracks were blocked and the soldiers had to dismount into the street. As they were forced to detrain and march down Pratt Street towards the Camden Street station a riot ensued. Later in the day another train filled with Volunteers from Philadelphia bound for the defense of Washington DC had to disembark at the President St. Station. They made it to the Camden Street Station only after being given a police escort.

Now, the composition of this “mob” of attackers has been debated through the years. Some then, and now, maintain that the mob consisted of Southern Sympathizers of which Maryland (after all it was a slave-holding state) in general, and Baltimore in particular, had a lot of. Another version, told in the exhibits at the Baltimore Civil War Museum, maintains that the crowd was composed, at least in part, of sailors (who were not necesarily from the South) from the bars along the waterfront (then, as now, Pratt Street is right beside the old Main docking area of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and in 1861 there were a number of saloons catering to the sailors located along the north side of the street).

In the ensuing melee 4 (some say 3) of the soldiers, and 9 of the “mob” were killed. However, the both sets of troops finally made it to the Camden Street Station and continued onto Washington DC where they joined the hastily gathered DC Volunteers (including my Great Grandfather) in the defense of the city. As a direct result of this mob attack, further movements of Union troops through Balitmore were suspended for a few months. Instead of going through Baltimore, they disembarked from their trains at the head of the Chesapeake Bay and took boats down to Annapolis. Then they marched from Annapolis up to DC through Benning MD (and the home of my Great Grandmother on another “side” of my family). Eventually the Union “occupied” Baltimore, and were able to re-establish the rail link between the two stations (I have generally used Randall & Donald’s Civil War textbook as the basis for this account but I have added information I am aware from other sources including our family’s history.)

This entire arrangement of the Pratt Street tracks continued even after the Civil War, and became the focal point of an eventual “feud” between the railroads that became the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that erupted in 1871. The feud began when the Pennsylvania Railroad formed the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) for the express purpose of building south to “the Potomac River.” The B&P began construction of its tracks at an interchange with the Pennsylvania controlled Northern Central Railroad southward. Then the P B & W built a branch up to this junction.

Under its charter from the State of Maryland the B&O had a monopoly into the city of Washington DC. However, the B &P was allowed to build branch lines not to exceed 20 miles in length. Accordingly when they extended their tracks south out of Baltimore to, eventually Pope’s Creek MD, they made sure that the line came with 20 miles of Washington DC. This allowed them to build a branch into DC along the Anacostia River. The line was complete into Washington DC in 1873. They erected a station in DC near the site of the present-day National Gallery of Art. This was the station where President James A. Garfield was assassinated.

The Pennsylvania assumed control of the PB&W in 1881 after a long fight with the Baltimore & Ohio. They began operating the PB&W and the B&P as one line with through trains from Washington DC all the way to New York City (on the Penny’s New Jersey lines). The Pennsy constructed the Baltimore Penn Station in 1911. This station was located further north in the city, on the site of the former Northern Central Railroad Depot. All passenger service to President Street Station ceased in 1922 and was shifted to Baltimore Penn Station. However, the President Street Station continued after that date for another 40 years or so as a freight station. Finally, that function ceased and the community took the building over.

The President Street Station still stands, albeit in a greatly truncated fashion. It is the Baltimore Civil War Museum noted above. I have visited there and found the exhibit to be very well-done and informative. However, since I was there, I understand that there has been a change in the ownership and operational arrangements. It is now owned by the Maryland Historical Society also located in Baltimore. It is hoped that they will maintain this museum, or even improve it, and not let it become a “useless appendage” to their Mt. Vernon area operation.

There is also talk of making the President Street Station a stop on a new subway line through Baltimore, or possibly a stop on new Commuter Rail, or Light Rail, service being proposed for that area. Whether/when that will happen is difficult to say as of the date of this posting.

Washington DC

Union Station

Inauguration Day

Those of you who are regular followers of this blog (all 1 or 2 of you) will remember that I began these postings with a piece about my "home town depot, Washington DC's Union Station. Today, in honor of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, I wish to return to this station for just a bit.

Since it opened in 1907, Union Station has been the “next-door neighbor” to 25 Inaugurations (today would have been number 26, but on his 4th Inauguration FDR, already showing signs that his condition was terminal, opted to be sworn in at the White House). While some of these Inaugurations have been memorable, others have been less so. For Union Station probably the most memorable Inauguration was the 1953 Ceremony when Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower became President for his 1st term. What made this particular Inauguration memorable actually occurred about 3 weeks before the event.

Starting in 1935, the Pennsylvania Railroad used the engine it became most famous for, the Raymond Loewy-designed GG-1, to pull the majority of its passenger train runs into and out of Union Station. For the most part, the arrivals and departures went unheralded; the GG-1 was, among other things, a very reliable piece of motive power. However, in the early days of January 1953, one of the trains comprising the Pennsylvania’s through service from Boston (via the New Haven Railroad), The Federal, got out of control. The incident started as the consist powered by a GG-1 was coming through the station trackage. As it left the station trackage and came in on Track 16 it was way too fast to stop at the bumper. Instead, it proceeded to crash through the bumper, crash through the “Gate” and roll out on the main concourse floor. Thankfully, an announcement had been made moments prior to this that a train was out of control and persons were advised to flee from the concourse. Luckily, everyone there did just that. Consequently, no one was killed or injured on the concourse floor.

Due to the weight of the engine, the GG-1 stayed on the Concourse only momentarily before the floor gave way and the huge engine crashed down into the baggage room located below the concourse. As I remember it, it did trap a baggage handler or two in there for a few minutes, and I think at least one of them did receive a few scratches, but otherwise, things were fine.

The only problem was Washington DC was getting ready for its version of "The Big Show," the upcoming Inauguration. It was only 3 weeks away. And now, Union Station had no concourse for passengers to use. So the decision was made to install a temporary plywood floor over the concourse and leave the GG-1 IN THE BAGGAGE ROOM until after the “festivities” were over. Accordingly, this was done, and except for a slowing of the baggage service, everything went on as planned. Only a few of the thousands of people coming to town through the station ever paused for a moment to reflect upon the meaning of a plywood floor on the concourse.

And after the crowds were gone, in the cold days of February, the plywood was ripped away and the GG-1 was lifted out (incidentally, it was eventually returned to service by the Pennsy). And then the concourse was re-built for use.

I remember the time well. Being a local, I, along with many others, joined in the inevitable “second-guessing” that occurred as everyone talked about what “they” would have done about the runaway locomotive. The most popular notion put forward by us locals was to question why “they” hadn’t just re-routed the train through the tunnels that led south (I suspect the answer was, in part, if there had a derailment in those tunnels, then things would have really been messed up for all the expected travelers).

In addition, there were some locals who gave pause to the possible terror such a repeat scenario might cause. For example, A. recalls that for several years after the accident, whenever she was in Union Station, particularly when she and her family were riding on the train back to West Virginia, she would always be afraid another train would come crashing through the concourse. Consequently, she was always relieved when she could finally board their train and leave.

Well, that was 1953, and this is 2009, another busy Inauguration Day for Union Station, the station that literally “re-made” a city. Happy Inauguration Day President Obama, treat Union Station and Amtrak well. They are a key to helping our country become what it should be.