The little train station near my parents’ house. I am there all the time … but I never get over its quaintness. It was just re-done – and they kept the feeling of it intact, which I – with my resistance to change – appreciate. They did cut down the massive beech tree in the middle of the roundabout – and that was something I needed to grieve. But other than that … it is all the same.
remember in the Chronicles of Narnia, when the kids are waiting at a train station, and suddenly –fwoosh!– back to Narnia to continue their adventures? this could be that train station.
I love those old-fashioned train stations! In Buenos Aires you can find several, since most railways were built by the British back in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Some of the train stations near my home look a little like the one you pictured – lovely! Lots of wooden beams, spikes, old lanterns…
BTW, I’m loving your camera and what you’re doing with it!! Keep the pics comin’!!! :)
I haven’t been there in ages – they did a really nice job with it – definitely kept the feeling of it intact…sorry to hear about the tree, though! I know the one you mean.
I pass by there on my way to Newport. Never stoped, though. I will next time.
Nice pics, both the subject and the quality. I love those old train stations. You can find a few like that around here in some small towns, but the old urban and suburban ones have either been torn down or turned into coffee shops I think. The auto pretty much killed passenger stations here and what the auto didn’t do in, city planners ripped down back in the sixties.
BTW-I’m impressed with that camera and since my old one was stolen a few weeks ago I’m in the market. I’m leaning toward that one.
Dave E – cool! I should get a commission!
Can you explain to me why passenger stations were ripped down?? Like obvioiusly Amtrak is everywhere – but did they close down stations and make the trains express trains? Is that what happened?
Interstate train service in the Twin Cities is now out of what is fondly(ahem) referred to as the “Amshack” depot in St. Paul, and that is just the “Empire Builder” to Seattle and Chicago as far as I know. They tore down the old Great Northern Depot in Minneapolis in the 70s but finally salvaged the Milwaukee Road Depot as a hotel and retail complex. The exterior and some of the interior survives, but it’s not the same.
As far as local service goes it’s nothing like the East Coast or Chicago. They got rid of the streetcars back in the 50s in favor of buses and we’ve just started to implement light rail here. One line from downtown Minneapolis to the airport and Mall of America. A few of the old depots survive as historic sites but aren’t actually used for passengers.
Oh, and I meant to comment on the shot with the mural in it. Is it just me or does that look like an American version of an old Soviet style poster or something? Is that building part of the station?
Its right across the way – it’s a lumberyard – or something like that – it used to be a factory. That mural is obviously referencing those old Soviet posters – or that old cool WPA era art. Before they built the walkway over the tracks (that you can see in the background in the 2nd photo down) – you would have to take the shuttle bus around to the other side – *(my sister siobhan and I were just SO annoyed by this … that we couldn’t just be dropped off in the lumberyard and board the train from there – but no – the lumberyard had a lock on it – and the shuttle bus dude would have to unlock it, if you were taking the train at, oh, 9 pm or whatever) … and you’d be driven thru the abandoned lumber yard in the shuttle bus and they’d let you off by the side of the tracks.
Next time I;m gonna get closer to that mural. I think I could get some really cool shots if I were right there, close to it.