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  • Pittsburgh Union Station - what's left

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

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 #445982  by carajul
 
What remains of the grand PRR station in Pitts? I think I read that the offices and station are now condos and Amtrak just has an amshack in the basement. What about trackage? From the google maps it looks like there is still a train shed roof but most of the tracks seems rusted or torn up.

 #449827  by Alaskabound
 
Image Union Station (Pittsburgh) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Union Station or Pennsylvania Station (commonly called "Penn Station" by locals) is a historic train station at Grant Street and Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Unlike many union stations built in the US to serve the needs of more than one railroad, this facility connected the Pennsylvania Railroad with several subsidiary lines; for that reason it was renamed in 1912 to match other Pennsylvania Stations.

The station building was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built 1898–1903. The materials were a grayish-brown terra cotta that looked like brownstone, and brick. The project required a tall railroad hotel to be incorporated in the overall design. Though Burnham is regarded more as a planner and organizer rather than a designer of details, which were left to draftsmen like Peter Joseph Weber, the most extraordinary feature of the monumental train station is his: the rotunda with corner pavilions. At street level the rotunda sheltered turning spaces for carriages beneath wide low vaulted spaces that owed little to any historicist style. Above, the rotunda sheltered passengers in a spectacular waiting room. Burnham's firm went on to complete more than a dozen projects in Pittsburgh, some on quite prominent sites.

The restoration of Union Station in the mid-1980s converted some concourse space into an expanded entrance to the former railroad hotel, now an apartment building; the main space was restored and the paint cleaned off the great central skylight.

Union Station continues to serve as a train station. It is the western terminus of Amtrak's Pennsylvanian route and is along the Capitol Limited route. For getting to and from Pittsburgh by train, the former route is considered to be far more useful, as the latter passes through Pittsburgh late at night and very early in the morning. I've been inside and it is just as beautiful as ever. If you are ever in the area make sure you stop and llook.

Its Amtrak station code is PGH. Hope this helps. Here's a pic of the rotunda inside from http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/pictures ... vanian.htm
 #449878  by Ken W2KB
 
carajul wrote:What remains of the grand PRR station in Pitts? I think I read that the offices and station are now condos and Amtrak just has an amshack in the basement. What about trackage? From the google maps it looks like there is still a train shed roof but most of the tracks seems rusted or torn up.
When I was there a few years ago, there was a small waiting room at trackside, not ornate, had some other purpose in the past, I'm sure. Nothing more Amtrak related. I believe only one track appeared to be in use, certainly several others had been removed. The rest of this magnificent building was converted to other uses as mentioned in the prior post. After departing to the east, I noted from the train window that two of the former mainline tracks had been converted to a busway.
 #450014  by Ron Mele
 
After departing to the east, I noted from the train window that two of the former mainline tracks had been converted to a busway.[/quote]

The busway was constructed during the early 1980s. Before then, the Panhandle main to Columbus, Ohio and points west split from the Fort Wayne line at PITT Tower. That building, by the way, used to house the largest interlocking machine ever built by Union Switch - at least that's what I've been told. The building is now used by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Conrail sold the Panhandle right of way to PAT and rerouted Panhandle trains via the Ohio Connecting Bridge. In later years parts of the Panhandle were either abandoned or sold to other railroads. I used to work on the 33rd floor of Oliver Plaza and had a panoramic view of the station and Panhandle Bridge. Conrail used to put on quite a show when they ran the mail trains, TV-3, and TV-4 through the station. For a railfan, it was a nice distraction!

Ron Mele

 #451629  by Jersey Jeff
 
My Mother In-Law works for an architectural firm in the old Pennsylvania Station, and I travel a few times a year from NJ to Pittsburgh on the Pennsylvanian. Pgh. Penn Station is now in private hands (condos and offices), so I couldn't even get in the lobby without a keycard. The kiss & ride out front is now an ugly surface parking lot. Amtrak trains stop at an Amshack in the rear of the station.

Pittsburgh is a very unfriendly town towards passenger rail, IMHO. The city fathers seem to love buses, and to a lesser extent, light rail, but every time I visit my inlaws, the local paper seems to run articles about the Port Authority's huge deficits and additional service cutbacks. :(

Re:

 #799745  by Trailuser
 
Jersey Jeff wrote:My Mother In-Law works for an architectural firm in the old Pennsylvania Station, and I travel a few times a year from NJ to Pittsburgh on the Pennsylvanian. Pgh. Penn Station is now in private hands (condos and offices), so I couldn't even get in the lobby without a keycard. The kiss & ride out front is now an ugly surface parking lot. Amtrak trains stop at an Amshack in the rear of the station.

Pittsburgh is a very unfriendly town towards passenger rail, IMHO. The city fathers seem to love buses, and to a lesser extent, light rail, but every time I visit my inlaws, the local paper seems to run articles about the Port Authority's huge deficits and additional service cutbacks. :(
Whwn Port Authority fully took over in March 1964 all they have done since then has been cut service waste money and mistreat their employees, but sadly to say they also were very foolish in the 80's and 90's by turning the Pennsylvania new mainline between Rankin border to Grant Street into a busway and the same with the PRR's Panhandle Branch between West Carson Street and Carnegie into the West Busway. The current new plan to open Passenger Railroad Service between Arold PA and Pittsburgh PA using the Allegheny Valley Railroads trackage is great idea along with the plan to use the PRR's line betwenn Latrobe PA to Union Station would be a blessing for both Port Authority and Westmoreland Transit Passengers if properly done the proper way. It may also open the way for Armstrong County Transit riders and Cambria Tranisit and Blair County Transit riders to interlock their riders as time passes as well. It would be a poor idea however that Port Authority did what they did with the PRR's right of way on the Panhandle Branch to Carnegie as they did by using this right of way for Light Rail for the South Hills residennts cut of any chance for Railroad Passengers service on it. Even if that could be worked out as a Light Rail/Railroad merge the fact is that the Busways for buses only took over any chance for future right of ways in these areas. Also CSX was told by Port Authority in the 80's that the PAT Train was to exspensive to continue along the B&O and P&LE right of way was to be replaced by bus express service to be know as 58P 58C and 58V in the Mon Valley. I truly believe that its now great to have the Great Allegheny Passage along the area between Washington D.C. and Station Square as we have today. Howver from the banks of the Monongahela and Youghiogeny RIvers between Confulence PA to Pittsburgh and and even down to Washington D.C. and even between Philadelphia and Pittsbugh PA out west I pray one day will have dedicated Passenger Train service again in my life time other then AMTRAK that be of prices we Americans can afford. Our Government should be ashamed of itself for letting Passenger Rail Service end as it has done. And there needs to be a way to make it a cheaper rate then Amtrak is doing today.
 #834859  by kaiserworks
 
What the port authority has done to Pittsburgh amounts to criminal. I am an ex-western PA resident now living in the epicenter of "car culture" aka southern California; we have trolley/lightrail and great commuter rail service that is packed with ridership and expanding. Most of which was built from scratch in the 1980's (San Diego trolley) at a time when Pittsburgh port authority was hell bent on making what industry was left in the steel city as commuter unfriendly as possible by rail or road. Compound this insanity with the fact that the city is serviced from the east with a whopping TWO LANE parkway. The situation would be high comedy if it were not so tragic. When someone mentions the port authority I taste bile in my throat. Sorry for the rant, I cry for Pittsburgh...
 #834861  by atsf sp
 
I will be moving to Pittsburgh by the end of the month and I was wondering if you can sit in the station and watch the freight go by and take pics and no one would care.
 #834955  by EMTRailfan
 
atsf sp wrote:I will be moving to Pittsburgh by the end of the month and I was wondering if you can sit in the station and watch the freight go by and take pics and no one would care.
The Amtrak Station? You better read up on their "loafing and photography" policy. The station itself isn't a photogenic area to shoot trains from anyway, as it is pretty much tunneled, and poorly lit for photos. Lots of other much more scenic locations to shoot from in the Burgh: Station Square, Mt. Washington, West End Overlook, etc., etc. etc.
 #835803  by hotbike
 
Very Lucky I found this thread! Today , I scanned a photo of Pittsburgh Station, that I shot in Summer 1985, and I need someone to tell me what's left. At this point, they had removed part of the platform canopies, to make way for a freeway fly-over:

Image

I suppose you'll tell me that the next time I'm in Pittsburgh, I won't even recognize the place?
 #846505  by dlagrua
 
My wife and myself boarded the Capitol Limted in Pittsburgh to Chicago and back this past June. While the station area has been relegated to a small waiting room under the tracks (we had trouble finding it) four trains daily still provide rail service to Pittsburgh. They should have at least kept the waiting room in the old Union Station on the first floor but it looks like everything was sold to private interests. . The once magnificent waiting room is now the lobby of the building and remarkably the tracks still run outside. The Grant Street parking lot across the street now offers lots of space for Long term parking and it proved safe for the four days that our car was there. The Westboard Capitol leaves at 11:48PM and the Eastbound CL stops there at 5 AM. The Pennsylvanian departs at 7:00 AM and arrives each day around 8 PM. The station offers 24 hour service including ticketing & baggage check and its convenient place to leave from at not so convenient times. Food service is nearby and remarkably when we arrived at 5 AM Delucas in the strip district a few blacks away was serving. The beautiful and magnificent P. & L.E. station across the river near the Monogahala Incline is now a restaurant and the frieght station warehouses are now a mall. The tracks (I believe CSX) still run there but no longer to station square.