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St. Paul Union Depot celebrations set for end of April
Sounds like fun. I was only there once, transferring from Burlington’s “Twin Cities Zephyr” to MStP&SSM’s “Soo- Dominion”, ENR Calgary. Wasn’t the GN’s “Wm. Crooks” 4-4-0 on display there? Anyhoo, had a great layover, exploring the SPUD roundhouse. Only time I ever saw a F7B moving on its own, with the hostler controls and windshield, onto the turntable…
Memphis Union Station should be as fortunate as St Paul Union Depot. It would have been 114 years old on 1 April 2016, having opened two weeks before the tragic sinking of the “Titanic”.
Wooden benches should be installed in the waiting hall to blend more with SPUD’s architecture and interior decoration. The contemporary chairs currently in place tend to crash with the Depot’s design.
Mr. Vinson is correct, period wooden benches would be visually fabulous as well as comfortable. Likely that original plans exist.
Yes, the William Crooks was once displayed in SPUD, but now it sits nicely on display at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum up in Duluth.
My family and I changed trains there way back in 1966. We got of the Western Star and spent a few hours in St. Paul until it was time to catch the Blackhawk to Chicago on our way home to Ohio. I remember some machines there which could make a toy steam engine and my parents got us one. On our way to Glacier Park my bother and I were in the lower berth in our bedroom on the Western Star and our parents were in the upper berth while we were in the station when our dad asked us what colors the cars were the we saw out the window.