I’m looking for examples of Union Stations or large city passenger terminals that had/has curved approach/departure or stub ended tracks going under the station. I have the all too common need to “justify” my proto-lancing with proto-type examples. Anyone have links, photo recommendations? OR and even less likely possibility: curved main line tracks off loading passengers in front of or behind a large city station, bypassing or in addition to the stub ended terminal tracks? (maintenance caused detour, etc.)? Can the above be “justified”? Thank You!
30th St Station, Phillie.
Omaha, NE, both the Union Pacific Union Station and the CB&Q station, which is the prototype for the Walthers Union Station).
Hello,
How about Cleveland for one example. For the most part the middle section is straight but the two approaches total almost ninety degrees.
Thanks. This is great. I appreciate the track diagram ampullman. Thanks too Dave. I’ll research those Omaha stations. Any other sources similar to Railway Age for this kind of pictorial info.? More examples are welcomed if they’re out there. Are there any instances where curved platforms/tracks were ever used? Thanks again.
St.Paul Union Depot was located on the southwest leg of a wye where all three legs were curved. Trains had to go thru curves to back in or head out of the depot’s stub tracks. The tracks right at the depot were straight but curved pretty quickly so trains often would be sitting partly on the curve. It also had thru-tracks for Milwaukee Road’s mainline.
BTW part of the reason Northern Pacific changed their A-B-B F-unit passenger sets to A-B-A sets was because when in the A-B-B configuration, it was almost impossible for the engineer to see anything from the right hand of the cab while backing the engine around a curve to the left behind him. With A-B-A sets, he could just go back and back onto the train from the cab of the rear unit, then go to the lead unit to start the train on it’s trip west.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, circa 1916, union station still services the former Pennsylvania Railroad 4-track (and “Broadway Limited”) mainline from east to west through Westcentral Pennsylvania. The right-of-way is now a 3-track N&W mainline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Johnstown_PA_Station_with_Train.jpg.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_(Amtrak_station)
http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/johnstown.htm
A passenger shelter (pictured above) behind the station, at a second-story station height, is accessed though an apx. 100’ tunnel, at the rear of the station, under two of those PRR 4-tracks, to steps up to the surface behind the passenger station. The tunnel hallway gives you, a decades-old “deja vu” feeling, everytime you walk through it, especially after observing the spacious waiting room and thinking back to the “Howdy Doody Days” when it once was filled with passengers.
The picture shows a curved approach to the passenger stop.
In the Pennsy Passenger heyday of the 1930s-1950s, the two inner tracks could pick-up & drop-off passengers in either direction and at the same time.
The two outer tracks allowed freight to run-around and bypass any passenger trains. This is one mainline that always coveys a sense of busy - busy - busy.
stix thanks! The ABB diesel info. was extra interesting. tgindy, thanks for the links. I go back to the “Howdy Doody Days”. That is a beautiful station too that I wouldn’t elsewise have known of. I wasn’t aware (obviously) that there were so many examples out there. I’m leaving on a 3 week trip (Amtrak) on Mon. so please don’t hesitate to keep other pics/info. coming if you find them? I may not be able to respond until my return, but I will! I am trying to use Walther’s Milwaukee Station in as much of it’s entirety as possible on a small-ish layout so if I elevate the station over curved tracks it may work without having to kit-bash it much smaller. It should be here when I get back… The only prior examples of actual curved PLATFORMS were in subway systems in N.Y. ( City Hall Station) and in Chicago where there have been some “gap” injuries due to the distance of the passenger cars from the curved platform and angled cars. I appreciate everyone’s posts very much.
St.Louis Union Station comes to mind…The station was stub ended and the trains backed into the station…
After the passenger units pulled away and the baggage and passengers was unloaded a switcher would take the train to the servicing tracks,commissary and post office tracks.
Capt, I grew up in Omaha and have had a great interest in the two large stations. If you’re interested, here is a great book with loads of information:
http://www.southplattepress.com/current/unionstation.html
I got my copy several years ago and highly recommend it. Here are some facts about the two stations. The Union and Burlington stations were located in south Omaha just west of the Missouri River. They sat on opposite sides of what were roughly parallel east-west mainlines, with Union Station on the north and Burlington Station on the south. UP’s mainline crossed the Missouri just east of the station while the Burlington mainline turned south and ran along the Missouri until crossing it south of Omaha and continuing to the east. An overhead concourse connected the two stations and at their peak, these two stations combined to be the fourth busiest passenger complex in the United States. Union Station served 7 tracks and the Burlington served 3. Union Station continued to serve UP passenger trains right up until Amtrak took over long distance train travel. It is now a museum. Amtrak used the old Burlington Station for a few years but that has since been replaced by a small station just east of the current building. Here is a picture of the Burlington Station which is the prototype for Walthers Union Station.
Thanks Mr. Corbett. I’ll seek out that book. This is one of the best pictures I’ve seen of this station and this is probably the one I’ve seen the most of. We have relatives in Omaha and I someday hope to visit it in person. I have a museum brochure. My intent for my MODEL Milwaukee Station kit is to have curved tracks (double) go under a 4" elevated platform that will be on a diagonal. It will (unfortunately?) appear that the debarking platform inside will be curved. So I guess my main focus for prototype info. would be on curved A/D tracks AT the platform. I figure due to “gap injuries/liability” this kind of thing would be very rare except in subway systems? Brakie, my other layout location is just south of my wye and it already HAS straight A/D track but unfortunately with it’s 8" elevation and the HUGE (even kit-bashed) size of the Milwaukee Walther’s Station, it probably looks too overpowering there. I’m leaving on a 3 week trip tomorrow afternoon, but do please keep educating me/us? I’ll be able to check emails on the road but likely not be able to respond much if at all. Thank you! Your good (well, I try…) Capt.
Capt., here’s another source of information on the Burlington Station:
A real estate developer has plans to convert the old station into luxury condos. Unfortunately, I suspect the plans have either fallen through or stalled because there have been no updates to the site since 2007. I rode the Amtrak through Omaha a year and a half ago and the station was still boarded up so I don’t know if the redevelopment is still in the works.
The website does have a history page which shows both the original configuration as well as the reconfiguration of the station completed in 1930 in conjunction with the opening of the final version of the Union Station when the two stations were joined by the common concourse. There are some good interior pictures of the Burlington Station and a picture of the back which shows how the pavement dropped down to track level on the east end of the station.
As far as the curved platforms go, there are certainly prototype examples of them although I can’t remember a specific example right off the top of my head. I’m thinking St. Paul had such a station although I’m not 100% certain of that. In any case, curved platforms are not the norm but I wouldn’t say they are rare either. I think building them will be quite a scratchbuilding project. Good luck.
Interestingly enough, St.Paul Union Depot - which hasn’t been used for passenger trains since Amtrak started - is going to be used again in the future as a connection point with light rail and heavy commuter lines being planned in the future.
Toledo’s Central Unon Station was on a curve and was used by The NYC, B&O and Wabash railroads. Model Railroader had p[ictures and a track plan.
Albany Union Station (NYC, B&A, D&H)…
Worcester, MA B&M and B&A…
In Providence, RI, the New Haven had a large station on a curve, but I can’t tell you where to find a picture or track plan. On second thought, there is an Alan Keller video of Bill Aldrich’s New Haven which shows this. The railroad and station have also been pictured in MR in the last maybe 5 years. Ken
Thanks guys. I just got back from a six Amtrak train trip! (Empire Builder, Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor). AmTrak was pretty pleasant this year! A lot of the uncaring/unprofessional employees seemed to be gone and replaced with great people. The trains were almost completely on time, etc.! I was all excited about reporting that Toledo, OH had a curved platform, but dt406-you scooped me! I woke up in the middle of the night, stopped there but didn’t have time to take a picture. I bought a book to read on the trip: “Metropolitan Corridor” and it describes and shows a curved platform at a depot, anyway, in Kirkwood, MO. Thanks for the “guilt free” examples to justify my possible use of curved AD tracks at a curved platform. I’ll continue to research any and all examples you guys cite here. As I wrote in the original post, I’m trying to make use of the Milwaukee Everett St. station kit/kitbashed thinner/smaller, most likely. I had forgotten to “google” it before I left and was disappointed (in humanity 
to find that the station was indeed razed in 1965 and stood a couple of blocks away from the ugly modern monstrosity in use today. I figured as much, but hoped to be pleasantly surprised. I DID see a church with an almost exact duplicate tower on it in Cumberland Gap, Maryland though and took a picture from a distance. Thank you for keeping this thread going in my (the OP’s) absence. I checked in on it from time to time on the trip.
Since you mention Toledo, I thought I’d share a link to my friends photography site that has lots of photos of potential modeling ideas and reference. Here are some of his photos of Toledo. Explore many others at his site.
http://www.robertpence.com/oh_toledo/oh_toledo.html
Thanks, Ed
Thanks for the great pics, Ed! Now I get to see what I didn’t that night we briefly stopped. The curved platform sections look a lot longer than they appear to, in the pictures. I’m so glad to see the Union Station’s interior getting some love and respect with the repairs. “Klinger” would be proud!
One station I recall is the Broad Street Station in Richmond of the RF&P. It has curving tracks off the ACL main line to the platforms and back out again. I belive there’s also a wye that part of setup.
Jim