What do you think is the finest rail station in America or the world.
My picks are
- Grand Central Terminal
- 3oth Street Station Philadelphia
- Baltimore Pennsylvania Station
- Cincinnati Union Staion
- Washington Union Staion
- High point North Carolina
Lucerne Switzerland has an interesting and beautiful station. The most fascinating part to me was that there is a sign on each departure track which shows the departure time of each train that will arrive or depart from the track all day. Why is that interesting? Because these were all carefully hand painted / lettered signs. ie… Track 1, everyday - 8am, The Zurich train departs. 9 Am, the Bern train departs etc. They don’t shuffle the deck everyday. There’s an actual plan and they stick to it, everyday.
Milan Central was the most impressive station I’ve ever seen
It had elevators for forty foot boxcars at the ends of the platforms.
On a wet day, the clouds seemed to be inside the arch roof! (It didn’t rain inside, though).
Peter
This is going to be one of those questions that depends where you live/visit but how about:
London St Pancras
Rugby before they removed the overall roof
Wellington NZ
LA Union
Leipzig
Chicago Union but only if you ignore the platforms and waiting area
and I’m sure more will come to mind as I go
San Jose, CA refurbished Diridon Station a few years ago. It looks really nice now. On a good moment, you can see UP, Amtrak, Amtrak California, CalTrain, and Alatamont Commuter Express there all at once. I saw it once, but of course did not have my camera!
Los Angeles and San Diego have beautiful Spanish Mission style architecture stations.
Toronto’s Union Station is pretty awesome, too. I think it’s scheduled for a restoration.
Don’t know if these are the greatest in the world, but definitely worth a visit.
I have only seen American stations,and a few Canadian,but here is my list:
1.Washington Union Station.
2.Philly 30th St.
3.LAUPT.
4.Chicago Union Station.
5.Toronto Union Station.
I answered this question before and it is Philly 30th Street, with Washington Union a very close second.
1.Grand Central
2. Toronto
3. Los Angeles
4. Portland
5. Halifax
6. Vancouver
7. Chicago Union
8. Washington
9. Winnipeg
10. Seattle King St.
Top ten U.S.
Paddington.
One of I.K.B.'s many crowning achievements.
I’m supprised more people didn’t pick Grand Central.
- Grand Central
- Washington DC
- LAUPT
- Chicago
- Philly 30th Street
My top five
1, Buffalo Central Terminal
2, Saint Louis Union
3, New York Pennsylvania Station
4, Clapham Jct
5, Gare De Austerlist
ps 45144, Leipzig Hbf was a good call.
coment;
I used to love Paddington Station, but realy it was mainly to watch the diesel hydrolics.
For me:
- Grand Central Station
- Washington Union Station
- LA Union Passenger Terminal
LC
Union station in Onatrio is pretty cool.
There are some pretty amazing subway stations in Russia as well.
Union concourse is nice but the platforms stink and as for Penn station’s concrete hellhole. It seems to me that the best station in the world should be the whole station and not just the concourse which puts me back to london St Pancras or Leipzig with probably Bristol Temple Meads and York following close behind.
My three picks:
1.) Los Angeles Union Station
2.) AT&SF San Diego Station
3.) Washington Union Station
Here’s why:
Los Angeles Union Station is elegantly simple. The waiting chairs are infinitely better than those of an airport, there is real marble (instead of painted concrete), the soaring roof is awe-inspiring, the carved and painted ceiling is breathtakingly beautiful, the mosaics and fountains are deligthful…they just don’t make public buildings like that anymore.
The same goes for San Diego Station, with mosaicked-domed celings and beautiful wood motifs.
Washington Union Station is massive (and the food court there is the best food I ate in D.C.). The regal arches and vaulted ceiling are incredible.
See you around the forums,
Daniel