See the California Stations

I've been thinking about planning out an epic rail journey in which I would visit all of the lovely historic train stations in California. I know "lovely" and "historic" are in the eye of the beholder, but I basically want to visit any station that was built before 1950 and has a mission revival, spanish colonial, art deco, renaissance revival, etc. style. I would try to take Amtrak trains for the bulk of the trip, but would also use commuter trains like ACE and Metrolink.

Here's the list of stations I've compiled so far:

San Diego Union Station

San Juan Capistrano

Fullerton

San Bernardino

Downtown Pomona

LA Union Station

Glendale

Santa Barbara

San Luis Obispo

San Jose Diridon Station

Santa Clara

Davis

Sacramento

Stockton ACE

Stockton (San Joaquin St.)

Are there any other historic stations I should add to my list?

Are you looking to visit only the stations that are still in use, or every station possible?

If its the later, you're going to need a lot of time. California has a LOT of old railroad stations, and a number of them are not in use any more.

Some of the in use stations I don't see on that list are:

Colfax

Chico

Redding

Truckee

Barstow and Fresno are also a good ones! Roseville is interesting in that the old Yellow SP Station is there and used for Greyhound while Amtrak uses a Glass Bus Stop type Shelter with a Quik-Trak! Plenty more as was said!

While not a Classic, Solano Beach is a very interestin g Modern style Glass Station with British style Double Decker Shuttle Busses to Del Mar Race Track! Worth a look but don't bet the house on the nags! LOL

Google USA Rail Guide and click on California to see pics and info on every active Amtrak Rail ( and some Non- Amtrak) Station in California!

Salinas. Great art deco station built during WW II

East of Barstow is Needles, CA and the El Garces Hotel... in use by the SWC.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frensicpic/6293745606/

Another out in the desert (but no Amtrak service) is the Kelso Depot is now the Mojave National Preserve Visitors Center

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelso_Depot

Several stations on the Caltrain line are very nice. Burlingame, San Carlos, and Palo Alto in particular come to mind. On the Metrolink San Bernardino line, you should definitely check out Claremont. I don't know if it would meet your criteria for inclusion, but you might want to check out the former Santa Fe station in Pasadena, which is now used as a restaurant and is adjacent to a light rail stop.

Although that Santa Fe in Pomona is 1960s vintage.

Berkeley has an original SP station built in 1913, but it's been a restaurant for years. It currently hosts a pub called Brennan's, but before that it was a Chinese restaurant called China Station (makes sense).



Fremont Amtrak is what used to be the old Centerville SP station. I looked it up, and it was an SP "Type 23" station design. Part of it is now a restaurant, and the waiting room (which has Quik-Trak) is still used by Amtrak and ACE passengers. It's not on the original site, which was on the other side of the tracks, but I'd say it's definitely an historic building. It's not a grand palace or terribly ostentatious, but this type of building was important in the history of train travel in California.



The Santa Clara station is probably the oldest station I can think of. Parts of it have been there since the 1860s. There's now a railroad library and museum in the building. Right now the station is used by Amtrak California, ACE, and Caltrain.



Also - I'm not sure how safe it is to try and visit the old 16th Street Station in Oakland. It looks pretty sad now. The city of Oakland keeps on saying they'd like to do something with it, but it needs extensive repairs. This photo is a bit older. What I've seen of it now is that it's covered with graffitti.

Some nice pics and info, thanks for sharing! As a station buff I love to see the old stations ( and the new ones too!) California and the NE/New England seem to still have the greatest number of old rail stations but its always good to come across them anywhere!

We had our AU Gathering dinner in Berkeley @ Brennans last Oct. and it was a cool place. Then some of us rode the train all the way to Emeryville! LOL

Its so sad to see neglected jewels like Oakland's old Station, Buffalo Central , Michigan Central in Detroit etc. etc.

Desert Dude: you've been given great suggestions. You'll need weeks to follow them all, though. I wish you all the best in your quest.

The 1904 Northwestern Pacific train station in Santa Rosa is well preserved for the most part, but it's a California Visitor's Center. SMART trains will be stopping in front of it in the next couple of years when they start service. It's probably a bit out of the way, but worth visiting if in the area.

desertflyer said:

The 1904 Northwestern Pacific train station in Santa Rosa is well preserved for the most part, but it's a California Visitor's Center. SMART trains will be stopping in front of it in the next couple of years when they start service. It's probably a bit out of the way, but worth visiting if in the area.

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It's not out of the way if you're in Santa Rosa visiting one of my favorite museums, the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

trainman74 said:

desertflyer said:

The 1904 Northwestern Pacific train station in Santa Rosa is well preserved for the most part, but it's a California Visitor's Center. SMART trains will be stopping in front of it in the next couple of years when they start service. It's probably a bit out of the way, but worth visiting if in the area.

Click to expand...

It's not out of the way if you're in Santa Rosa visiting one of my favorite museums, the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

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Russian River Brewing is only a few blocks from the station. Loves me some Pliny the Elder.

I should have clarified that I only planned on visiting stations still in use. It would indeed take some time, but a lot of them in the southern part of the state could be knocked out in a day or so by using Metrolink (if I don't spend too much time at each one). Thanks for the suggestions, everybody!

The Barstow station used to be a Harvey House. The side away from the tracks is now a Rt. 66 museum. The SWC stops there but you can't go inside.

Suisun/Fairfield is pretty interesting. It's supposed to be a combination of colonial revival and arts and crafts architecture. Outside is pretty plain, but inside has lots of gorgeous woodwork.

Suisun/Fairfield has an It's It ("The San Francisco Treat") factory store just off the west end of the platform. Main Street (which ends at the depot) is good for family Mexican food and name-brand-chef Italian places.