Smallest Amtrak station?

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MattW

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Apologies if there was a recent topic on this, I thought there might have been, but couldn't find it. But is Benson, AZ perhaps the smallest "station" in the entire system? http://goo.gl/maps/iyQkO

It's a shelter (can a person even fit in it?) and a one-door-wide strip of pavement across the first and up to the second track.
 
Alliance,OH on the Cap Ltd. Route has a similar set-up and the calling times are O-Dark-Thirty!!!

Taylor,Tx, on the route of the Eagles, has an open carport like roof with two picnic tables for the Amtrak Station. The UP District Office ( ex MoPac Station) is next door and they are good about letting you use the rest rooms, vending machines and break room (when they're not using it), this is especially appreciated when the weather is bad, either cold, rainy or broiling hot in the summer!

Sanderson on the Sunset Ltd. Route in West Texas has a cracked and dirty platform with no shelter, they tore down the old Station a couple of years ago!

It takes the place of Beaumont,Tx. that used to be just a platform in a field after they tore down the old station. There is now a nice new brick station and platform there!

Id also say that Williams Junction in AZ. on the SWC route also qualifies since there is nothing there but a platform in the middle of nowhere!

( in all fairness a van picks up and drops off passengers here upon train arrival!)
 
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I remember when the Berkeley, California station was open in the 90s, it didn't have a platform (built in 2005) and only had a bench and what looked like a bus stop pole. I was riding my bike around there once and it basically looked like a bus stop. It might have had a couple of concrete pads. However, it did have the benefit of being placed (and still is) under the University Ave overpass, so it had a built-in shelter.

However, that station was constructed where Southern Pacific used to have a real station with a station building. There was a Chinese restaurant in the old station building, but now houses a pub.
 
Well whats the category? Smallest station with waiting room? Multiple service? Serving a big city?

Otherwise its probably a tie among couple hundred stations.
 
Shawn Ryu said:
Well whats the category? Smallest station with waiting room? Multiple service? Serving a big city?

Otherwise its probably a tie among couple hundred stations.
Click to expand...

Many Thuway bis stations are just a lamppost.
 
Williams Junction, AZ (WMJ)....a platform practically in the middle of "nowhere". No shelter. Access is only via shuttle from the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams.

IMG_5710.JPG
 
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My vote goes to Schreiver, LA. The "station" is a BNSF crew facility, but you can't wait inside. You can sit on the steps up to the building. From what I remember, there is no platform either. They'll just put the step stool on the ballast and away you go. Getting there by car is interesting too as you drive through a large gravel lot and it looks like you are not suppose to be there, as it looks like (and is) and freight yard and crew facility.
 
FrensicPic said:
Williams Junction, AZ (WMJ)....a platform practically in the middle of "nowhere". No shelter. Access is only via shuttle from the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams.

attachicon.gif
IMG_5710.JPG
Click to expand...
It's interesting that google maps shows the Williams Junction Amtrak station in front of the Grand Canyon Hotel (where the shuttle stops), it doesn't actually show the location where the train stops.
 
Aliiance OH has a nice at least 3 car long platform and shelter that can fit comfortably at least 12 people. The only problem after 5 AM the only light at platform is a single bulb in the shelter (damn timer). But power outlet is working 24/7. There is restroom in NS MOW building at west end of the station (if there are people working just ask). Yes I spent almost 8 hrs there waiting for my late 30 last year.
 
One of the Glacier-connected stops is literally only a gravel platform.

Technically the Greenfield Village station is only a platform as well. However it's "connected" to a depot inside the museum/park. But the depot doesn't handle any Amtrak business.

peter

Edit: the Glacier stop would be Essex, MT. http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/essex.htm
 
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Assuming that "station" means a structure (rather than "stop") maybe the smallest enclosed station is in Ticonderoga, NY and the smallest unenclosed station might be in Port Kent, NY. Both on the route of the Adirondack.
 
Gilman, IL is a "station" or at least a published, regular stop on the Saluki and Illini routes (4 trains per day!!) Until recently it was a wooden ramp up to door level. It is now completely improved...concrete slab.
 
WT Sherman said:
Assuming that "station" means a structure (rather than "stop") maybe the smallest enclosed station is in Ticonderoga, NY and the smallest unenclosed station might be in Port Kent, NY. Both on the route of the Adirondack.
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I'm pretty sure that station means any place that a scheduled Amtrak train will stop on a regular route. Bus stops are kind of a different thing since all it takes is a sign on a post, which may even serve another purpose. I'm thinking there's got to be one somewhere without more than maybe one concrete pad and a signpost.

Quite a few have fairly long platforms, even if they're kind of old asphalt deals or ones that are well worn. I mentioned coming across the Berkeley station for the first time and seeing nothing more than a sign on a post and a bus stop style bench.

Someone mentioned Elko. Doesn't it sort of look like the entrance to a prison, with the shelters looking like guard stations? The chain link fences might be a bit short though, and no razor wire.
 
BCL said:
WT Sherman said:
Assuming that "station" means a structure (rather than "stop") maybe the smallest enclosed station is in Ticonderoga, NY and the smallest unenclosed station might be in Port Kent, NY. Both on the route of the Adirondack.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that station means any place that a scheduled Amtrak train will stop on a regular route. Bus stops are kind of a different thing since all it takes is a sign on a post, which may even serve another purpose. I'm thinking there's got to be one somewhere without more than maybe one concrete pad and a signpost.

Quite a few have fairly long platforms, even if they're kind of old asphalt deals or ones that are well worn. I mentioned coming across the Berkeley station for the first time and seeing nothing more than a sign on a post and a bus stop style bench.

Someone mentioned Elko. Doesn't it sort of look like the entrance to a prison, with the shelters looking like guard stations? The chain link fences might be a bit short though, and no razor wire.
Click to expand...
Now that you mention it, Elko does kinda look like that. There's fencing on both sides of the track with just a small opening near the waiting shelter.
 
jebr said:
BCL said:
WT Sherman said:
Assuming that "station" means a structure (rather than "stop") maybe the smallest enclosed station is in Ticonderoga, NY and the smallest unenclosed station might be in Port Kent, NY. Both on the route of the Adirondack.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that station means any place that a scheduled Amtrak train will stop on a regular route. Bus stops are kind of a different thing since all it takes is a sign on a post, which may even serve another purpose. I'm thinking there's got to be one somewhere without more than maybe one concrete pad and a signpost.

Quite a few have fairly long platforms, even if they're kind of old asphalt deals or ones that are well worn. I mentioned coming across the Berkeley station for the first time and seeing nothing more than a sign on a post and a bus stop style bench.

Someone mentioned Elko. Doesn't it sort of look like the entrance to a prison, with the shelters looking like guard stations? The chain link fences might be a bit short though, and no razor wire.
Click to expand...
Now that you mention it, Elko does kinda look like that. There's fencing on both sides of the track with just a small opening near the waiting shelter.
Click to expand...
I was thinking this photo:

amtrak-station-elko.jpg
 
fairviewroad said:
BCL said:
I'm thinking there's got to be one somewhere without more than maybe one concrete pad and a signpost.
Click to expand...
Well, this probably doesn't count since it's no longer in service, but the little-used station in Zenda, Wisconsin was basically

a pad and a signpost. It was part of the short-lived and ill-advised Lake Country Limited.

http://trainweb.org/usarail/lakegeneva.htm
Click to expand...
But is clearly has its own parking as well as a fairly long platform. The first post had a "station" with a shelter, but only a single short concrete pad.

benson4.jpg


http://thenomadiclife.net/2015/02/19/amtrak-adventure/

However, there's a basic shelter and a place to sit. The following has video, and the door barely got to the edge of the pad at a full stop:

http://thenomadiclife.net/2015/02/19/amtrak-adventure/

I suppose the big thing is what the definition of a "station" is. There are aging paved platforms that cover a lot of ground. Some otherwise rudimentary stations have dedicated parking. I suppose the absolute minimalist station would have no pad (I've boarded on ballast before), no shelter, no seating, and only a single sign post with a bus stop style sign.
 
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