Eugene (Amtrak Station)
History
The station was built in 1908 by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Southern Pacific Passenger Depot in 2007.
The current station is the third passenger depot built at this location. Built of masonry, it is one of five masonry depots that still exist along the original Southern Pacific West Coast line. The other depots are in Albany, Medford, Roseburg and Salem.
When Amtrak took over intercity rail operations in 1971, it cut back service to a single train through Eugene, what eventually became the Coast Starlight. A brief attempt at corridor service began in 1980 with the Willamette Valley, but ended in 1981. For the next 13 years, the only intercity service through Eugene was the Coast Starlight, which arrived northbound at lunchtime and southbound during the afternoon rush. However, in 1994, Amtrak extended the Seattle-Portland Mount Rainier to Eugene on a trial basis. This proved successful enough that the train was renamed the Cascadia in 1995. The Cascadia was merged into Amtrak Cascades along with all of Amtrak's other Pacific Northwest services in 1998, and a Portland-Eugene round trip was added in 2000.
Southern Pacific sold the building to the Jenova Land Company in 1993, and ten years later the city of Eugene bought the depot as part of a plan to develop a regional transportation center. In 2004, the city oversaw a $4.5 million restoration project. Workers restored the exterior brickwork and trim and gutted and renovated the interior. New tile floors, oak and fir trim, covered ceilings, wooden benches and expanded bathrooms were installed.
See also
- Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Station and Freight House — another former Southern Pacific station in Springfield on the NRHP
- Oregon Electric Railway Passenger Station — adjacent former interurban railway station on the NRHP
References
- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of Oregon" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
- ^ Style & Vernacular: A Guide to the Architecture of Lane County, Oregon. Western Imprints, The Press of the Oregon Historical Society. 1983. ISBN 0-87595-085-X.
- ^ "Heritage Programs: National Register—Recent Nominations". Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ Christie, Tim (September 7, 2007). "Railroad depot speeds into history books". The Register-Guard. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ "Eugene Station". Amtrak's Great American Stations. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
External links
Media related to Eugene–Springfield station at Wikimedia Commons