"Schedule!? We Don't Keep No Stinking Schedule!"

My daughter Candace, with her two boys and one boyfriend, came back from a week's vacation yesterday. They went to Bakersfield, vacation capital of the world, to visit her friend. They came by Amtrak and had made arrangements with another friend to pick them up. However, because of scheduling conflicts, C asked if I would do the honors. Sure, no problem, I said. The train station is only 15 minutes away even if they were scheduled to return at 4:30pm, right when traffic is at its peak.

They finally got off the train at 7:50pm....3 hrs and 20 minutes later than expected. Plenty of time to take photos, unfortunately my camera didn't do so well... the pictures came out too dark.

 

This is a picture of Union Station that was on the wall. (overhead lights are reflecting off the marble wall.) The building now looks just like the photograph. The street is now paved and the cars are newer, but the basic structure is the same.

 

Don't get excited but here are the front doors that you enter.

 

In this picture we are looking towards the ticket counter.

 

Here is a very pleasant little park area in front of the station and across the street where folks are loaded and unloaded.

Apparently the train had a two-hour wait because of work that was being done on the tracks. This was a work project and not an emergency fix. There after the train kept getting pulled off to the side to fix something or to let another train go by.

Schedule? What's that?

Union Station - Portland's Train Station

(disclaimer: these photos were "borrowed" from the web. Most of my photos came out too dark to see.)

In 1892 the train station was called Grand Central Station. The current historical building was built and opened on February 14, 1896 and today is called Union Station.
 

Around 30 yrs later the interior was renovated. It was then that slabs of marble were installed on floors and walls. These interior pictures make it seem fairly large, but in reality the waiting area feels small for a train station. However, it seems to be adequate for the number of people who currently use the train.
 

In 1920 there were five different train companies using the station with 120+ trains coming and going. It is drastically less than that now. (I'm guessing 10 trains in a 24 hr period.)

 

 

Portland Union Station is the oldest train station that has been in continous use. That's 112 years. Boy, if these walls could talk!