Little Rock Union Station | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 1400 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 34°45′02″N92°17′13″W / 34.75056°N 92.28694°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | BSR Trust, LLC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line(s) | Union Pacific Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 1 passing siding and 2 through tracks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bus operators | Rock Region Metro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parking | 20 long term and 20 short term dedicated parking spaces | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Station code | Amtrak: LRK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1921 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FY 2022 | 13,492 [1] (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MoPac Station | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1911 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architect | E. M. Tucker/MoPac | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 77000270 [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | June 17, 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location in Arkansas |
Little Rock Union Station, also known as Mopac Station, is a train station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system.
The present Little Rock station opened August 1, 1921, having been constructed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad after a fire destroyed the prior station on April 7, 1920. Architect E. M. Tucker of St. Louis designed the building, keeping the 1907 Renaissance Revival-style characteristics and changing the roof from gabled to flat. The Stewart Construction Company of St. Louis built the new station at a cost of $1.25 million. The structure used existing foundations, some exterior walls and the clock tower of the previous station, which had survived the fire. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Mopac Station". [2]
Although known as Union Station, this particular structure was used by only a single railroad, Missouri Pacific. Prior structures on this site were served by two additional railroads, Memphis and Little Rock Railroad (1874–1893) and St. Louis Southwestern Railway (known as the 'Cotton Belt') (ca. 1892–1910). The present (1921) structure was predated by a large wooden structure erected in 1874, and a brick station that opened in 1909 and burned in 1920.
The main entrance to Union Station was located on the Markham Street level, and waiting rooms, ticket office and a restaurant were located on this level. The upper two floors housed the railroad's train dispatchers and offices of the freight and passenger departments, American Refrigerator Transit Company, and the Pullman Company, which staffed the sleeping and dining cars of passenger trains. The basement (track level) held extensive mail and Railway Express Agency facilities, a baggage room, and a small dining car commissary. Passenger access to the tracks was via an open air midway extending from the north side of the building, with stairways and three umbrella sheds extending in each direction at track level. This midway structure was original to the 1908 station, having survived the 1920 fire.
Little Rock was the junction point for Missouri Pacific trains bound northeast to St. Louis Union Station, and east for Memphis Union Station. Trains went westbound to Dallas, Ft. Worth and El Paso; San Antonio and Galveston via Houston. Through trains from St. Louis to Hot Springs were also available. These trains included the following: [3] [4]
Missouri Pacific passenger service to Little Rock ended just after midnight on May 1, 1971 when Amtrak assumed Missouri Pacific passenger operations. The remaining umbrella sheds and midway were dismantled in October 1973, less than six months before Amtrak began a new passenger route through Little Rock. Amtrak continued to use the original waiting room and ticket office area until July 1992. The waiting area and ticket offices were relocated to a newly renovated area of the station located at track level.
Rock Region Metro provides transit service around Little Rock. While there is no direct connection to the station, Route 1 provides bus service two blocks to the south of the station, although this route does not operate when Amtrak is scheduled to arrive at the station. [5]
The Texas Eagle is a long-distance passenger train operated daily by Amtrak on a 1,306-mile (2,102 km) route between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, with major stops in St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin. Three days per week, the train joins the Sunset Limited in San Antonio and continues to Los Angeles via El Paso and Tucson. The combined 2,728-mile (4,390 km) route is the longest in the United States and the second-longest in the Americas, after the Canadian.
Dallas Union Station, officially Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station, also known as Dallas Union Terminal, is a large intermodal railroad station in Dallas, Texas. It is the third busiest Amtrak station in Texas, behind Fort Worth Central Station and San Antonio station. It serves DART Light Rail Blue and Red lines, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail and Amtrak intercity rail. It is located on Houston Street, between Wood and Young Streets, in the Reunion district of Downtown Dallas. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P, and its subsidiaries C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.
The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", was a Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas from 1891 to 1980, when the system added the Rock Island's Golden State Route and operations in Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The Cotton Belt operated as a Southern Pacific subsidiary from 1932 until 1992, when its operation was assumed by Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California.
The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad, was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 and was controlled until 1942 when the Alton was released to the courts. On May 31, 1947, the Alton Railroad was merged into the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Jacob Bunn had been one of the founding reorganizers of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company during the 1860s.
The Sunshine Special was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway,, on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, and destinations in Texas, United States, such as El Paso, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston. An auxiliary section of the train originated in Memphis, Tennessee, and linked with the train in Little Rock, Arkansas.
St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day in the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.
Malvern station is a train station at 200 E. First Street in Malvern, Arkansas. A former Missouri Pacific Railroad station, this 24-by-84-foot red brick depot was originally constructed in 1916. Amtrak's Texas Eagle serves Malvern with one daily passenger train in each direction. The station is unstaffed and, because trains stop on a flag stop basis, advance reservations are strongly recommended.
Memphis Union Station was a passenger terminal in Memphis, Tennessee. It served as a hub between railroads of the Southwest, the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, and railroads of the Southeast, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway and the Southern Railway. The terminal, completed in 1912, was built in the Beaux-Arts style and was located on Calhoun Street, between south Second Street and Rayburn Boulevard. It was demolished in 1969. This location in south Memphis was approximately two blocks east of the other major Memphis railroad terminal, Memphis Grand Central Station.
Memphis Central Station, referred to as Grand Central Station prior to 1944, is a passenger terminal in Memphis, Tennessee. Located along Main Street and G.E. Patterson Boulevard in Downtown Memphis, it currently a service stop for Amtrak's City of New Orleans route, arriving in late evening northbound and in the morning southbound. It is also served by the MATA Trolley system. The building was opened in 1914, and is located within the city's South Main Arts District. It is also an contributing property to the South Main Street Historic District of the National Register of Historic Places, as are the National Civil Rights Museum and other historic properties within the district boundaries.
The Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway was an 85-mile (137 km) railroad that ran from Beaumont, Texas to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston. It passed through small southeast Texas communities such as Hull, Kenefick, and Huffman. As part of the Gulf Coast Lines system, the road was eventually merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1956, which in turn was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1982. The Union Pacific still makes heavy use of the route.
Walnut Ridge is a train station in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, United States, that is currently served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. It was originally a Missouri Pacific Railroad station and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992.
Texarkana Union Station is a historic train station in the Texarkana metropolitan area serving Amtrak, the United States' national passenger rail system. The Arkansas-Texas border bisects the structure; the eastern part, including the waiting room and ticket office, are in Texarkana, Arkansas, but the western part is in Texarkana, Texas, meaning stopped trains span both states. The station was built in 1928 and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Today it is the second busiest Amtrak station in Arkansas.
The Missouri River Runner is a 283-mile (455 km) passenger train service operated by Amtrak in Missouri between Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis and Union Station in Kansas City. The eastern half of the route runs largely along the right bank of the Missouri River.
The Texas Eagle was an American streamlined passenger train operated by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Texas and Pacific Railway between St. Louis, Missouri, and multiple destinations in the state of Texas. It operated from 1948 to 1971. The Texas Eagle was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971, although Amtrak would revive service over the Missouri Pacific with the Inter-American in 1974. This train was renamed the Eagle in 1981 and finally the Texas Eagle in 1988.
The Yancopin Bridge is an abandoned railroad moveable bridge spanning the Arkansas River, and the last bridge across the Arkansas River before it flows into the Mississippi River 15 miles to the southeast. It is distinctive not only for its size and remoteness, but also for having not one but two movable spans, one having replaced the other due to river avulsion.
Hope station is a passenger rail station in Hope, Arkansas. The station is located on Amtrak's Texas Eagle line. Trains run daily between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, and continue to Los Angeles, California, 2,728 miles (4,390 km) total, three days a week.
The Newport station, also known as Missouri-Pacific Depot-Newport, is a historic railroad station at Walnut and Front Streets in Newport, Arkansas. It is a long rectangular single-story brick and stucco topped by a hip roof, whose wide eaves are supported by large Italianate knee brackets. Its roof, originally slate, is now shingled, detracting from its original Mediterranean styling. A telegrapher's bay extends above the roof line on the track side of the building. The building was built in 1904 by the Missouri-Pacific Railroad to handle passenger and freight traffic.
E. M. Tucker was an American architect of St. Louis, Missouri, who worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
Media related to Little Rock (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons