Williams Depot | ||||||||||||||||
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| General information | ||||||||||||||||
| Location | 233 N Grand Canyon Blvd, Williams, AZ 86046 | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 35°15′05″N112°11′28″W / 35.2513394°N 112.1911313°W | |||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | Grand Canyon Railway | |||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1908 | |||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1989 | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
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| Former services | ||||||||||||||||
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Williams Depot is a privately owned train station in Williams, Arizona. It is the southern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway line.
The first railroad in Williams was the western division of the transcontinental railroad built by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1882. [1] By 1885 the first station was built in the town. [2] Two years later, the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Railroad was built to transport supplies and workers between Williams and the copper mines near Anita. [3] In 1901, the SF&GC was sold under foreclosure to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, who completed the remaining fifteen miles to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. [4] [5] The company was renamed the Grand Canyon Railway and the Santa Fe's first passenger train from Williams to the Canyon ran on September 17, 1901. [6]
With the former Atlantic and Pacific Railroad now forming part of the Santa Fe's Southern Transcontinental main line between Chicago and the West Coast, Williams became a hub for tourists wishing to visit the Grand Canyon. With a hotel and permanent terminus already built at the northern end of the Grand Canyon Railway, a brand new Williams depot was built by the Santa Fe in 1908. Incorporated into the building was one of the first Harvey House hotels, named the Fray Marcos after Spanish missionary Marcos de Niza, who explored the Southwest in the early 16th century. [7] The original Atlantic and Pacific station building on the opposite side of the tracks was retained and remains in existence to this day, serving as the Williams Chamber of Commerce since 1994.
In 1960, the Santa Fe built the ‘Crookton Cutoff’: a re-routing of a 44-mile (71 km) stretch of the Southern Transcon to avoid the sharp curves and steep gradients of the line between Williams and Ash Fork. [8] With the new tracks bypassing the town of Williams completely, a new station at Williams Junction replaced Williams Depot as the connection point between main line services and trains to the Grand Canyon. Williams Depot was now served solely by the rerouted Hassayampa Flyer service between Williams Junction and Phoenix via Ash Fork and the Peavine route. [9] Both Williams stations closed in 1969 following the Santa Fe's discontinuation of passenger services to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix via the Peavine the previous year. [10] The connecting line through downtown Williams from Williams Junction was retained for freight traffic [11] but there was limited scope for a similar retention of the Grand Canyon Railway. In the summer of 1974, a Santa Fe works train traversed the rails, removing track equipment and demolishing many lineside structures. [12] It was the last train to run on the line for fifteen years. The station building at Williams Depot fell into disuse.
Plans by entertainer Arthur Godfrey to resume service on the Grand Canyon Railway in 1977 fell through. In addition, two other companies attempted to resurrect the line in 1980 and 1984, with each attempt helping to maintain interest in preserving the line and saving it from scrapping without actually bringing trains back to the route. In 1988, the line was bought by Max and Thelma Biegert, a couple from Phoenix. The railway was restored, along with the stations at Williams and the Grand Canyon South Rim, and reopened as a separate company, independent of the Santa Fe. The first journey of the restored railroad was on September 17, 1989, exactly 88 years after the first train to the Canyon was run. [13]
Williams Depot is now the southern terminus for the Grand Canyon Railway, containing a gift shop, coffee stand, rest room facilities, ticket counter and restaurant. Although the Fray Marcos hotel closed in 1954, the original building remains and is the oldest poured-concrete structure in the state of Arizona. [14] It is listed on the register of Arizona State Historic Properties. [15] The Grand Canyon Railway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [16]
The Fred Harvey Company was the owner of the Harvey House chain of restaurants, hotels and other hospitality industry businesses alongside railroads in the Western United States. It was founded in 1876 by Fred Harvey to cater to the growing number of train passengers.
The Grand Canyon Railway is a heritage railroad which carries passengers between Williams, Arizona, and the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Grand Canyon Limited was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was train Nos. 23 & 24 between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
The Clarkdale Arizona Central Railroad is an Arizona short-line railroad that operates from a connection with the BNSF Railway at Drake, Arizona. The AZCR runs 37.8 miles (60.8 km) from Drake to Clarkdale, Arizona. An excursion train also runs on the line through Verde Canyon and is operated by the same owners under the Verde Canyon Railroad. The AZCR is owned by David L. Durbano.
The Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway (SFP&P) was a common carrier railroad that later became an operating subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in Arizona. At Ash Fork, Arizona, the SFP&P connected with Santa Fe's operating subsidiary, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad mainline, that ran from California to Chicago. The SFP&P's 195-mile (314 km) line extended the Santa Fe Railway south into Phoenix. The SFP&P extended another 100 miles (160 km) to the east from Phoenix to Florence and Winkelman via the Phoenix and Eastern Railroad. The SFP&P also served several mines in the Prescott area, including the Derby Mine by way of the Summit (flag) Station at 'Prieta' in the Sierra Prieta range, through its various subsidiary railroads.
Santa Fe Depot in San Diego, California, is a union station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The Spanish Colonial Revival style station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a San Diego Historic Landmark. Its architecture, particularly the signature twin domes, is often echoed in the design of modern buildings in Downtown San Diego.
Flagstaff station is an Amtrak train station at 1 East Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The station, formerly an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot, doubles as a visitor center and rental-car pickup and is located in downtown Flagstaff. Northern Arizona University is located nearby, as are the Lowell Observatory, Sunset Crater, the Walnut Canyon National Monument, ski resorts and other attractions.
Williams Junction was an Amtrak train station on the Southwest Chief route, located three miles (4.8 km) southeast of Williams, Arizona in the Kaibab National Forest. The station primarily served passengers travelling to the Grand Canyon via the Grand Canyon Railway.
Lamy station is an Amtrak station at Santa Fe County Road 33, 152 Old Lamy Trail in Lamy, New Mexico, United States. It is served by the Southwest Chief. Until 2014, it was the southern terminus for the Santa Fe Southern Railway. The station was built in 1909 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
The San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot is a Mission Revival Style passenger rail terminal in San Bernardino, California, United States. It has been the primary station for the city, serving Amtrak today, and the Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroads in the past. Until the mid-20th century, the Southern Pacific Railroad had a station 3/4 of a mile away. It currently serves one Amtrak and two Metrolink lines. The depot is a historical landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Passenger and Freight Depot.
The Barstow Harvey House, also known as Harvey House Railroad Depot and Barstow station, is a historic building in Barstow, California. Originally built in 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe Railroad depot, it currently serves as an Amtrak station and government building housing city offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, and two museums.
Grand Canyon Depot, also known as Grand Canyon Railroad Station, was constructed in 1909–10 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, in what is now Grand Canyon National Park. It is one of three remaining railroad depots in the United States built with logs as the primary structural material. The station is within 330 feet (100 m) of the rim of the canyon, opposite the El Tovar Hotel, also built by the railroad. The depot is designated a National Historic Landmark, is listed the National Register of Historic Places, and is included in the Grand Canyon Village National Historic Landmark District.
Holbrook was a train station in Holbrook, Arizona, United States, formerly served by the trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway prior to the creation of Amtrak in 1971.
Santa Fe Depot is the northern terminus of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line. The station was originally built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and until 2014 served as the northern terminus, offices, and gift shop of the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a tourist and freight carrying short line railroad. It is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 410 Guadalupe Street, within an area of urban renewal referred to as the "Railyard". Rail Runner service to the station began on December 17, 2008.
The Southern Transcon is a main line of BNSF Railway comprising 11 subdivisions between Southern California and Chicago, Illinois. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, when it opened the Belen Cutoff in New Mexico and bypassed the steep grades of Raton Pass, it now serves as a mostly double-tracked intermodal corridor.
Great Bend station was an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway station in Great Bend, Kansas. The station was along Santa Fe's main line between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was on the "northern branch" of the main line as it split in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was also served by a line the ran to Garden City, Kansas, travelling through Ness City and Scott City. Both of these lines are now operated by the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. The depot was built in a Mission Revival, common for Santa Fe and Southern Pacific stations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ash Fork Station is a former railway station of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, located in Ash Fork, Yavapai County, Arizona. The large and 'grand' Harvey House Escalante Hotel and restaurant were part of the station complex.
The Williams Historic Business District is significant for its long time close association with the American development of tourism, which in turn became a principal local industry. The reasons for this were that the District straddled the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and U.S. Highway 66, two significant national transportation arteries, as well as being at the southern terminus of both rail and highway links to the Grand Canyon. The District is also historically significant because of the role it played in the cycles of opening of the frontier west, from ranching to railroading and lumbering.
The Hassayampa Flyer, also known as the Hassayampa Chief, was a passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Ash Fork and Phoenix in Arizona, United States.