Union Station (Erie)
Encyclopedia
Union Station is a train station
in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania
. It opened on December 3, 1927. It is served by Amtrak
, the national railroad passenger system, which maintains a small office in the building. The station building is privately owned by Erie-resident Jim Berlin and has been developed to include offices for Logistics Plus, Inc., Brewerie at Union Station restaurant, and other locally owned and operated businesses.
at-grade structure built around 1865 at 14th Street between Peach and Sassafras Streets. Four railroads provided service: the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad
and the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad
, which became parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad
(PRR); and the Buffalo and Erie Railroad and the Cleveland and Erie Railroad, which became part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
and eventually a part of the New York Central Railroad
(NYC). In its heyday, the station served nearly 52 passenger trains a day. Before dining cars were common, passengers would detrain for extended stops at the station's grand restaurant before continuing on their journeys.
style in the 1920s by architects Alfred T. Fellheimer
and Steward Wagner and reopened in 1927. Some of the features of the old station were replicated in the new design, such as the number of external panels and windows and the east facade of the building. The station had a hexagonal rotunda/waiting room with eight ticket windows and a baggage window. The main concourse was quite large and contained retail space including a Union News outlet, a barber shop, and other concessions. The redesign was part of a project to raise the railroad right-of-way onto an embankment through the city to eliminate the many grade crossings. The station is remarkably intact; all of the original building is still in place. Recent restaurant and office development inside the building did not make any substantial structural changes to the station.
The original platforms were approximately 450 feet long, made of cast-in-place concrete, and were low-level, with nearly full length butterfly style canopies made of steel frames and wood roof decking. There were four baggage service elevators going from the baggage handling area to the platforms.
The NYC had four tracks (Tracks 1 to 4) on two island platforms, plus an express loading track adjacent to the station building and a run through track between Tracks 1 and the express loading track. The PRR had two tracks (Tracks 5 and 6) on one island platform, plus a separate short platform for baggage, mail, and express handling.
The tracks were located above grade with a pedestrian subway tunnel providing access to the platforms via stairways to the platforms above. In 2001, Track 4 was turned over to the Norfolk Southern Railway
(NS) as part of a track relocation project, which eliminated 1½ miles of NS street running trackage on 19th Street through the city. This operational change did not materially impact the station.
ran through Erie Union Station every night at high speed but did not stop. In the 1960s, the NYC ran approximately eight trains a day in each direction through Erie. Many additional trains were run in the preceding years, particularly during World War II
. This was gradually truncated to approximately four trains a day towards the beginning of Amtrak
.
Conversely, the PRR ran trains south from Erie to Pittsburgh and southeast from Erie to Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington. Service to Pittsburgh was discontinued in 1946, and service to Philadelphia was discontinued on March 27, 1965. In later years, PRR service consisted of only one train a day each way to Emporium, Pennsylvania where the cars were connected to a Buffalo/Harrisburg train for the continued journey. The PRR train typically consisted of a baggage-RPO car, a coach, and a sleeper which was operated by the Pullman Company. The last PRR train was numbered No. 580 (southbound) and No. 581 (northbound).
While all NYC trains were run-through trains, the PRR had switching operations at the station because all of the PRR trains terminated and originated in Erie. Typically, a PRR switch crew would pick up the train and take it about a mile east to the former Ash Street Wye to turn the train so the seats were pointed in the facing direction of the train. The motive power would cut off and proceed east to the PRR engine terminal on 18th and Wayne Streets for servicing and turning. That was also the crew reporting location. At the station, the PRR had a Porter who cleaned out the train and prepared it for its return run. The PRR also had a steam boiler in the station manned by a full time fireman to provide steam heat for the cars to keep them warm during the day in cold weather. Steam hoses were located in the center of the PRR station tracks for the connection to the cars. Lastly, since the Pullman Company operated the sleeping car service, there was likely an office space for Pullman employees to conduct their administrative business.
. However, the PC trains only ran until the beginning of Amtrak in 1971. Prior to the start of Amtrak, PC was running approximately four trains per day. In spite of that, Amtrak reduced the service to one train a day serving Union Station between midnight and 6 AM, thus greatly reducing the quality and level of service. Shortly after that, the one train was discontinued, leaving the city of Erie without passenger service for several years. Service then resumed in 1975 with the Lake Shore Limited
service, still serving Erie between two o'clock and seven o'clock AM. Currently, there are two trains each day, greatly underserving the potential travel market that may be available in Erie. Despite this, Union Station still sees over 8,000 passengers a year pass through its doors.
Two other railroads served Erie but had separate depots; they never shared Union Station. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
ran trains to Greenville, PA and Pittsburgh; and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad
(the Nickel Plate Road) had service to Chicago and Buffalo. Bessemer & Lake Erie service was discontinued in 1955 and Nickel Plate service (which became Norfolk & Western in 1964 and later Norfolk Southern) was discontinued in 1965. The Bessemer depot was located at 12th and Sassafras Streets and the Nickel Plate Depot was located at 19th and Holland Streets. Over time, both of those depots were demolished.
There is currently no ticket sales or baggage handling available.
s to fashion semiconductor
s out of galena
for use in the cat's whisker detector of crystal radios. The raw chunk lead
ore
was heaped in the rail yard
and the entire operation was guarded by soldiers with Great Dane
s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the station was also used as a crew change point for NYC (and later PC) freight crews between Cleveland and Buffalo. This replaced a former crew change point in Lawrence Park Township, just east of Erie and the site of a former steam engine maintenance facility for the New York Central. CSX no longer uses Erie as a crew change point.
The United States Post Office operated Railway post office
(RPO) service on both the NYC and PRR through the station. There was an underground tunnel that went under 14th Street from the station to the main Erie Post Office for the transfer of mail.
Logistics Plus has completed mostly restorative work to the building, with the minor changes being carpeting, drop ceilings and fluorescent lighting in offices. In what was the main concourse of the station, new dividing walls separate tenant spaces and the on-site micro brewery from the Amtrak platform.
The largest physical change came with the addition of flag poles and flags that Logistics Plus flies in honor of the countries from which Logistics Plus employees come.
See: Logistics Plus, Inc.
In 2010, Logistics Plus organized the return of a farmer's market to nearby Griswold Plaza.
See: Erie Times-News
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
. It opened on December 3, 1927. It is served by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
, the national railroad passenger system, which maintains a small office in the building. The station building is privately owned by Erie-resident Jim Berlin and has been developed to include offices for Logistics Plus, Inc., Brewerie at Union Station restaurant, and other locally owned and operated businesses.
1865 station
The first Union Station was a grand ItalianateItalianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
at-grade structure built around 1865 at 14th Street between Peach and Sassafras Streets. Four railroads provided service: the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad
Philadelphia and Erie Railroad
The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania between 1861 and 1907. It was subsequently merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad .-History:...
and the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad
Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad
The Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad was a railroad based in Erie, Pennsylvania incorporated on 1 April 1858. Operations began in March 1860. It operated jointly with Buffalo and State Line Railroad from an indeterminate date until 28 February 1870, in connection with the latter's commitment, along...
, which became parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
(PRR); and the Buffalo and Erie Railroad and the Cleveland and Erie Railroad, which became part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, NY to Chicago, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana...
and eventually a part of the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
(NYC). In its heyday, the station served nearly 52 passenger trains a day. Before dining cars were common, passengers would detrain for extended stops at the station's grand restaurant before continuing on their journeys.
1927 station
The station was redesigned in Art DecoArt Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style in the 1920s by architects Alfred T. Fellheimer
Alfred T. Fellheimer
Alfred T. Fellheimer was an American architect who was lead architect for New York Grand Central Terminal and Cincinnati Union Terminal....
and Steward Wagner and reopened in 1927. Some of the features of the old station were replicated in the new design, such as the number of external panels and windows and the east facade of the building. The station had a hexagonal rotunda/waiting room with eight ticket windows and a baggage window. The main concourse was quite large and contained retail space including a Union News outlet, a barber shop, and other concessions. The redesign was part of a project to raise the railroad right-of-way onto an embankment through the city to eliminate the many grade crossings. The station is remarkably intact; all of the original building is still in place. Recent restaurant and office development inside the building did not make any substantial structural changes to the station.
The original platforms were approximately 450 feet long, made of cast-in-place concrete, and were low-level, with nearly full length butterfly style canopies made of steel frames and wood roof decking. There were four baggage service elevators going from the baggage handling area to the platforms.
The NYC had four tracks (Tracks 1 to 4) on two island platforms, plus an express loading track adjacent to the station building and a run through track between Tracks 1 and the express loading track. The PRR had two tracks (Tracks 5 and 6) on one island platform, plus a separate short platform for baggage, mail, and express handling.
The tracks were located above grade with a pedestrian subway tunnel providing access to the platforms via stairways to the platforms above. In 2001, Track 4 was turned over to the Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
(NS) as part of a track relocation project, which eliminated 1½ miles of NS street running trackage on 19th Street through the city. This operational change did not materially impact the station.
Passenger operations since 1927
When the new station was opened in 1927, the NYC provided the majority of service. Trains went west to Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis and east to Buffalo, Albany, New York and Boston. The station was located on the NYC Chicago-New York main line, also referred to as the "water-level route." The famous NYC 20th Century Limited20th Century Limited
The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a "National Institution" and the "Most Famous Train in the World". In the year of its last run, The New York Times said that it "...was...
ran through Erie Union Station every night at high speed but did not stop. In the 1960s, the NYC ran approximately eight trains a day in each direction through Erie. Many additional trains were run in the preceding years, particularly during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. This was gradually truncated to approximately four trains a day towards the beginning of Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
.
Conversely, the PRR ran trains south from Erie to Pittsburgh and southeast from Erie to Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington. Service to Pittsburgh was discontinued in 1946, and service to Philadelphia was discontinued on March 27, 1965. In later years, PRR service consisted of only one train a day each way to Emporium, Pennsylvania where the cars were connected to a Buffalo/Harrisburg train for the continued journey. The PRR train typically consisted of a baggage-RPO car, a coach, and a sleeper which was operated by the Pullman Company. The last PRR train was numbered No. 580 (southbound) and No. 581 (northbound).
While all NYC trains were run-through trains, the PRR had switching operations at the station because all of the PRR trains terminated and originated in Erie. Typically, a PRR switch crew would pick up the train and take it about a mile east to the former Ash Street Wye to turn the train so the seats were pointed in the facing direction of the train. The motive power would cut off and proceed east to the PRR engine terminal on 18th and Wayne Streets for servicing and turning. That was also the crew reporting location. At the station, the PRR had a Porter who cleaned out the train and prepared it for its return run. The PRR also had a steam boiler in the station manned by a full time fireman to provide steam heat for the cars to keep them warm during the day in cold weather. Steam hoses were located in the center of the PRR station tracks for the connection to the cars. Lastly, since the Pullman Company operated the sleeping car service, there was likely an office space for Pullman employees to conduct their administrative business.
Post-1968
The level of passenger service continued after the Penn Central (PC) merger in 1968 between the PRR and NYC. PC later became Conrail in 1976, and in 1999 Conrail's Erie operations became part of CSX CorporationCSX Corporation
CSX Corporation was formed in 1980 by the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries and eventually merged the various railroads owned by those predecessors into a single line that became known as CSX Transportation. Based in Richmond, Virginia, USA after the merger, in 2003...
. However, the PC trains only ran until the beginning of Amtrak in 1971. Prior to the start of Amtrak, PC was running approximately four trains per day. In spite of that, Amtrak reduced the service to one train a day serving Union Station between midnight and 6 AM, thus greatly reducing the quality and level of service. Shortly after that, the one train was discontinued, leaving the city of Erie without passenger service for several years. Service then resumed in 1975 with the Lake Shore Limited
Lake Shore Limited
The Lake Shore Limited is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. The train runs between Chicago and Albany, NY, where it divides into two sections that provide thru-service to New York and Boston...
service, still serving Erie between two o'clock and seven o'clock AM. Currently, there are two trains each day, greatly underserving the potential travel market that may be available in Erie. Despite this, Union Station still sees over 8,000 passengers a year pass through its doors.
Two other railroads served Erie but had separate depots; they never shared Union Station. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.The railroad's main route runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, a distance of 139 miles...
ran trains to Greenville, PA and Pittsburgh; and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad
The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the Nickel Plate Road, the railroad served a large area, including trackage in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...
(the Nickel Plate Road) had service to Chicago and Buffalo. Bessemer & Lake Erie service was discontinued in 1955 and Nickel Plate service (which became Norfolk & Western in 1964 and later Norfolk Southern) was discontinued in 1965. The Bessemer depot was located at 12th and Sassafras Streets and the Nickel Plate Depot was located at 19th and Holland Streets. Over time, both of those depots were demolished.
There is currently no ticket sales or baggage handling available.
Other station uses and activities
During World War II, the Bliley Electric Company operated a small defense-related factory on the second floor of the station, where local women worked all three shifts using grinding machineGrinding machine
A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is a machine tool used for grinding, which is a type of machining using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool...
s to fashion semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
s out of galena
Galena
Galena is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important lead ore mineral.Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms...
for use in the cat's whisker detector of crystal radios. The raw chunk lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
was heaped in the rail yard
Rail yard
A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....
and the entire operation was guarded by soldiers with Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the station was also used as a crew change point for NYC (and later PC) freight crews between Cleveland and Buffalo. This replaced a former crew change point in Lawrence Park Township, just east of Erie and the site of a former steam engine maintenance facility for the New York Central. CSX no longer uses Erie as a crew change point.
The United States Post Office operated Railway post office
Railway post office
In the United States a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to...
(RPO) service on both the NYC and PRR through the station. There was an underground tunnel that went under 14th Street from the station to the main Erie Post Office for the transfer of mail.
Restoration
Erie-based Logistics Plus purchased the then vacant railroad depot in 2003 and began renovations to make the historic building its corporate world headquarters. Logistics Plus occupies the second and third floors of the building and leases sections to other local businesses.Logistics Plus has completed mostly restorative work to the building, with the minor changes being carpeting, drop ceilings and fluorescent lighting in offices. In what was the main concourse of the station, new dividing walls separate tenant spaces and the on-site micro brewery from the Amtrak platform.
The largest physical change came with the addition of flag poles and flags that Logistics Plus flies in honor of the countries from which Logistics Plus employees come.
See: Logistics Plus, Inc.
In 2010, Logistics Plus organized the return of a farmer's market to nearby Griswold Plaza.
See: Erie Times-News