SP Station Saturday
It's Station Saturday so here's a simple offering of a nice looking one I found a half dozen years ago while exploring California's central valley towns for the first time.
Built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1915, this beauty still stands at MP 112.9 beside what is now Union Pacific's busy Fresno Subdivision originally built in 1870 by the expanding Central Pacific Railroad. Per the Great American Stations site:
Designed in the then-popular Mission Revival style, the building featured a shady arcade along the platform. The principle street and trackside entrances were marked with oversized curvilinear gables—or remates—whose parapets were decorated with scrollwork designs. From the center of the building, two towers reminiscent of those found on early California missions rose above the red tile roof. The choice of the Mission Revival language harkened back to a romanticized Spanish past that effectively worked as a branding tool for the railroad and was an omnipresent advertisement for the state’s picturesque landscapes. The SP depot still stands downtown, but has not been used by rail passengers since 1971.
The depot was later renovated to serve as a hub for local and regional bus services, including the line that connects with the Amtrak station which is located five miles away west of the city alongside BNSF's parallel ex Santa Fe mainline.
Modesto, California
Monday February 20, 2017
SP Station Saturday
It's Station Saturday so here's a simple offering of a nice looking one I found a half dozen years ago while exploring California's central valley towns for the first time.
Built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1915, this beauty still stands at MP 112.9 beside what is now Union Pacific's busy Fresno Subdivision originally built in 1870 by the expanding Central Pacific Railroad. Per the Great American Stations site:
Designed in the then-popular Mission Revival style, the building featured a shady arcade along the platform. The principle street and trackside entrances were marked with oversized curvilinear gables—or remates—whose parapets were decorated with scrollwork designs. From the center of the building, two towers reminiscent of those found on early California missions rose above the red tile roof. The choice of the Mission Revival language harkened back to a romanticized Spanish past that effectively worked as a branding tool for the railroad and was an omnipresent advertisement for the state’s picturesque landscapes. The SP depot still stands downtown, but has not been used by rail passengers since 1971.
The depot was later renovated to serve as a hub for local and regional bus services, including the line that connects with the Amtrak station which is located five miles away west of the city alongside BNSF's parallel ex Santa Fe mainline.
Modesto, California
Monday February 20, 2017