Eugene–Springfield station is a train station in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, United States. It is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's ''

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's formati ...

'' passenger train and is the southern terminus of the ''

Amtrak Cascades The Amtrak ''Cascades'' is a passenger train corridor in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade mountain range that the route parallels. The corr ...

'' corridor. The station is also served by the Cascades POINT bus service.

History

The station was built in 1908 by the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as the Southern Pacific Passenger Depot in 2007. The current station is the third passenger depot built at this location. Built of

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

, it is one of five masonry depots that still exist along the original Southern Pacific West Coast line. The other depots are in Albany, Medford, Roseburg and

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

. When Amtrak took over intercity rail operations in 1971, it cut back service to a single train through Eugene, what eventually became the ''Coast Starlight.'' A brief attempt at corridor service began in 1980 with the ''

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

,'' but ended in 1981. For the next 13 years, the only intercity service through Eugene was the ''Coast Starlight,'' which arrived northbound at lunchtime and southbound during the afternoon rush. However, in 1994, Amtrak extended the Seattle-Portland ''Mount Rainier'' to Eugene on a trial basis. This proved successful enough that the train was renamed the ''Cascadia'' in 1995. The ''Cascadia'' was merged into ''Amtrak Cascades'' along with all of Amtrak's other Pacific Northwest services in 1998, and a Portland-Eugene round trip was added in 2000. Southern Pacific sold the building to the Jenova Land Company in 1993, and ten years later the city of Eugene bought the depot as part of a plan to develop a regional transportation center. In 2004, the city oversaw a $4.5 million restoration project. Workers restored the exterior brickwork and trim and gutted and renovated the interior. New tile floors, oak and fir trim, covered ceilings, wooden benches and expanded bathrooms were installed.

References

External links

Waymarking.com gallery with old postcard imagesNational Register nomination
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eugene-Springfield Amtrak stations in Oregon Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908 Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in Oregon Buildings and structures in Eugene, Oregon Transportation in Eugene, Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Eugene, Oregon 1908 establishments in Oregon Transportation buildings and structures in Lane County, Oregon

History

See also

References

External links