J. Douglas Galyon Depot, also known as Greensboro station, is an

intermodal transit Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of various transportati ...

facility in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

. Located at 236 East Washington Street in downtown Greensboro, it serves

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 ...

passenger rail and is the city's main hub for local and

intercity bus An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public tr ...

es. The station was built in 1927. Train service was moved to a new building outside downtown in 1979. The historic station was renovated and reopened as a transit center in 2005.

History

The station was originally built in 1927 as the Greensboro Southern Railway Depot. It was a replacement for an 1899 Southern Railway Depot that still exists today, albeit without the gabled-third story and cupola it had in the past. The 1927 depot was donated to the city in 1978, a year before the Southern Railroad finally gave up passenger service. Efforts to return service to the old station began in 1993. It was heavily renovated from 2001 to 2005, and reopened to the public on October 1, 2005. The restored station was named for James Douglas "Doug" Galyon (1930-2019), a longtime civic leader in Greensboro who was a member of the

North Carolina Board of Transportation The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is responsible for building, repairing, and operating highways, bridges, and other modes of transportation, including ferries in the U.S. state of North Carolina. History The North Carolina ...

from 1992 to 2008, serving for most of that time as the board's chairman. Designed by the New York architectural firm of

Alfred T. Fellheimer Alfred T. Fellheimer (March 9, 1875 – 1959) was an American architect. He began his career with Reed & Stem, where he was lead architect for Grand Central Terminal. Beginning in 1928, his firm Fellheimer & Wagner designed Cincinnati Union ...

& Steward Wagner, the 1927 Beaux-Arts facade of the Greensboro station features Ionic columns, a full entablature, and a three-story arched entry. Inside, the ticketing area features a vast mural displaying the service area of the Southern Railway system in the 1920s.(Preservation Greensboro)
Until 1970 the Southern Railway operated the ''Asheville Special'' from

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

and

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

to Greensboro. Until the 1960s that train had linked with the ''

Augusta Special The ''Aiken-Augusta Special'' was a named night train of the '' Southern Railway'' between New York City and Augusta, Georgia. Different from other long distance Southern Railway lines which tended to briefly go through the northwestern edge of S ...

'' at Greensboro and had continued to Washington, D.C. and New York City. Until the 1960s the ''

Carolina Special The ''Carolina Special'' was a passenger train operated by the Southern Railway between Cincinnati, Ohio and the Carolinas. It operated from 1911 to 1968. It was the last passenger train to use the route of the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad, w ...

'' went from Cincinnati to Asheville, with the North Carolina branch of the train going to Greensboro. Until 1953 or 1954 the ''Carolina Special'' went further east to Goldsboro in the eastern part of the state.

Present-day service

The station is served by three

trains: the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

'', the and the . The ''Crescent'' uses the longer north platform closer to the station, while the ''Carolinian'' and ''Piedmont'' use the shorter south platform. This is because the ''Crescent'' takes a more northerly route to the Northeast via

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

while the ''Carolinian'' and ''Piedmont'' use an easterly route via

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

. It also serves

Greensboro Transit Authority The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) is the operator of public transportation in the Greensboro, North Carolina area. It complements three other local and one regional bus service in the Piedmont Triad. Fifteen routes travel almost solely within t ...

and

Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) provides inter-city and regional public transportation for the Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, NC combined statistical area, known as the Piedmont Triad area. In , the system had a r ...

buses and

companies.

Gallery

Image:Greensboro_Amtrak_Carolinian.jpg, Train 80, the ''Carolinian'', at Greensboro Image:Greensboro_Amtrak_Arrival.jpg, Amtrak train arriving in Greensboro Image:Gsotrainstation.jpg, View of the restored platforms Image:GRO_Amtrak_Station_Inside.JPG, Inside of restored station

References

External links

Greensboro Station – NC By Train
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081006121926/http://tsalmon.topcities.com/ncrr/green.htm Greensboro Railroad Stations (North Carolina Railroad Stations) {{DEFAULTSORT:Greensboro (Amtrak Station) Amtrak stations in North Carolina Transportation in Greensboro, North Carolina Stations along Southern Railway lines in the United States Transit centers in the United States Bus stations in North Carolina Railway stations in the United States opened in 1927 Railway stations closed in 1978 Railway stations in the United States opened in 2005 Buildings and structures in Greensboro, North Carolina 1927 establishments in North Carolina