Sanford station is a railroad terminal in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shor ...

. It is the southern terminus for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

's ''

Auto Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in ...

,'' which runs between this station and

Lorton, Virginia Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,610 as of the 2010 census. History Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plasket ...

. As of 2022, the Auto Train loads its passengers on two tracks in Sanford, as no single track is long enough for all of the passenger railcars. A railroad crossing runs through the middle of Sanford's

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

, an unusual situation for a modern station and yard.

History

The station was opened in 1971 by the

Auto-Train Corporation Auto-Train Corporation , stylized ''auto-train'', was a privately owned passenger railroad that operated from 1971 to 1981. Its trains included autorack cars, enabling passengers to bring their own vehicles on their journey. The company used its ...

, a railroad that operated its rolling stock along tracks owned by other railroads. The station and the service closed when the railroad fell into bankruptcy in 1981. The station was reopened in 1983 when Amtrak revived the ''

'' service. In 2004, the station building was damaged by hurricanes. The facility was also older and smaller than the terminal at Lorton. On May 18, 2009, Amtrak broke ground on a new $10.5 million station designed by d+A design + Architecture of Yardley, Pennsylvania. The new building, opened on October 18, 2010, has a waiting room for 600 travelers, ticket counter, café, restrooms, and a gift shop. The building incorporates energy-saving features such as energy-efficient HVAC, lighting, and glass coatings that minimize

solar gain Solar gain (also known as solar heat gain or passive solar gain) is the increase in thermal energy of a space, object or structure as it absorbs incident solar radiation. The amount of solar gain a space experiences is a function of the total i ...

. A portion of the old station abutting the new structure was reconfigured into administrative offices.

Other train stations in Sanford

A second Amtrak station was located three-tenths of a mile south of the Auto Train terminal, which served the ''

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an en ...

'', ''

Silver Meteor The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...

'', and ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is an Amtrak passenger train that for most of its history has operated between New Orleans and Los Angeles, over the nation's second transcontinental route. However, up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it operated betwe ...

''. The station was built by the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

in 1913 and rebuilt in 1953. Like most U.S. passenger stations, it was acquired by Amtrak upon its inception in 1971. Though Amtrak gave the address as 800 Persimmon Avenue, the station was actually located at the end of West 8th Street, about west of Persimmon Avenue. Amtrak closed the station on August 1, 2005, and demolished it in 2009.

SunRail SunRail is a commuter rail system in the Greater Orlando, Florida, area. Services began on May 1, 2014. The system comprises 16 stations along a former CSX Transportation line connecting Volusia County and Osceola County through Downtown Orlan ...

, the Central Florida commuter rail system, revived local passenger rail service to Sanford when it began operations in 2014. It built a new station on State Road 46 rather than on the site of the former Amtrak station.

References

External links

Detailed station and Auto Train info

* ttp://www.themetrains.com/auto-train-facilities-sanford-terminal.htm Original Sanford Terminal images (Theme Trains.com){{Amtrak Florida stations Amtrak stations in Florida Auto Train Railway stations in the United States opened in 1971 Transportation buildings and structures in Seminole County, Florida 1971 establishments in Florida