Tucson station is an

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 ...

train depot in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, served three times a week by the '' Sunset Limited'' and ''

Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''. Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...

'' trains.

History

The depot was built in 1907 by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). It was designed by the SP's architect, Daniel J. Patterson, who designed a number of depots during the same era, including the San Antonio Station.

Passenger services

In the mid-20th century, into the latter 1950s, four trains a day departed west and four trains a day went east: * Departing west toward

Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande S ...

via Yuma in the morning: ** ''

Argonaut The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', n ...

'' (bypassed Phoenix to the south) (to ca. 1957) ** '' Sunset Limited'' (passed through Phoenix) (continues to operate today) * Departing west toward Los Angeles Union Station via Phoenix and Yuma in the mid-afternoon and the evening: ** '' Imperial'' (to 1958) ** '' Golden State'' (to 1968) * Departing east toward

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

LaSalle Street Station LaSalle Street Station is a commuter rail terminal at 414 South LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. First used as a rail terminal in 1852, it was a major intercity rail terminal for the New York Central Railroad until 1968, and for the Chicago, ...

via the Golden State Route in the midnight hours: ** ''Imperial'' ** ''Golden State'' * Departing east toward

New Orleans Union Station New Orleans Union Station was a railroad station in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was designed by Louis H. Sullivan for the Illinois Central Railroad and opened on June 1, 1892. It was located on South Rampart Street, in front of the current New Or ...

via the Sunset Route and Houston in the daylight morning hours: ** ''Sunset Limited'' ** ''Argonaut''

Recent decades

In 1998, the City purchased the entire depot property from the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, which had absorbed the SP. Restoration of the main depot building and the three adjacent buildings, to their 1941 modernized Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style, was completed in 2004. Spanish Colonial Revival elements include the stuccoed brick walls, red clay roof tiles, and colorful, decorative tilework in the waiting room. The station and other railroad buildings are included as contributing resources to the National Register-listed Tucson Warehouse Historic District. The

Old Pueblo Trolley Old Pueblo Trolley is a non-profit, educational corporation based in Tucson, in the U.S. state of Arizona, that is dedicated to the preservation of Arizona's mass transit history. The name also commonly refers to the heritage streetcar line which ...

extended their historic streetcar line to the depot in 2009. Sun Link assumed operation of the line on July 25, 2014. The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is located in the old Records Vault building.

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday statue

According to historian David Leighton, of the '' Arizona Daily Star'', the

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...

and Doc Holliday statue near the train depot commemorates the revenge killing of

Frank Stilwell Frank C. Stilwell (1856 – March 20, 1882) was an outlaw Cowboy who killed at least two men in Cochise County during 1877–82. Both killings were considered to have been self-defense. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, A ...

. On March 18, 1882, in the aftermath of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,

Morgan Earp Morgan Seth Earp (April 24, 1851 – March 18, 1882) was an American sheriff and Marshal, lawman. He served as Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Arizona's Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil Earp, Virgil and Wy ...

was murdered by unknown killers, in

Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town gr ...

. Two days later, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a few other men were escorting the injured

Virgil Earp Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843 – October 19, 1905) was both deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gu ...

and his wife to Tucson, with their final destination being California. While at the Tucson train station, Wyatt Earp learned that Frank Stilwell, one of the individuals suspected in the Morgan Earp murder, was lurking in the area. Earp, Holliday, and the others pursued Stilwell along the train tracks, eventually catching and killing him.

References

External links

Tucson Amtrak station information

– at the Depot.

– ''by Train Web''. {{Amtrak Arizona stations Amtrak stations in Arizona Transportation in Tucson, Arizona Buildings and structures in Tucson, Arizona Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1907 Cultural depictions of Wyatt Earp Cultural depictions of Doc Holliday 1907 establishments in Arizona Territory