Plano station, also known as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Depot is an

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 ...

intercity train station in Plano,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States. The station was added to the U.S.

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 ...

on November 12, 1993. Currently, four Amtrak trains stop at Plano per day. These serves are the ''

Illinois Zephyr The ''Illinois Zephyr'' and ''Carl Sandburg'' are a pair of passenger trains operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Quincy, Illinois. As ''Illinois Service'' trains, they are partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transpor ...

'' and the ''

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

''. The ''Illinois Zephyr'' stops in the morning (to

Chicago Union Station Chicago Union Station is an intercity and commuter rail terminal located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The station is Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest. While serving long-distance passenger trains, it is also ...

) and in the evening (to Quincy). The ''Carl Sandburg'' stops in the morning (to Quincy) and the evening (to Chicago). The ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff ...

'' and ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'' pass through the station but do not stop.

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. I ...

is exploring extending the

BNSF Railway Line The BNSF Line (also known informally as the "Racetrack") is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its western suburbs. In 2010, the BNSF Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership (average 64,600) of t ...

Sandwich, Illinois Sandwich is a city in DeKalb and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 7,421 at the 2010 census and 7,221 at the 2020 census. History The town's history is tied to politician "Long John" Wentworth and his efforts t ...

in the future, and originally proposed the Plano Amtrak station as one of the stops on the proposed extension. However, the proposed station location was changed to near Little Rock road in Plano's city limits, over 1 mile west of the current station.

Architecture

The rectangular

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

Depot in Plano is constructed in a combination of

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

and

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

architectural styles.Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad Depot
" Property Information Report, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 17 May 2007.

History

The building currently being used as the

station in Plano, Illinois was constructed in 1913 by Eidelgeorge Reuter and Company of

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

.Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad Depot
" (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 17 May 2007. Amtrak service began here on April 30, 1972. The Plano Amtrak station was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1993 due to its association with Plano's history of rail transportation. The history of the city of Plano is tied to the railroad, the Kendall County city grew around the tracks unlike its neighbors of Yorkville, and Oswego. The Amtrak station at Plano is one of the smallest station houses in the United States.

In popular culture

The movie, "

Witless Protection ''Witless Protection'' is a 2008 American crime comedy film written and directed by Charles Robert Carner, and starring Larry the Cable Guy and Jenny McCarthy. Distributed by Lionsgate, the film was theatrically released on February 22, 2008 to ex ...

" was filmed in Plano, using the train station as the Police Headquarters in the movie. The station was also featured in the 2013 Superman movie, " Man of Steel", which was filmed in Plano. The station was used as the Village Hall for Superman's hometown of

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

, Kansas.

References

External links

Plano Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
{{National Register of Historic Places Amtrak stations in Illinois Plano, Illinois Former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad stations National Register of Historic Places in Kendall County, Illinois Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Railway stations in the United States opened in 1913 Buildings and structures in Kendall County, Illinois 1913 establishments in Illinois

Architecture

History

In popular culture

See also

References

External links