Re: [CBQ] Railroad Related Question

["Chris Atkins tcatkins@gmail.com [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>]

Yes, I'm familiar with English, Archie. I think the nut of Rob's question is why is Union used as opposed to another word. My argument is that when it was adopted to describe shared depots as early as 1853 as John suggests, the word wasn't as politically charged as it would become by the end of the 19th century.

Best regards,

Chris

On 10/27/15 2:47 PM, archie hayden klinerarch@charter.net [CBQ] wrote:

 

Chris,  The word Union denotes two or more railroads joining together to share the same passenger facilities.  You're married aren't you.  That is a union.  Archie

On Oct 27, 2015, at 9:30 AM, Chris Atkins tcatkins@gmail.com [CBQ] wrote:

 

There is a Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_station

but nothing about why Union and not Joint or Amalgamated or Associated or Confederation or another word.

I imagine it has to do with how the word was used at the time these were being built. John's 1853 citation suggests that it predates organized labor and the civil war connotations that would have come later.

Interesting question. The smallest Union Station I know of was built in 1909 in Lewiston, ID upon the arrival of the Union Pacific and formation of the Camas Prairie between them and the Northern Pacific.

Chris Atkins
Argyle, TX

On 10/26/15 11:30 PM, John Manion railbass@comcast.net [CBQ] wrote:

 

I am currently reading H. Roger Grant's Railroads and the American People, in which he devotes a lengthy chapter on stations.  The first union station was built in Indianapolis in 1853.  Located in the heart of the city, it brought together facilities of several railroads, uniting them.   The word "depot," a French term for storage places of goods, was considered irrelevant for such large buildings, which soon began to be built in other cities in which railroads connected.   Many large and more permanent - built of brick or stone - structures were built, including Denver's, built in 1881 and rebuilt in 1913 to its present appearance.  A number of these structures have been preserved, although no longer serving railroads.  Denver Union Terminal is now under development for our Regional Transportation District for mass transit by light rail.
John Manion
Denver, CO

On Oct 26, 2015 9:07 PM, "'Robert McNay' CptMatt@ameritech.net [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hi,

 

I was talking to a kid in the neighborhood about trains and he asked me a question I couldn’t answer.

 

Why are so many train station in the US named Union Station?

 

Can anybody help me out?

 

Thanks

 

 

Rob Mc.

 

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Posted by: Chris Atkins <chris@railroadmodelers.com>

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