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Photo of Jacksonville Terminal courtesy of Eleatherberry, via Flickr
The Jacksonville Terminal Company was incorporated in 1894 by Florida East Coast Railway owner Henry Flagler. Its first Union Depot opened February 4, 1895 and was completed January 15, 1897. It came to be known as the Flagler Depot - the fact that some kept calling it that long after each the Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line and Southern Railway achieved equality, if not superiority in 1919, is just another Jacksonville vesper tale. The second Union Depot (the largest railroad station south of Washington D.C.) opened in 1919 on the site of the original one. It was last used January 3, 1974 (Amtrak, for now, stops several miles north).
In the mid-20th-century image above, the Baggage Master ("baggage smasher" in railroadese) goes out to meet the train. Note the baggage cart, which will be at the wrong end of the train as soon as it stops. Don't worry though, this is Jacksonville, and half of that train will go right back out the same way it came in. Everything will be rearranged before the scheduled departures, one for Miami which will cross the river downtown, and the other heading west and, hence south through Gainesville. This scene could never be recreated with an airline, but this is a classic case of the train (rearranged) going to meet the baggage rather than the other way around.
* Railroad buffs should note this is the Southwind from Chicago, (long before it was allowed to go to hell in a hand basket). The Pennsylvania Railroad Tuscan Red Cars are the dead giveaway. Before Amtrak operated as a single railroad sponsoring a train Southwind, City of Miami, etc., it was common for all participating railroads which forwarded it to its ultimate destination to use the sponsors' color scheme for consistency and beauty. So would one have found an Atlantic Coast Line car in Pennsylvania or Central Illinois colors? You bet.
Photo Courtesy of The Rockford Register Star
Amtrak employee Larry Myers defends the National Railroad Passenger Corporation onboard The City of New Orleans. Jacksonville residents should take note that the City's sister train which left the City of New Orleans route just above Memphis and swept through Jacksonville, was the popular City of Miami. The City of Miami ran full until it's final day, so what did the fledgling Amtrak Corporation do? Chose the clunky Southwind, which by 1971 was a near-death experience. Today we have no Midwest - Florida service, gee, wonder why?
Photo R. Mann
All trains split in Jacksonville; here one of the local crews is putting together the Palmetto for it's next-morning departure and doing it with an ancient, 1940, vintage Baldwin Switcher in not-so-long-ago Jacksonville.
Photo By R. Mann, Courtesy of Florida State Photographic Archives, inset by Union Pacific
In this older view, a Jacksonville Terminal Switcher is pulling a cut of cars off of the Florida East Coast Railway. These sleepers will be shoved forward on an adjacent track and leave northbound in the afternoon for New York City.
Photo Courtesy of Amtrak
Job Potential
How many jobs are represented by this photo? Did you know that Amtrak already spends over $27,900,000 dollars a year in Jacksonville? Imagine that exponential increasing to include the linen service, carpet cleaners, upholstery shop, catering companies, restaurant supply, floral delivery, glass companies, janitorial supplies, ice, bottled water, liquor. Did somebody say jobs? Hey, "Let's get to work Jacksonville."
Photo Courtesy of Amtrak
Just another little accessory we could reinstall - certainly if we start operating a commuter fleet of any type, we're going to need a car wash. Parlay that into contract cleaning of entire trains, as well as private cars such as the one President Obama used during his election (cars that are based here by the way), and you've just added another small fortune to our job potential.
Photo Courtesy of Amtrak
As a fleet operator, we might as well plan on some contract work in the realm of rolling repairs. A small shop facility, or even a shop shared with a shortline or private contractor, would make major-station status for Jacksonville all the more likely.
Photo Courtesy of Collett Vacations
...And of course, no train story is complete without those who make it all possible: the on-board operating crewmembers. Nothing to sneeze at, an Amtrak conductor with some seniority is making every bit as much as your friendly commuter airline pilot.
If the station reopens, the aforementioned job possibilities will become just that - possible. In addition to Old Jacksonville Terminal jobs being recreated, an array of jobs could be created with a lot of tactical brainstorming and a dash of hope.
Smile folks, it's an oncoming train...
Article by Bob Mann
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kathy Jackson
May 11, 2011, 08:19:47 AMRick Scott, says trains are bad.
What does he know that the rest of us don't know.
Rick Scott refused billions in grants because he believes oil will always be the same price.
Rick Scott is a billionare.
PeeJayEss
May 11, 2011, 09:29:37 AMNice article (made all the more impressive by my suspicion that you didn't even need to look up those dates and details). Let's hope this happens!
danem
May 11, 2011, 09:47:37 AMSo in the event that those powers that be decide that this should happen, what would it take for it to actually happen?
eharris79
May 11, 2011, 10:33:18 AMThis needs to happen. The Convention center as it is now, is a joke. Not big enough to attract the money making conventions and there is nothing, i.e. hotels and restaraunts, around it to appeal to them either. Convert it back into a rail depot and watch the area thrive again as it used to. My grandfather used to tell me a lot of the stories around the old station here when he worked for ACL and Seaboard as a younger man. Would mean a lot to see it come back like that again.
Jaxson
May 11, 2011, 10:41:50 AMToo bad our city leaders don't give a crap about this issue. We should have moved Amtrak back downtown yesterday!
copperfiend
May 11, 2011, 10:47:42 AMI wouldn't expect anything to be done once Mike Hogan and his Hee-Haw administration take over Mayberry.
hooplady
May 11, 2011, 12:36:10 PMWhat? A CAR WASH?!?!?!? How dare you propose such a filthy disgusting Communist...
oops, wrong thread.
danno
May 11, 2011, 12:49:14 PMAssociating them with Mike Hogan is a slap in the face to both Hee Haw and Mayberry.
CS Foltz
May 11, 2011, 04:14:46 PMnope won't happen! Makes too much sense to use a Building, for what it was designed for, which just happens to have spur availabilities and posssible trackage that could be upgraded and a real live train station that could be a magnet for secondary bussiness's and a whole area could just blossom! Nope.....makes too much sense!
Timkin
May 11, 2011, 04:28:35 PM* swigs more Pepto Bismol.. We cannot allow Mike to take over Mayb......err Jacksonville.
urbaknight
May 12, 2011, 12:06:49 PMI agree CS, I'd bet anything (except for my soul) that this won't happen.
mtraininjax
May 12, 2011, 12:16:11 PMHow much does it cost? Didn't JTA come out and say they needed 60 million in funds before they could even turn a shovel?
danem
May 12, 2011, 12:34:12 PMThat's what I keep wanting to know, and also -- assuming there was funding, what else would be involved? It's a good idea but looks like a tremendous undertaking, something they needed to get started on yesterday. Weren't there some tracks that got removed from there, too? Do they need to be put back?
ChriswUfGator
May 12, 2011, 01:00:07 PMWell it's JTA what, exactly, would you expect? lol
Timkin
May 12, 2011, 01:17:33 PMId expect it to be 160 million.
fsujax
May 12, 2011, 01:23:06 PMit is more than just JTA.
tufsu1
May 12, 2011, 02:45:01 PMthe general cost estimates for the plan from a few years back were over $100 million....but in addition to Amtrak and commuter rail, that also included a reskinned Skyway station, a new Greyhound terminal, an ITS control management center, an office building, and a parking garage.
Clearly bits and pieces could be built for far less
SightseerLounge
May 19, 2011, 12:00:19 AMHow much did it cost to build Clifford Lane Station (in todays dollars, and when was it built)! Why can't they just build an Amshack there until they get all of the specifics laid out!? At least people could get off downtown instead of in Moncrief!
Also, they could do what the original planners never thought to do with all of that space that they had downtown -- build a connection back to the north, south, and west!
thelakelander
May 19, 2011, 06:55:39 AMThe original planners did have connections in every direction via streetcar, intercity rail and steamboats.