Thanks, Brian. Passenger railroads almost disappeared in the US with commercial aviation and the interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s. Spending 18-24 hours on a train from St. Louis to New York lost its appeal when one could fly there in 2-3 hours; and taking a train a couple of hours north to Chicago could not compete with driving one's own car. So, by 1970 there were only 3 trains a day through Union Station, and it was too expensive to maintain for that amount of traffic.
The only places passenger rail is in half-decent shape in the US (which is only quarter-decent, by European standards) is in the "Northeast Corridor" from Boston to Washington DC, around Chicago, and on the California coast. Rick Rick http://photo.net/photos/RickW --- On Mon, 12/1/08, Brian Walters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Great image - wonderful architecture. > > I'd love to see a photo of that hall back in its > heyday. > > (How can a station that catered for 100,000 passengers > daily end up > being abandoned? Ending up as a shopping mall seems a sad > end but > better than demolition, I suppose.) > > > Cheers > > Brian > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > Brian Walters > Western Sydney Australia > http://members.westnet.com.au/brianwal/SL/ > > > On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:28:47 -0800 (PST), "Rick > Womer" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > I left Denver last month and traveled to St. Louis, > where I had a day of > > shooting while my wife toiled. > > > > This is the Grand Hall of Union Station. The station > is a huge and > > glorious structure, built in the 1890s and once the > largest and busiest > > railroad station in the U.S. In the 1930s and 1940s > it served 400 trains > > and 100,000 passengers daily. Abandoned in the 1970s, > it was restored in > > the 1980s as hotels, convention center, and shopping > mall. > > > > > http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8317483&size=lg > > > > K10D, DA 10-17 fisheye, ISO 800, f/3.5 @ 1/20, > handheld, RAW via LR2. > > > > Rick > > > > > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > PDML@pdml.net > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and > > follow the directions. > -- > > > -- > http://www.fastmail.fm - Send your email first class > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
