Waterloo train depot closer to renovation

By Angela Mapes

The Journal Gazette [April 8, 2006]

 

Waterloo – Throughout the years, the Waterloo depot has been dismantled piece-by-piece, rebuilt in a new location, and once, long before, smashed into by a wayward locomotive.  Now, restoration of the DeKalb County town’s historic landmark is one step closer to completion.  Town council members, in a special meeting Friday, selected Fort Wayne firm Martin-Riley to oversee the restoration of the structure, built in the late 1800s.

 

A project proposal by Martin-Riley said the building between West Van Vleek Street and the Norfolk Souther Railroad tracks in downtown Waterloo will be renovated inside and out.  The firm plans to rehabilitate the passenger waiting area. Other additions include men’s and women’s restrooms, and an area to display historic railroad memorabilia and an office/conference room to be used by the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.

 

More at http://www.journalgazette.net/

 

 

Amtrak’s current spare-no-expense, luxurious passenger station

 

 

Fort Wayne's former PRR Baker Street Station, home of Martin-Riley Architects

 

 

I was about to ask whether the Waterloo depot was originally on the New York Central line, or relocated from the north-south line. Then I looked at my handy-dandy 1928 rail atlas of the U.S. and saw they were both NYC lines!

 

Cute depot. And the Baker Street looks fabulous. Too bad we can't seem to get any trains back in there, but the Ohio Rail Development Commission has started their analysis of a Columbus - Lima - Ft. Wayne - Chicago leg of the Ohio Hub System. So, we'll see what happens. It's one of the routes where all the mayors along the route are pushing for service, chief among them Mayor Berger in Lima.

I visited the depot shortly after it was moved and reopened, during a summer event at the park. I'm not sure I remember everything one of the locals told me, but I think it was originally a freight house, and there was a separate depot located a little farther west, where the two lines crossed.

 

There are crossovers between the two tracks, so that both eastbound and westbound Amtrak trains use the north track adjacent to the current passenger platform. Maybe the old depot is farther east than the track served by the crossovers; judging by the signals in the second photo, I'd guess that's the case, and the reason for NS insisting on a grade-separated pedestrian crossing if the station is moved. It seems to me that it would be less costly both in intial investment and long-term upkeep to pay the railroad to move the east crossover.

 

There are a few more photos of the Baker Street PRR station on the Fort Wayne page of my web site; scroll to the bottom of the thumbnail page to find them.

I think a bigger reason for NS wanting the pedestrian underpass is because they ultimately want all passenger stations on the Cleveland - Chicago main line (and probably elsewhere on the busiest portions of their system) to be dual-platform stations. Having to cross passenger trains over to the track adjacent to single-platform stations reduces the capacity of the mainline and often causes delays to passenger and freight trains alike. At least at Cleveland, Toledo and Chicago, passenger trains get off the mainline to serve those cities' stations. All the others -- Hammon, South Bend, Elkhart, Waterloo, Bryan, Sandusky and Elyria -- are all single platform stations, and aren't on the same sides of the mainline. It's quite an inconvenience for landlord NS.

Very cool photos Rob_1412 !!

Funny, Amtrak wants the City of Hamilton to build a new station, even thought they only use the platform of the century old depot (the building is boarded up). City leaders have said a new station would cost nearly $8M and they are supposedly looking for federal monies (but I doubt that seriously). I'm surprised no one has suggested just building a luxurious station like seen above.

Now, Oxford is making the pitch to Amtrak ever since Hamilton lost its station stop on the Cardinal route. But Oxford is running into the same problem -- the new federal regulations on disabled patron access to trains (called level boarding, as the feds now require the platform height to be level with the floor of passenger train cars).

 

Problem is, since passenger trains share tracks with larger/wider freight trains outside of the Northeast Corridor, this prevents many old/proposed stations from meeting the standard without major expense that renders the stations infeasible. Thus, many station projects that might otherwise benefit disabled citizens may not get built, further immobilizing them (how ironic!). Some speculate this is just the anti-rail crowd in our beloved Nation's Capital from squelching rail from a different angle.

Oxford? At least I think it would be harder for them to come up with the money, but I suppose the leadership might be more driven to get something done, because Hamilton has many fish to fry and council does not understand that some kind of PT is necessary, hince the cut of all bus service just six months after a new platform area was built. Lack of PT is Hamilton's downfall.

 

I do know that the mayor wants to rally for a direct Ohio Hub stop, but I doubt they would reroute the whole plan so it goes through town. Just like with I-75, Hamilton will again be bypassed. At least we got West Chester out of it. ;)

Problem is, since passenger trains share tracks with larger/wider freight trains outside of the Northeast Corridor, this prevents many old/proposed stations from meeting the standard without major expense that renders the stations infeasible.

 

It does seem unreasonable to require major investment by communities without giving any assurance that those places will continue to have passenger service long enough to justify the cost. It's not a new phenomenon, sadly.

Actually, Oxford is a good place for an Amtrak stop.  You have a mobile population among the students at Miami Univeristy and Oxford itself is a growing community.  They just laid our $140,000 of their own money to help construct four new railroad grade crossings.  I would bet they could partner with MU in establishing an Amtrak stop.

 

The ADA requirements are not yet hard and fast rules.  Several organizations in the rail advocacy community are working to change them.  One of the potential problems with these rules is that they could actually wind up making passenger rail less accessible for the handicapped. The expense of having to build high-level platforms will make communities balk at providing stations and facilities.

Of course I am going to argue that I want the stop back in Hamilton. The eastern half of the county is what is really booming (and populated) and new zoning laws are going to keep the Oxford area somewhat rural. I know of several MU students who used to make the 15 minute drive to the Hamilton stop, MU could easily make an effort to assist Chicago students in using the service, especially since they only stopped about 4 times a week.

I just had a "Duh!" moment.

 

Amtrak states that Waterloo has the second-highest passenger count in Indiana, 19,000 last year versus Indianapolis' 26,000. That volume appears to justify station improvements.

 

Here's where the "uh-oh" comes in: Both Midwest High Speed Rail Association and the Ohio Hub plan propose routes that would restore service through Fort Wayne to Chicago. A large part of Waterloo's ridership probably results from the fact that since November 1990 it has been the Amtrak stop nearest Fort Wayne, and I think a large part of local Amtrak ridership is for day or weekend trips to Chicago. If service were restored through Fort Wayne, Waterloo would likely lose a big chunk of that 19,000.

 

I'll start doing license plate counts in the parking lot when I visit Waterloo, and see how many are from Allen County (Fort Wayne), compared with DeKalb County (Waterloo) and nearby.

^ They used to also have a connecting bus service from Ft. Wayne to Waterloo for several years after the service was rerouted out of Ft. Wayne. I guess Amtrak figured Waterloo was close enough to Ft. Wayne that most people could easily drive it (and the rest could walk?).

There were connecting buses to both Waterloo and Garrett, and I used each one. They were clean and comfortable and met the trains at trackside. At first they departed from a local transit facility downtown that had an enclosed, heated waiting room on the street level of a parking garage, still walkable from my house.

 

Later, they moved the shuttles to a strip mall in North Suburban Hell and successfully drove away enough business that they were able to eliminate them. The location was marginally reachable by public transit, with an unsheltered bus stop across a busy arterial road that had no sidewalk. Ride the shuttle from Waterloo to Fort Wayne, and then wait in the gravel, weeds and mud along a highway with cars streaming past at 50mph plus, for a bus that ran every half hour. Amtrak passenger parking was in a minimally-lighted area behind the strip mall.

 

Local bus service to the strip mall started after the shuttle left for the westbound trains, quit before the shuttle from the eastbound trains got there, and didn't run on Sundays. It was almost as if the whole thing had been orchestrated by someone trained the waning days of the Pennsylvania Railroad to drive away customers.