Good Morning, Continuing on from my previously posted list of Milwaukee Road depots, the following is a list of the surviving passenger and combination depots used by the Northern Pacific Railroad in Washington State. My main resources have been the information that rrshs.org maintains, information provided by various members of the railfan community online, Washington State Railroad Depots by Clive and Ann Carter, and various County Assessor websites. Depots I've confirmed in person are marked with a *. All others have been positively identified using Google Earth, I can provide the .kml file if you PM me. This list is only complete to the best of my knowledge. I appreciate any information that can be used to correct my information or add additional depots I have omitted. Built by NP: State Border-Seattle Main Line Spokane - 3rd Depot, built 1891 - On site, now Spokane Intermodal Center Cheney - 2nd Depot, built 1929 - On site, in use by BNSF Sprague* - 2nd Depot, built 1898 - Moved across B St, community use Ritzville - 2nd Depot, built 1910 - On site, now Railroad Depot Museum Connell - 2nd Depot, built 1945 - On site, in use by BNSF Kennewick - 3rd Depot, built c. late 1940's - On site, in use by BNSF Prosser - 2nd Depot, built 1948 - On site, Prosser Chamber of Commerce Toppenish* - 2nd Depot, built 1911 - On site, Northern Pacific Railway Museum Wapato* - 2nd Depot, built 1927 - On site, in use by BNSF (North) Yakima* - 3rd Depot, built 1910 - On site, currently houses coffeehouse Ellensburg* - 2nd Depot, built 1910 - On site, under restoration by the community Thorp* - 1st Depot, built 1897 - Moved to east end of town, used for storage Kent - 2nd Depot, built 1927 - On site, in use by BNSF Seattle* - 2nd Depot, built 1906, joint with GN - On site, King Street Station Seattle-Vancouver Main Line Tacoma* - 2nd Depot, built 1911 - On site, US District Courthouse Steilacoom - 1st Depot, built 1913 - On site, unused Tenino - 1st Depot, built 1914 - Moved to city park, Tenino Depot Museum Centralia - 3rd Depot, built 1912 - On site, Amtrak Depot Chehalis - 3rd Depot, built 1912 - On site, Lewis County Museum Kelso - 2nd Depot, built 1912 - On site, Kelso Multimodal Transportation Center Vancouver - Shared with SP&S, built 1910 - On site, Amtrak Depot Grays Harbor Line Olympia - 2nd Depot, built 1967 - On site, unused Hoquiam - 2nd Depot, built 1914 - On site, Department of Licensing Seattle-Sumas Branch Fremont* - 2nd Depot, built 1913 - On site, houses coffeeshop and salon Bellingham Branch Bellingham* - 2nd Depot, converted from freighthouse in 1935 - On site, Whatcom Transit Authority Bus Depot Naches Branch Naches* - 1st Depot, built 1908 - On site, Visitors Center Tieton Branch Tieton* - 2nd Depot, built 1925 - Relocated in town, converted to church Sunnyside Line Grandview - 3rd Depot, built 1948 - On site, unused Sunnyside - 2nd Depot, built 1948 - On site, used as offices Buena* - 1st Depot, built 1917 - Moved to farm 1.5 miles SE of Donald, storage Walla Walla Branch Walla Walla - 2nd Depot, built 1914 - On site, Jacobi's Cafe Dayton - 1st Depot, built c. 1890 - Moved to 4th and Spring, residence Lewiston Branch Pullman - 3rd Depot, built 1916 - On site, used as offices Built by Seattle, Lakeshore & Eastern: Snoqualmie Branch Issaquah* - 1st Depot, built 1888 - On site, Issaquah Depot Museum Snoqualmie Falls - 1st Depot, built unk - On site, under refurbishment as part of site improvements Snoqualmie* - 1st Depot, built 1890 - On site, Northwest Railway Museum Seattle-Sumas Branch Arlington - 1st Depot, built 1890 - Moved near Lake Riley, unused Built by Washington Central Railway: Coulee City Branch Coulee City - 1st Depot, built 1890 - Moved to 6th & Douglas, Senior Center Any and all comments are welcome. Kind Regards, Kyle
Sprague was moved across the street from it's original site. Do you know an address for the Olympia depot? For that matter, also need same for the UP office. It should still be there. You also need to add the Snoqualmie Falls depot. Vancouver?
Thanks for the reminders, I added Snoqualmie Falls and Vancouver, along with Arlington, which I'd somehow forgotten. The Northern Pacific Depot at Olympia is at or about 721 Columbia St. SW, while the Union Pacific building, or at least what's left of it, is at the SE corner of 4th & Adams.
When thinking of how many depots once stood, even when I was a boy, it is rather sad. Better these, than none at all, but still sad. Have you seen the Clive Carter book? Best listing available of what used to be, in Washington. But even it has errors and omissions.
It's really almost hard to believe. Even the ones lost since I've been around is a significant number. Pitiful losses like the old depot at Lester. I do have the Carter book. I agree that it's a bit limited in some aspects, but overall it's an invaluable resource for learning about what was, and what could still be around. I just wish there was a similar resource for Oregon. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Back in 1989 we took Amtrak from Phoenix to Spokane, and my recollection is that at that time, Amtrak used the old NP depot in Spokane. Where do they stop now??
Amtrak still stops at the old NP depot, the building was significantly renovated in 1994 and is now an intermodal center serving both Amtrak and Greyhound.
There was an article I found one time while killing time browsing the net where the Lester depot was examined for a possible move to North Bend. This move was supposed to happen sometime around the early-mid 80s. The structure was deemed to deteriorated to move.......so it was burned by the RR. Such a sad loss.
I was involved with this effort. The primary reason was cost. And impatience on the part of BN. Plus, the last couple of years it stood, there was more vandalism and deterioration, which pushed the idea well past the realm of possibility. Very sad, indeed. But reality bites sometimes. After the cost of moving, were those expenses of restoration and modifications to meet all the present era 'must have or else' codes. It was much easier to simply build a structure from scratch, which had characteristics of other local buildings, NP and MILW. The exterior frills were also enough to quiet those few locals who still insisted upon the completely failed NB "Swissification" (Alpine theme/Leavenworth copycatting) theme.
A sad story, but unfortunately all too common in smaller towns. A shame from a historic standpoint, however. Lester was the last of the two-story frame NP depots in the state, other than Coulee City, which lost its upper story. The only similar ones to survive are the MILW depot at Morton and the UP depot at Dayton. The "Swissification" kind of seems like it would have been a lost cause to begin with, iconic places like Twede's Cafe and the North Bend Theater would have just lost what makes them unique.
True. The Morton depot is extra special, being the sole surviving Tacoma Eastern RR depot out along those lines. But Coulee City, with that stucco effect and all, I wonder how many railfan explorers overlook it today? Nicely camouflaged! It was a lost cause. What little was done, was done cheaply and simply looked tacky. It was embarrassing! After a few years it started to look like h-e-double toothpicks, especiallya s only a part of teh town even participated. Keep in mind, this was when North Bend had yet to be bypassed by the I-90 relocation, which was their fear/motivation. The small town was still small, as was the all of the Upper Snoqualmie Valley population. Back before the old Mar-T became Twede's. (An interesting name change, which involved being able to keep the old signage close to original.) There were still a small hand full of old time, "powerful", men who influenced the area. (George W, Sr., George M, Troy H were that core.) They latched onto it and would not let go, despite many outside studies, including one by some folks at the U of W. That latter study said what many of us knew, copycatting would fail, location was wrong, etc, etc. It was this depot effort which we used to tip the scales, starting winter of 1986. Imagine what you see today, as a fictional 'Swiss' station, sporting a clock tower, wrought iron, etc, etc. UGH!!! They had never even looked at prototype NW US depots, to see what was possible. Another area resident and I got together and gave a presentation at a city council meeting. The audience was not large, but you should have seen their faces and heard the undercurrent of talking amongst themselves. In less than one hour, Swissification was dying! Whoopee! The very next meeting was specially called, and we were both there again. This time I brought along full sized blueprints and spread them out on tables for viewing. David circulated and spoke with anyone interested, or not. While I stood by the paperwork an explained possibilities. By the end of that session, even the hard case old timers came up to us and spoke acceptingly. They all knew me anyway, as my family had done business with them. Then after I was an adult, I was in their stores as well. The depot standing today was designed using influence of NP, MILW and the SLS&E depot in Snoqualmie. Yes. The NB folks even insisted upon stained colored glass work, as in Snoqualmie. Ha ha. Unfortunately, as it was landscaped, exterior photos of the building are not easy.
I was always under the assumption (and you know what happens when we ASSUME) that the North Bend depot was of MILW heritage. That was until recently when I saw a map of the original track layout in North Bend and realized the depot sat across the tracks from Twede's. Then after some research I found that it was built by the city of North Bend. On another note......the current mayor of North Bend (who I personally know) has visions of turning North Bend into a more modern day small town. I personally think that is the wrong thing to do with a small town with character like North Bend. But hey,,,,what the he!! do I know. Ryan
Argh. I cannot think of who finally ended up as the architect for the new NB depot. To begin with, none other than John Morse, a much renowned name out of Seattle, was in the picture. His son, David H. Morse was also involved. As I recall the NP was demolished in 1949. The MILW depot was several blocks from the NP. Over on Ballarat Street, where the trail is now. The water tower footings are still in place, on the west side of Ballarat. The MILW depot was across the street from that new building by the water tower footings, right across from the west house track switch. An old house which was torn down to build that new structure, I was in many times during my life. Our family knew the people who lived there. Real nice folks, sadly now long gone. Personally, I liked the town much better when Arlen Reno was mayor. Oh well. I absolutely loathe that miniature traffic circle at the east end of the main drag. Ugh. Those are a complete PITA! I sure still remember the old NP Highway 10 crossing right there. Bumped over that and the MILW tracks at Tanner so many, many times.
News on the Cheney station, BNSF, or their contractor, has applied for a permit to demolish the depot in Cheney in anticipation of the double tracking of the mainline from Sandpoint ID, to Pasco, WA.
Guys on facebook are saying get there ASAP if you want to get photos. Guess guys have already been ran off the property in the last few weeks.
What a shame. Cheney's is one of the more unique depots left in the state. That, and one of the few in that part of eastern Washington, but I guess that's what was bound to happen when it's a railroad-owned one still on the original site. Too bad nothing was organized to save the old building. For as much as this state sometimes claims to support historic preservation, sometimes it seems there is remarkably little of it being done...the Blaine depot's probably next...
The most recent news states that a deal presented to the city to save the depot was voted down by the city council on April 8th. Sounds like demolition is scheduled to move forward within the next two months. In other news, I discovered today another ex-NP depot that had managed to survive until sometime in 2010 before being demolished due to structural deficiency. The building was the NP Roslyn Branch depot at Ronald, built in 1916. According to a book on Ronald's history, it was sold and moved down the hill where it became a local tavern and gas station. Since then it had sat vacant for many years until the owner had it knocked down. On a positive note, I found out that I had managed to capture a picture of the old Ronald depot back in 2009, completely unaware at the time of its hidden history.
I just don't understand what is wrong with people. I guess that Cheney, being a hip, modern college town is just too sophisticated for historic preservation. Being a college town, they probably don't teach history anyhow... They're too busy partying, worrying about making drugs legal, getting tattoos, skateboarding, etc. Wow. I'd forgotten all about that Ronald depot. Lucky you, for catching a photo!
Good news! Despite the vote by the city council, a group of Cheney citizens has rallied to save the old depot. Apparently BNSF has agreed to hold of on demolition while the group, Save our Station, investigates avenues for relocating the building away from the tracks. While the city cannot provide funding to save the building, it has declared its support of the group and will work with it to come to a favorable solution. In addition, it seems a doctor in Alaska whose family came from Cheney is willing to donate a significant sum of money once a concrete plan for saving the depot has come to fruition. So, it seems not all hope is lost for the Cheney depot. More information may be found in a Spokane Spokesman-Review article: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/may/29/cheney-residents-rally-to-save-train-depot/ Updates on Cheney's progress with the depot can be seen on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nprrdepot
