St. Petersburg station (Amtrak)

St. Petersburg
The Silver Star at the station in 1982
Location 3601 31st Street North
St. Petersburg, Florida
United States
Coordinates 27°48′19″N 82°40′33″W / 27.805354°N 82.675897°W / 27.805354; -82.675897Coordinates: 27°48′19″N 82°40′33″W / 27.805354°N 82.675897°W / 27.805354; -82.675897
Owned by CSX Transportation
Line(s) Clearwater Subdivision
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 1
History
Opened 1963
Closed February 1, 1984
Services
  Former services  
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
TerminusSilver Meteor
Clearwater
toward New York
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
TerminusSouth Wind
Clearwater
toward Jacksonville

St. Petersburg station was a passenger train station in St. Petersburg, Florida. Located northwest of downtown, its former address was 3601 31st Street North,[1] though access to the site is now only from 37th Avenue North.

History

Atlantic Coast Line

The station was built in 1963 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and was the third station in the city's history built to serve Atlantic Coast Line passenger trains. It replaced a 1913 downtown St. Petersburg facility, following the city's request that rail service be relocated away from the downtown area.[2] The first station in St. Petersburg, built by the Orange Belt Railway shortly after its arrival in 1888, was located on 1st Avenue South where Priatek Plaza now stands.[3]

Seaboard Coast Line

By 1968, the station's operations came under the banner of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, formed by the merger of Atlantic Coast Line with rival company Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The two formerly independent passenger operations were consolidated at this location, resulting in the closure of St. Petersburg's Seaboard Air Line Station.[4]

Amtrak

The station's service under Seaboard Coast Line continued until 1971, when Amtrak assumed operation of most of the nation's passenger rail service. Assigned station code STP, the St. Petersburg Amtrak Station was serviced by trains such as the Floridian and the Silver Meteor. On February 1, 1984, passenger rail service to St. Petersburg came to an end following the discontinuation of all Amtrak rail services in Pinellas County.[5] CSX did not have enough funding to maintain the bridge across the bay. Operations continued from the St. Petersburg station for Amtrak's Thruway Motorcoach bus service, linking passengers to rail connections in Tampa and Orlando. The station served as a boarding location for the bus service until the 1990s, when the station was closed.

Current status

The current Amtrak bus station in a shopping center in Pinellas Park, Florida, in 2016.

After its usage as a train station ended, the former St. Petersburg station was renovated for use by a pharmaceutical company.[2] The trackside awning that covered the platform, along with the block lettering "Saint Petersburg" were removed and disposed of in an early 2008 effort to "commercialize" the property. All traces of the property's link to rail history were removed, save for a slight concrete rise on the South end of the tracks where the edge of the platform once stood, and the secondary platforms, which served as picnic and storage areas. As of 2016, the station building is unoccupied and for sale.

Amtrak continues to offer Thruway Motorcoach service for St. Petersburg and all of Pinellas County through a station located in Pinellas Park, Florida. The Clearwater-St. Petersburg Amtrak Station retains the STP Amtrak code previously used by the 1963 St. Petersburg station.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/stpetersburg.htm Trainweb.org
  2. 1 2 Mulligan, M.: "Railroad Depots of Central Florida", page 47-48. Arcadia Publishing, 2008.
  3. ↑ Luisi 2010, p. 14.
  4. ↑ Yogman, Ron (17 February 1972), "Cox Lumber Buys Seaboard Station", The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg).
  5. ↑ Luisi 2010, p. 116.
  6. ↑ http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/Station_Hours_Popup&pAssetID=1229726269556&c=am2Station#S

Bibliography

  • Luisi, Vincent (2010), Railroading in Pinellas County (1st ed.), Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7385-8550-5
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