RTD Union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, terms Denver's Union Station a "lawless hellhole"

Safety

The union cited violent crime and drug activity, specifically marijuana smoke, as the problem.

South Torrington Railroad Station, Torrington Wyoming (Homesteader's Museum).

Above is a fisheye view of the South Torrington Railroad Station.  I used this view as its a long station, and to get the entire station in otherwise I would have had to walk across the highway, which was busy.

This station is unusual in that it was designed by noted National Park lodge architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival Style.  Originally built in 1926, it was extended in order to accommodate both passenger and freight service, with its original purpose being reflected in the fact that it remains right across the street from a sugar refinery.

As with so many other depots, this one is no longer used by the Union Pacific, but it's well-preserved and now used as the Goshen County Homesteader's Museum.

Union Pacific Depot, Rock Springs, Wyoming

Classic, retired, Union Pacific Depot in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Same depot, photographed on a snowier day, from the other side of the tracks.

Union Pacific freight station, Rock Springs.

For some reason, when I took the photographs above on August 6, 2015, I failed to take photos of the other railroad displays at the park where the depot is located.

I did that recently, although the weather was obviously not nearly as nice.

Green River, Wyoming, Union Pacific Depot and related facilities

Alaska Railroad Depot, Anchorage Alaska

Burlington Northern Depot, Casper Wyoming

 

This is the Burlington Northern Depot in Casper Wyoming.  It was built in 1916, which would place this building solidly in the era of the petroleum and livestock fueled economic boom that happened in Casper during World War One.

The following photographs were taken in June 2015 from a Ford Trimotor airplane.

Railroad scenes, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Rio Grande Depot, Salt Lake City Utah.

This very classic city train station in Salt Lake City was built in 1910. A beautiful structure, it now houses Utah's state historical offices, the Utah History Center and the Rio Grande Cafe.

The station is probably also emblematic, in some ways, of the decline in passenger rail service.  Only a few blocks off of downtown, the neighborhood can be a rough one at certain times of the day and the presence of police cars in these photographs isn't accidental, a there is a City of Salt Lake police station very near by.  Early in the morning large crowds of the homeless gather as a Catholic relief mission just across the street.

Union Pacific Depot, Rawlins Wyoming.

This is the Union Pacific Depot in Rawlins, Wyoming.  The depot was built in the late 19th Century.  Post cards from the early 20th Century show the depot with a nice lawn next to it.

Rawlins is a major Union Pacific town with a substantial rail yard today.  Indeed, in some of these photographs you can see a Union Pacific train in the yard.  But passenger service is long gone.

 The depot as viewed from one of Rawlins' main downtown streets.

The Union Pacific gifted the depot to Rawlins which has converted it into a train museum, a fitting use for a structure that played a major role in the life of the community.