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Memphis Union Station

Memphis Union Station was a passenger terminal in Memphis, Tennessee, completed in 1912. The terminal, was built in the Beaux-Arts style. It was situated approximately two blocks east of the other major Memphis railroad terminal, Memphis Grand Central Station. Memphis Union Station's purpose was to unite the passenger and express operations of the major railway lines, principally between east and west. Traffic between the north and the south was generally carried out from Memphis Grand Central Station, where operations were large enough to justify a separate station two blocks to the west of Union Station. The terminal tracks at the Union Station were of a stub-end design, meaning that the trains had to back on the same track, when they are leaving  the station's platforms. The station also had additional tracks for storage and servicing of passenger cars as well as a roundhouse and turntable, allowing locomotives to be serviced on site. As passenger train traffic declined after World War II, studies were done on consolidating all Memphis train operations in either Union Station or Central Station. However, the various railroads could never agree on consolidation arrangements, and Memphis Union Station continued in operation into the early 1960s  The station  was closed in 1964. After a long court battle part of the station re-opened in 1966 and was again closed for a second and final time on in 1968. The Memphis Union Station property was sold to the United States Postal Service for construction of a new mail sorting facility, and the station was demolished by February 1969.

Text on the reverse of the postcard: "Union Station has an unsurpassed system of transportation.Ten trunk line railroads, with seventeen branches, make it a hub of great wheel, whose spokes stretch out to the Pacific, Atlantic, the Great Lakes, and the Golf of Mexico."

November 23nd 2024

 

 
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