A few weeks ago, we looked at some of America’s great train stations lost to the wrecking ball. In long hours of photo research on that story, we happened across quite a few pictures of abandoned subway stations and were impressed by their poignant beauty. Bringing together a small collection of them here is not meant to suggest that they necessarily represent a great loss to their local transit networks–in many cases, they were redundant or underused facilities. But, vital or not, they remain interesting artifacts of how our transit networks evolve and abide.

One notable exception is Rochester’s subway system, which was shut down entirely in the 1950s. It was a full and functional small city network and might be sorely missed at some future date–if it isn’t already. Another is Cincinnati’s, which was nearly completed in the 20s and would have been a great asset to the city.

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The Botanic Gardens station in Glasgow was closed in 1939, converted into a nightclub, and partially destroyed by fire in 1970.

[Flickr: Flash Brian]

The Botanic Gardens station from above.

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We have already looked at 10 impressive US train stations that were bulldozed and replaced with lesser structures, if they were replaced at all. Here are six more stops on our tour of the nation’s legacy of demolished depots.

1. Columbus Union Station

In 1897, Columbus opened its third Union Station, a large complex designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. The building, expansive compared to previous facilities to handle additional traffic, had a monumental arched facade along High Street and a large train shed. Over time, elements of the structure were removed until the whole station was demolished in 1979 after Amtrak service ceased in 1977. Now a wacky convention center and several lanes of I-670 stand in its place.

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These relics of Eisenhower-era planning are being crowded out by Flying J truck stops and KFC Expresses and the like, we learn in an excellent new piece over at Good. And because they require government funding to keep the lawns looking sharp and the pipes unclogged, state officials are coming to see them as an unnecessary expense.

But, of course, something is being lost. Quoted in the piece is a graduate student doing her dissertation on rest stops (!), who observes, “This a record of the culture of our transportation history, how the interstate system changed the whole dynamic of our country dramatically.”

It’s also worth keeping in mind that these rest areas are a public space–a shared non-commercial zone. People can stretch their legs, take a whiz and walk the dog without feeling like they need to buy junk food or smile guiltily at the underpaid counter clerk if they aren’t planning to spend any money. It’s a fundamentally different experience than stopping at a McDonalds.

The structures are also just heart-wrenchingly kitchy. One picture in Good’s rest area gallery shows a bathroom wall tiled with a landscape mosaic of an oil jack and oversized cows (see it after the jump).

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Man, could ChiChi 133 mess up a mailbox with a Sharpie. And let Cliff 159 anywhere near a stopped subway car and everybody was going to know about it in a big bold puffy-lettered way for months to come.

Both young men are featured in Style Wars, a 1983 PBS documentary about graffiti artists and what turned out to be the roots of hip hop culture. Now these kids just look adorable, making their crazy little self-glorifying marks in that retrospectively innocent world. Who was George W. Bush? Just the vice president’s hard-drinking, underachieving brat of a son.

The video itself is amusing and energizing. If you enjoy it–and you will–there’s more taggin’ fun after the jump. It’s our little tribute to the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, which we’re hoping to see and write about over the weekend (even though Tony Scott sucks and the tenor of the reviews is not encouraging). While this remake takes place in the graffiti-free era, the original came from NYC’s period of heavily decorated train cars.

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SUPERTRAIN has often been called the worst TV show ever made. It was definitely the most expensive at the time (1979) and almost bankrupted NBC when nobody tuned in to watch it. The series was canceled after nine episodes. But that’s all ancient history. Three decades later, it stands as an exquisite piece of entertainment.

The plot: an evil train-obsessed corporate magnate has built a new transcontinental high speed railroad to address “the pitiful state of rail passenger travel in this country today.” On it will run an “atom powered steam turbine machine” that’s “capable of crossing this country in… 36 hours!” (The company’s board members all gasp at the idea–but, for god’s sake, couldn’t they have come up with a more exciting technological premise than a train that goes 90 mph? Especially since bullet trains going twice that fast had already been in service in Japan for more than a decade at that point–and this one is “atom powered” and all?)

With its ample production budget, SUPERTRAIN attracted a rich array of period talent, including Vickie Lawrence (aka Momma for Momma’s Family), retired footballing superstar Don Meredith, and Alan Alda’s dad. Plus this gem of credit line: “Charlie Brill as Robert, the Hairdresser.”

If, after watching the opening minutes of pilot episode (and listening to that amazing theme song), you’re hooked, the action continues after the jump.

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When your city is in the midst of a slow-motion extinction, what’s the best course of action? According to Detroit’s city council, due prudence requires immediately leveling the most magnificent structure in town.

Michigan Central Station, the century-old Beaux Arts train depot that was the encore act of the architects who designed New York’s Grand Central Station, is one of Detroit’s landmark buildings. While it has not been in use for two decades–and like pretty much everything else in the city has been much abused by vandals and scavengers–various plans have been circulating to renovate it and turn it into something useful like a police station. Or mildly useful like a convention center. Or useless but potentially profitable like a casino.

But last week the council voted for a resolution calling for an “emergency demolition.”

“I want it down,” said one councilwoman.

According to our trusty friends over at Wikipedia, here are some very impressive design details of Michigan Central:

The main waiting room on the main floor was modeled after an ancient Roman bathhouse with walls of marble. The building also housed a large hall adorned with Doric columns and contained the ticket office and arcade shops. Beyond the arcade was the concourse, which had brick walls and a large copper skylight. From here, passengers would walk down a ramp to the departing train platforms, 11 tracks in all. Below the tracks and building is a large area for baggage, mail, and other office building functions.

Predictably, some citizens are questioning the wisdom of tearing down the structure, including the author of this letter to the editor that ran in the Detroit Free Press:

As someone who lives just around the block from Michigan Central Depot, I oppose tearing it down. I’m skeptical that it is depressing my property value. Are there really people who would gladly buy an old home in a historic neighborhood known for its architecture if only it weren’t for an old, historic building known for its architecture? Is Corktown really losing potential home buyers to Detroit neighborhoods that don’t have train stations? If anything, the train station attracts the people Corktown needs: those who find beauty in the city and are willing to work hard to preserve it. The neighborhood wouldn’t be the same without it.
-Paul Sewick, Detroit

While it’s still unclear whether the forces of good will ultimately be able to prevail over the forces of stupidity, one hopeful note is that the owner the building, billionaire Manuel Moroun, isn’t eager to see it knocked down. “It’s easy to destroy things and hard to save them,” says the president of Moroun’s management company..

Check out a stunning video sequence of the station (from Godfrey Reggio’s film Naqoyqatsi) after the jump. The Michigan Central footage begins at about 1:10 in the clip. The soundtrack is composed by Philip Glass, played by Yo-Yo Ma.

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This is a lovely little film that I saw on TreeHugger this afternoon, but which comes from a site called “YouTube” (which seems to be a repository for many and disparate short movies.)

The seven minutes of footage were shot from a Barcelona streetcar in 1908. Cyclists ride playfully, weaving in front of the trolley. Pedestrians boldly assert themselves. It is a city poignantly alive with people who are now all dead — the effect is simultaneously uplifting and haunting.

Oh, and one YouTube commenter thinks he sees Adolf Hitler standing along the right side of the road at 5:39. (What do you think, gentle reader?)

Anyway, it’s a marvelous and addictive short film. I just watched it three times straight through.

Click below for another of these YouTube flicks–this one in vibrant Technicolor. It traces the same route in present day Barcelona.

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If you are of a certain age, you’ll remember some of these.

There’s one with the amazingly catchy show tune-style chorus of “All aboard! All aboard! All aboard Amtrak!” And one, clearly from the mid-70s, with a lounge singer crooning about the virtues of train travel (the latter also features an intimate moment of a mustachioed groom carries his bride over the threshold of the sleeper cabin.) In both there are mentions of strange artifacts like “Yellow Pages” and “travel agents.”

But these ads also underscore that for more than 30 years, Amtrak has been a static entity. Adjusting for hair styles and production fads, the spots from the Ford administration could still be running today. The only substantive development that your average passenger could point to in the last three decades would be the introduction of high-speed Acela service in late 2000 (a year behind schedule).

The $8 billion in rail funding that Obama demanded be in the stimulus package probably marks the beginning of a new age of rail in this country. (With all due modesty we’ll note that the Infrastructurist broke the story that it was Obama who demanded the $8 billion for high speed rail funding — four days before this Politico piece re-broke it.) Which probably means Amtrak should get a new ad agency.