(The following story by Will Jones and Chip Jones appeared on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on December 18.)
RICHMOND, Va. — Samuel H. Pryor stood on the sidewalk outside Main Street Station yesterday and gazed up at the restored downtown landmark.
“Beautiful, beautiful,” the 66-year-old longtime Richmonder said. “They did a great job. I’m so glad they brought [rail service] back downtown.”
After years of planning and work, the station that survived floods, fires and even conversion into a discount mall reopens for passenger service today. The first Amtrak train is scheduled to depart at 10:37 a.m. on its way from Washington to Newport News.
Yesterday, about 300 officials, train enthusiasts and others gathered at the 102-year-old station to celebrate the first phase of a $51.6 million renovation. The event had an early-1900s flavor, with station workers in period clothing and jazz ensembles playing such songs as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”
Standing on the platform, the crowd cheered and a few blew train whistles as a southbound locomotive rumbled into the station at 10:39 a.m. – two minutes late by a reporter’s watch. As the engine broke through a red, white and blue streamer hung across the track, confetti shot from barrels onto the crowd.
About 15 minutes later, a train heading west from Newport News got a similar reception. The trains carried municipal officials and other dignitaries, including U.S. Sen. George Allen, Rep. Robert C. Scott and former Gov. Linwood Holton.
“We all know that Richmond is right on track for a great future,” Mayor Rudolph C. McCollum Jr. shouted enthusiastically to the crowd. “Happy days are here again!”
The station’s revival is a key part of Richmond’s revitalization and transportation plans. City Manager Calvin D. Jamison predicted the station would spur investment in Shockoe Bottom, strengthen the region’s transportation network and promote tourism.
“That’s not bad for phase one,” he said. “The building doesn’t just have a history. It is our history.”
Standing on the platform, Bill Thorn recalled being there on Oct. 15, 1975, when the last passenger train left the station. On that day, a band played “Auld Lang Syne,” while Thorn and other rail supporters made speeches and held banners, including one that said, “Farewell Downtown Richmond Passenger Service: 1836-1975.”
“I’m glad to say we can now revise that,” Thorn said yesterday.
He expected to drive to Ashland today so he could board a train there and be among the first rail passengers to stop at the new Main Street Station.
On June 2, 1900, a not-quite 3-year-old John Skelton Williams, whose father was the president of Seaboard Air Line Railroad, helped celebrate the not-yet-complete Main Street Station by driving a ceremonial golden spike into a section of track.
Yesterday, Williams’ daughter, Marsden Williams of Richmond, used the same silver hammer in a ceremony to mark the station’s rebirth.
“I’ve always been fond of the building,” she said. “It’s quite a landmark. I hope it draws new interest and traffic to this part of town.”
Holton rode to yesterday’s ceremony in a well-kept Amtrak coach from the Staples Mill Station. The eight-mile ride took about 25 minutes.
“This is another step toward a first-class, national passenger rail system,” said Holton, a former member of Amtrak’s board of directors. “Congress collectively is beginning to realize that passenger rail is a public utility and has to be subsidized just like highways and airways.”
While acknowledging the limited service at Main Street – four trains a day between Washington and Newport News – Holton said Richmond’s station revival could help boost rail ridership in Virginia.
Within three years, he predicted, “You’ll be able to get from Richmond to Washington in an hour and a half.”
Currently, the trip is scheduled to take 21?2 hours from Staples Mill Station. Riding from Main Street Station is expected to add at least 27 minutes – creating about a three-hour trip, according to Amtrak.
Other municipal officials riding the ceremonial train predicted closer ties between their communities and the state capital.
“We have a fair number of commuters who work in downtown Richmond,” Fredericksburg Mayor William M. Beck said.
If more workers ride the train, he said, it means “we can take some pressure off the highway.”
Ashland Mayor Angela LaCombe said, “It gives Ashland and Richmond a greater connection,” for commuters and tourists alike.”
Her son had a simpler goal in mind as he looked out the window at the gritty industrial landscape leading into downtown.
“I’ve never been this south” on a train, said Avery LaCombe, 9. “The farthest I’ve been is Staples Mill.”