Picture, Picture, On The Wall: What's My Favorite Station Of Them All?

    There is no day like National Train Day.  It was Saturday, May 12th.  I had the day off from work, and I was in no better mood for a train ride.  National Train Day is the most fascinating day of the year.  In 2008, my brother and I took the train from Newark, NJ to Baltimore.  We visited the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum.  I had a grand old time.  This year, I couldn’t help but travel to my favorite railroad destination, the city home to my favorite train terminal, Washington DC.  Railroad historians call Chicago the United States’s railroad capital.  Allow me to differ with them.  There’s only one city with the utmost “monumental” flavor, and a city that I consider the passenger train capital of the nation.  As a long time Amtrak traveler, I rightfully call Washington DC’s Union Station the king of the hill.  
    
    I have been traveling to Washington DC by train since I was five years old.  I remember the station being completely encased in scaffolding.  In the 1980s, Union Station was undergoing a massive restoration.  It was being restored to its former glory.  My family and I had to walk through a maze of pedestrian corridors from the platform area to the station entrance and vice versa.  In the fall of 1987, we drove down with friends from home.  What a big mistake!  The traffic was horrendous.  It took all day to get there.  Never would I drive to Washington again.  The train turned out to be the best way to travel to Washington.  Memorial Day weekend of 1988, we visited Washington by train.  The station was not reopened yet.  It was a fun weekend.  I was celebrating my eleventh birthday.  We took the Metroliner.  Remember the Metroliner?  The Metroliner was the precursor to the Acela.  The ride was wonderful. 

    The following year, my family and I to returned to Washington.  Union Station was fully restored and reopened.  Again, we took the Metroliner.  For my very first time, I walked into the station’s grandeur.  I could not get over how glorious the station looked.  It looked so sparkling new, that I could see my reflection in the floor tiles.  The one part of the station’s boarding area that caught my attention was “The Great Train Store”.  The moment we entered the station, I nearly got lost in the store.  It wasn’t a big place.  I just happened to get obsessed by everything inside.  All of a sudden, I had my eyes fixed on an HO Scale Amtrak E-60 electric engine in the display case.  My brother and I were building my brand new train table at home.  I was staring at the engine for a long while.  Well, guess what!  Before boarding our train home, my parents bought it for my twelfth birthday.  I was happier than a kid in a candy store.  It sure was a memorable trip home.

    This year, National Train Day couldn’t have meant more to me.  I visited Washington once again.  My brother and I took a Northeast Regional train.  We arrived late morning.  Besides sight seeing, I had an important task on my to-do list.  My bedroom had recently been repainted.  It was repainted a Languid Blue, closely similar to Amtrak’s blue.  To dress up one of my walls, I wanted to put together a framed collage of Union Station.  From a variety of angles, my brother and I began taking pictures of the station.  We couldn’t take pictures of the main grandeur, due to the heavy duty scaffolding. The station’s ornate ninety-six foot high ceiling was being repaired from the August 2011 earthquake. 

    Railroad photography is one of my favorite hobbies.  I couldn’t have been more excited about the idea of having a framed collage of Union Station in my room.  We took pictures of five major points of interest; the station’s front facade, the arched portico, the station’s platform area, the former waiting area (once known as the world’s largest room), and finally a shot of the tracks from atop the station’s parking garage.  It will be a framed and matted collage which will be well-liked by all.  That same day, we went on the DC Ducks Tour.  The tour conveniently began and ended at where else but Union Station.  It was an exciting tour.  I would most likely do that tour again.  Later on, we took the subway to attend mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  It was our first time there since 1988.  That whole entire day, Union Station was our home base.  From the DC Ducks Tour, to my photography project, to attending mass, Union Station was the place to be.  A beautiful Saturday in May spent at the most beautiful train terminal in the world.

    Great memories last forever.  They are forged from the innocence of childhood to unforgettable experiences in present day.  I have visited many famous train stations around the United States.  I have been to San Diego’s Union Station, Denver’s Union Station, New York City’s Penn Station, Boston South Station, Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, and Baltimore’s Penn Station.  Washington DC’s Union Station beats them all.  Washington DC’s Union Station has played a substantial part in my life as a railroader.  Every railroader has his or her favorite railroad terminal.  For every railroader’s favorite station, for whatever the rhyme or reason, a special bond is formed.  From arriving at Washington DC’s Union Station for the very first time, to my memories of its restoration, to finally seeing it in all its glory, to an Amtrak job interview, and in the many railroad memories to follow, it holds a true place in my heart.  Like all the other buildings around Washington, Union Station plays a "monumental" role in my railroading life.  Truthfully, it presents itself as a symbol showing how great it feels to be a railroader and an American.