Nostalgia & History > Inter-American at I&GN station - San Antonio -- Jan 78

(1) Some of you may remember travelling to San Antonio on the Inter-American during this period.
Here is the southbound on the Missouri Pacific opposite the I&GN (MP) station (would continue to Laredo).
The passengers taking the train south or north would board a bus at the Amtrak (SP) station a few miles away (where the Sunset Limited stopped and had a ticket agent).
They would be brought here to meet the train - the bus has arrived.
Passengers getting off would be taken back to the Amtrak station.

(2) Part of the old platforms can be seen to the right.
Route of the Eagles boxcar to the right (pic 1 and 2) was appropiate since this is the station they used.
The train was short this day. I believe it was only tri-weekly and it wouldn't be till June that enough sleeping cars had been converted to HEP to add to the Inter-American .

(3) This is as close as it got to the old station.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/18 17:16 by gcm.

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(4-7) Missouri Pacific passenger service ended here in 1970 and MP moved out soon after.
The beautiful station sat empty for 15 years (including these shots) before it was restored and became a bank.
In 2015 it became the headquarters for VIA Metropolitan Transit.
It was built in 1908.

Gary

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These are all wonderful old Amtrak and railroad photos. Also, in Photo 3, note the "RR No. 576" beneath the cab. I'm sure someone can explain it better, but I believe that SDP-40 576 had been traded in and many of its parts used to construct F40 253.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/18 12:28 by knotch8.

I was told by Murrel Hogue who had worked for Amtrak there, that it was known locally as "the Rabbit", since you could see so many of them there.

I rememeber being tranferred here by bus from SAS (Sunset connection) in September 1978, on the last day that the IA ran daily before converting to tri-weekly for the fall.

I rode the southbound IA to Laredo that fall. Don't remember where we stopped in San Antonio, but business was extremely heavy on the MoPac and we ran down the yard ladder on the east outside track near the TOFC circus ramp to get thru South San Antonio yard. Another interesting feature was a detour from Longview to Taylor that day due to an incident near Dallas. We made an extremely fast trip on the detour through Palestine on track that was not of the same quality it was on the Little Rock end.

What a grand station!!!
Thanks for sharing this beauty.
Bob

Nice shots!! Old MP RR T&E crews, based in San Antonio and worked between San Antonio and Laredo, TX. MP or Santa Fe RR train crews worked between Fort Worth and San Antonio. Old MP RR train crews based in Palestine, TX. Santa Fe train crews home based in Cleburne and Temple, TX. MP Engine crews between Taylor and San Antonio based in Palestine, TX and Santa Fe RR engine crews between Fort Worth and Taylor, based in Temple and Cleburne. Corrections are welcome.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/18 13:13 by RodneyZona.

Interesting discussion of the San Antonio MP/IGN station at
http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/history-rr-missouri-pacific-2.php

Gary, I was lucky enough to see this grand depot while still in MoP service with the Eagles in the summer of 1968 when I was a boy. The interior was beautiful. Saw the Texas Eagle and the Aztec Eagle come in.

This area was known as the "rabbit patch," a derisive nickname given to the area where the Inter-American stopped. The name was coined by Dr. Dan Monaghan, who was one of the more prominent advocates in Texas at that time, and who wrote a lengthy Amtrak column each month for the Clearance Cars, the newsletter of the Age of Steam Museum.

Here is a picture of train time at the IGN station in better days, in a photo by Murrel Hogue in July 1968.

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UP951West Wrote:
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> Gary, I was lucky enough to see this grand depot
> while still in MoP service with the Eagles in the
> summer of 1968 when I was a boy. The interior was
> beautiful. Saw the Texas Eagle and the Aztec Eagle
> come in.

That was great that you got to see it while it was still open.
The day I took these the front door to the station was open and a few of us saw (and took photos) of the inside.
Even after being abandoned for 7 years, I could tell just how beautiful the inside must have looked during its heyday.
Gary

Nice 57 Chevy 150 parked in front.
I shot the IA in Laredo in Feb.1977
and it had two or three E units and
many more cars.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.