Hundreds have gathered on the platform to watch as UP 4014 arrives in Little Rock at Little Rock Union Station. The time is 2:36 as 4014 has come to a stop to allow the hundreds on the platform to take pictures before continuing over to Jenks Shop for display tomorrow. (Note the clock being hit by the sun was displaying the wrong time.)
The grand Little Rock Union Station - this is the last of three stations to stand on this property. The first was built by the Cairo and Fulton in 1872-73. This wooden depot had a ticket office, dining room, waiting rooms, and other passenger ares on the ground floor, while the second floor had a hotel. By 1906, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad, (which resulted from the C&F merging with St Louis & Iron Mountain Railroads) had decided a larger station was needed, and the original station was demolished. The next station designed by St. Louis Architect Theodore C. Link was built of brick with a concrete foundation. The design was an incorporation of Renaissance Revival and Gothic Revival, costing $750,000. This included a high clock tower and entrance loggia. 13 years after its completion on the date of April 7th 1920 it was destroyed by a fire. The Missouri Pacific (which had taken over the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad) intended to rebuild the station and and allow the Cotton Belt and the Rock Island to access the station. Architect E.M. Tucker of St. Louis designed the rebuilt station incorporating the original clock tower and entrance loggia which had miraculously survived the fire. In the end the the Cotton Belt and the Rock Island never used the station. Service to the station ceased on the first day of Amtrak until later when the Inter-American was expanded north to Little Rock. The Inter-American would later become the Texas Eagle. The Station is currently owned Bailey Properties which rents out office space out of the building.
