Youngstown station is a former passenger railroad station in Youngstown, Ohio. The station is on the ex Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and was a B&O passenger station for most of the twentieth century. The station was built in 1905 and operated as a passenger station until 1971, when the B&O yielded passenger train service to Amtrak.Camp, Mark J. 'Railroad Depots of Northeast Ohio,' Arcadia Publishing, 2007, p. 30. It was later a passenger station for Amtrak through the 1990s and early 2000s.
History
The station was built in 1905 at the cost of $70,000. It was located on the southern banks of the Mahoning River. This was in contrast to competing stations of the Erie, New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads located in the city's downtown. The B&O raised the railroad tracks to the level of the building's second floor after river flooding of the area, which reached an epic level in March 1913.Mahoning Valley Historical Society, "The Flood of 1913," March 14, 2013 https://mahoninghistory.org/2013/03/14/the-great-flood-of-1913/ In 1926 the company added a freight house.
Passenger trains The B&O's famed Capitol Limited ran through the city, but it did not stop there until later years. Noted passenger trains at 1956 included:
Ambassador – Detroit–Baltimore Cleveland Night Express – Cleveland–Baltimore Washingtonian – Cleveland–Baltimore Columbian – Chicago–Washington, D.C. Shenandoah – Chicago–Jersey City
Declining years The B&O terminated several trains running through Youngstown over the course of the 1960s. By 1964, the B&O had eliminated the trains to Cleveland. Detroit-bound travelers would need to transfer at Deshler for the Cincinnatian or the Night Express to Detroit.
The B&O in 1964 changed the Capitol Limited to the Capitol. The renamed train began stopping at intermediate stations such as Youngstown. By 1965, only this station and the Erie station on West Commerce Street remained as passenger stations in Youngstown.
In the station's final years the station was serving the Capitol Limited (name restored) and an unnamed day train from Akron to Washington. In 1971 Amtrak took over passenger train operations from the Baltimore & Ohio and this marked the end of passenger trains at the Youngstown station. All remaining rail traffic was strictly freight oriented.
Amtrak In the mid-1980s the city bought the station building, amidst anticipation that the building would be demolished. In 1991 a restaurant took over the location. From 1990 to 1995 the station served Amtrak's Broadway Limited (Chicago-New York).Amtrak timetable, April 7, 1991, 50Amtrak timetable, October 29, 1995, struck from table It was replaced in 1997 with the Three Rivers, which served Youngstown until its 2005 discontinuance.Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. .Amtrak timetable, May 11, 1997, 26Amtrak timetable, April 25, 2005, struck from table
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