Tucson station

Tucson, AZ
General information
Location	400 North Toole Avenue Tucson, Arizona United States
Coordinates	32°13′23″N 110°58′00″W
Owned by	City of Tucson
Line(s)	UP Gila Subdivision
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Sun Tran bus Sun Link streetcar
Construction
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: TUS
History
Opened	1907
Rebuilt	2004
Passengers
FY 2023	20,926 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Maricopa toward Los Angeles Sunset Limited Benson toward New Orleans Texas Eagle Benson toward Chicago
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Tempe Until 1996 reroute toward Los Angeles Sunset Limited Benson toward Miami Texas Eagle Benson toward Chicago Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Picacho toward Los Angeles Sunset Route Benson toward New Orleans

Tucson station is an Amtrak train depot in Tucson, Arizona, served three times a week by the combined Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle train.

History

The depot was built in 1907 by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). It was designed by the SP's architect, Daniel J. Patterson, who designed a number of depots during the same era, including the San Antonio Station.

Passenger services

In the mid-20th century, into the latter 1950s, four trains a day departed west and four trains a day went east:

• Departing west toward Los Angeles Union Station via Yuma in the morning:
  • Argonaut (bypassed Phoenix to the south) (to ca. 1957)
  • Sunset Limited (passed through Phoenix) (continues to operate today)
• Departing west toward Los Angeles Union Station via Phoenix and Yuma in the mid-afternoon and the evening:
  • Imperial (to 1958)
  • Golden State (to 1968)
• Departing east toward Chicago's LaSalle Street Station via the Golden State Route in the midnight hours:
  • Imperial
  • Golden State
• Departing east toward New Orleans Union Station via the Sunset Route and Houston in the daylight morning hours:
  • Sunset Limited
  • Argonaut

Recent decades

In 1998, the City purchased the entire depot property from the Union Pacific Railroad, which had absorbed the SP. Restoration of the main depot building and the three adjacent buildings, to their 1941 modernized Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style, was completed in 2004. Spanish Colonial Revival elements include the stuccoed brick walls, red clay roof tiles, and colorful, decorative tilework in the waiting room. The station and other railroad buildings are included as contributing resources to the National Register-listed Tucson Warehouse Historic District.

The Old Pueblo Trolley extended their historic streetcar line to the depot in 2009. Sun Link assumed operation of the line on July 25, 2014. The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is located in the old Records Vault building.

Proposed expansion

Tucson station is a proposed endpoint for planned train service to Phoenix.

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday statue

The Tucson Depot is where Frank Stilwell, suspected in the murder of Morgan Earp, was killed by Wyatt Earp in the company of Doc Holliday.

According to historian David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star, the Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday statue near the train depot commemorates the revenge killing of Frank Stilwell. On March 18, 1882, in the aftermath of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Morgan Earp was murdered by unknown killers, in Tombstone, Arizona. Two days later, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a few other men were escorting the injured Virgil Earp and his wife to Tucson, with their final destination being California. While at the Tucson train station, Wyatt Earp learned that Frank Stilwell, one of the individuals suspected in the Morgan Earp murder, was lurking in the area. Earp, Holliday, and the others pursued Stilwell along the train tracks, eventually catching and killing him.

External links

Media related to Tucson (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Tucson, AZ – Amtrak
• Tucson, AZ – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Tucson Amtrak station information
• Southern Arizona Transportation Museum – at the Depot.
• Arizona Rail Passenger Association: Tucson Depot history
• USA Rail Guide: "Tucson Amtrak Station & El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Depot" – by Train Web.