If you know me at all, you know I love abandoned buildings, trains and a whole host of other things. This drone flight gave me an opportunity to combine a couple of those things into one!
I’m not sure of the age of the Hamilton Train Station, but it’s been around for a long time and unfortunately has fallen into disrepair. This is particularly unfortunate because at last check, Amtrack still does passenger service in the city. The passengers have to stand out on the sidewalk in the middle of the night to meet the train.
The building came under scrutiny recently because of it’s proximity to the active tracks (It was a train station of course!). CSX needs to run larger loads up the tracks and can’t because of clearance to the building. There was discussion of tearing it down. Fortunately there was sufficient outcry that the city considered it and I believe has decided to move the station and restore it. In any case, work has actively started at the location and I decided I wanted to capture some video of it in it’s current condition and position.
It’s a beautiful old building. I’m hopeful it can be successfully preserved.
I’m trying to stay on top of what’s happening to the station, so here’s some links I’ve collected. I’ll update this if I find more:
- Wikipedia article on the Hamilton Station
- A page on Butler County train stations, past and present!
- WCPO – Plans to save train station in the works – April 2020
- HJN – Hamilton decides how to move train station – August 2021
- HJN – Moving Hamilton’s train station may be more troublesome – August 2021
- HJN – Hamilton planning new Amtrak stations – January 2022
