Norfolk Terminal Station

{{Short description|Former union train station in Virginia}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

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| image = Norfolk Union Terminal Station.jpg

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| caption = Photo of the station {{circa|1914}}

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| coordinates = {{coord |display=inline,title|36.843475| -76.276117}}

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| line = Norfolk and Western Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Virginian Railway

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| opened = 1912

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| closed = 1962

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| years = 1963

| events = demolished

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| other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system=Norfolk and Western Railway|line=Main Line|left=Suffolk|system2=Virginian Railway|line2=Main Line|left2=Sunray}}

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Norfolk Terminal Station was a railroad union station located in Norfolk, Virginia, which served passenger trains and provided offices for the Norfolk and Western Railway, the original Norfolk Southern Railway (a regional carrier in Virginia and North Carolina which became part of and later lent its name to the much larger company known as Norfolk Southern in the 1980s) and the Virginian Railway. The N&W, Norfolk Southern, and Virginian's Norfolk terminal location stood in contrast to competitor railroads, such as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Southern Railway, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad which operated out of Cape Charles (Virginia), Newport News and Portsmouth, terminals outside of Norfolk.Official Guide of the Railways, 1949 edition index Customers took ferries or, later in the 20th century, buses from Norfolk to reach those other terminals.{{Cite web|title=1916 New City Map of Norfolk, Portsmouth and Vicinity, Virginia|url=https://smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org/digital/collection/p15987coll7/id/46|access-date=2020-08-13|website=smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org|language=en}} The terminal was located at 1200 East Main Street in Norfolk,{{Cite web|title=Norfolk Terminal Railway Building, 1931 - Norfolk, Virginia|url=https://smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org/digital/collection/p15987coll9/id/3398|access-date=2020-08-13|website=smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org|language=en|archive-date=2020-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812235800/https://smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org/digital/collection/p15987coll9/id/3398|url-status=dead}} near today's Harbor Park baseball stadium.

== History ==

File:Norfolk Terminal Station waiting room postcard.jpg

Norfolk Terminal Station was built following destruction by fire of the large wooden N&W passenger station{{Cite book|last1=Turin|first1=F.E.|url=http://library.logcollegepress.com/Squires%2C+William+Henry+Tappey%2C+Through+the+Years+in+Norfolk.pdf|title=Through the Years in Norfolk|last2=Squires|first2=W.H.T.|last3=Bennett|first3=M.E.|publisher=Norfolk Advertising Board/Printcraft Press|year=1936|location=Portsmouth, VA|pages=135}} on October 13, 1909. After a sharing agreement was reached and a terminal operating company were formed, the new brick building was opened in 1912. Offices of all three tenant railroads occupied the upper floors, with passenger facilities at the ground level. The General Offices of the Virginian Railway occupied the top three floors whereas N&W General Offices were located in Roanoke, Virginia.

With the decline of passenger rail travel, and the merger of the Virginian Railway into the Norfolk and Western in 1959, the station closed in 1962{{Cite web|last=Virginian-Pilot|first=The|title=As train use faded, so did Norfolk station|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/news/article_150b82dc-cd7c-5247-85d3-03fc6346769e.html|access-date=2020-08-06|website=pilotonline.com|date=5 April 2009 }} and was demolished in 1963.[http://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/norfolk-va-nfk/ Norfolk, VA - Great American Stations] A contract for the demolition was awarded to ABC Demolition, of Arlington, Virginia, for an undisclosed price.{{cite news| agency=Associated Press| title=Demolition Project| work=The Washington Post and Times-Herald| date=January 31, 1963| volume=86| issue=57| page=B-3}} Passenger service moved to Lambert's Point. In 2012 Amtrak opened a new Norfolk station in the vicinity of the former Norfolk Terminal Station.