Lehigh Valley Train Station - Ithaca, New York
N 42° 26.480 W 076° 30.780
18T E 375565 N 4699887
If you care to stay overnight in a sleeper car...then come to the Lehigh Valley Train Station in Ithaca, New York!
Waymark Code: WM9ZC5
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2010
Views: 11
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The Lehigh Valley Railroad Station has served Ithacans since 1885. On February 4, 1961, train #609 was the last to pass through Ithaca. Since then it has become home to The Station Restaurant and Sleeping Cars.
"The Ithaca depot was constructed in 1898 by local Ithaca architect A.B. Wood. The yellow pressed brick station was done in a Colonial Revival motif and has Romanesque style arches incorporated into it. With a status as an important passenger station, the railroad furnished the station with a high quality interior, much of which is still intact today.
Ithaca was so important to the railroad that in addition to the station, it also had a downtown ticket office at State and Aurora Streets. Several generations of Cornell students and alumni would recall with pleasure arriving and departing from the Ithaca depot. In Autumn, football specials brought in crowds for the games. The presence of Cornell University also gave the railroad it’s trademark "Cornell red" colors, used extensively in later days on the Valley’s classic Alco & EMD diesel fleet.
After World War II, the railroad sought to modernize and streamline itself in the robust but changing economy. The late 1940’s saw the demise of steam, and cutbacks in passenger service. The railroad would give up it’s passenger service altogether in 1961. By then it was only a shadow of it’s former glory.
The tracks were removed but the depot was spared. Today the station houses a fine restaurant. One can dine in the former waiting room. While your meal is being prepared, view the displays of railroadiana and listen carefully for the ghost train whistles of the Lehigh Valley railroad."
During it's glory years, the Lehigh Valley carried passengers, coal and milk from New York to Pennsylvania, from Ithaca to Buffalo.