Looking for a picture or a drawing of the ACL Charleston North Station which was in use 1927 to 1956 when the new station was built north of the old site. The structure had the Spanish design front and back covering a rather small conventional depot with a covered portico in the back. What color was it and what did it look like?

-- mike west (west9628@bellsouth.net), November 02, 2004

Answers

Mike,

To my knowledge, no drawings of Charleston North Station have surfaced. If you can get your hands on Bill Griffin's ACL book, it contains an excellent photo of the station. A 1932 vaulation photograph that appeared in an early issue of Lines South (sorry I can not provide a specific issue number) showed the station to have a stuccoed exterior with a two-tone paint scheme - what colors were used is not known. In the 40s, the exterior appears to have been painted white and was covered by neatly manicured ivy.

I do not have access to my records, but I recall that a stand alone baggage room of similar design was constructed to the north of the station sometime in the early 40s. Also unique to this location was the use of buses painted in a version of ACL's purple, yellow, aluminum scheme. The buses were used to ferry passengers from the Charleston North Station to downtown Charleston (other than the Palmetto, ACL's premier passenger trains did not stop at the Charleston Union Station). Hope this helps. If you have any more questions just drop me an email.

-- Buddy Hill (palmettoLTD@hotmail.com), November 02, 2004.