Mendota station

Mendota
The station building
Location	8th Street and 6th Avenue Mendota, IL 61342
Coordinates	41°32′59″N 89°07′02″W / 41.5498°N 89.1171°W / 41.5498; -89.1171Coordinates: 41°32′59″N 89°07′02″W / 41.5498°N 89.1171°W / 41.5498; -89.1171
Owned by	Mendota Museum and Historical Society
Line(s)	Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg   Southwest Chief
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Station code	MDT
History
Opened	February 23, 1888[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	24,019[2]  5.5%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Princeton toward Quincy Illinois Zephyr Plano toward Chicago Princeton toward Los Angeles Southwest Chief Naperville toward Chicago   Former services   Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Arlington toward Denver Main Line Meriden toward Chicago Union Station
Location
Location within Illinois

Mendota is an Amtrak intercity train station at 783 Main Street, Mendota, Illinois, United States.

The station was originally built on February 23, 1888, by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, as a replacement for the former Union Depot that was built in 1853 and burned down in 1885. It originally contained a hotel, restaurants and waiting rooms for passengers, and rooms for railroad employees. In 1942, much of the station was torn down, with little more than the waiting room and ticket office remaining intact.

Today the building is owned and preserved by the Mendota Museum and Historical Society as the Union Depot Railroad Museum.^[3] The station is a regular stop for the Illinois Zephyr and the Southwest Chief. The California Zephyr also uses these tracks, but does not stop in Mendota.

Trails & Rails and APRHF Rail Rangers program

Between May 18, 2013 and July 19, 2015, volunteer rangers with the National Park Service provided commentary for train passengers between Chicago, Illinois and La Plata, Missouri on Amtrak's Southwest Chief, including through Mendota. This Trails & Rails program was a partnership between Amtrak, the National Park Service, Texas A&M University, and the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF) in La Plata, Missouri. Volunteers were on board for two round-trips per week during the busy summer and winter holiday travel periods. Despite volunteers no longer being on the train, the reference manual used by Trails & Rails volunteers is still available for passengers at Outside The Rails. After the National Park Service ended its partnership with the APRHF in July 2015, the APRHF launched its Rail Rangers program, which continues to provide a similar service on private railroad car excursions across the Midwestern United States, including through Mendota on the BNSF line.

References

External links

Media related to Mendota (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Mendota, IL
• Mendota Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Union Depot Railroad Museum
• Mendota (MDT)--Great American Stations (Amtrak)