- Windsor-Mt. Ascutney (Amtrak station)
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Windsor 
Station statistics Address 26 Depot Avenue
Windsor, VT 05089Coordinates 43°28′48″N 72°23′06″W / 43.4801°N 72.3849°WCoordinates: 43°28′48″N 72°23′06″W / 43.4801°N 72.3849°W Lines Parking Yes Other information Opened 1901 Rebuilt 1970s Code WNM Owned by NL Wilson/Windsor Station Pub Traffic Passengers (2010) 1,154[1] 
9.8%Services Preceding station Amtrak Following station toward Washington, D.C.Vermonter toward St. AlbansWindsor also known as Windsor-Mt. Ascutney is a train station in Windsor, Vermont served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. It is currently served by the Amtrak Vermonter line and is also home to the Windsor Station Pub, a restaurant and pub owned by NL Wilson, who also own the historic building.
Of the eleven Vermont stations served by Amtrak, Windsor was the eleventh busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately three passengers daily.[1]
Contents
History
As the first town in Vermont to break ground for the railroad, Windsor briefly leaped to the forefront of mid-19th century commercial development. Around the turn of the century, when Windsor's original 1847 railway station burned, the Burlington contractors Mason & Co. were hired to build "a good type of a modern Railway Station...after the standard design of the Central Vermont Railway Company." Complete with electric lights throughout, a modern hot water heater, birch veneer side seating, and separate waiting rooms for men and women, the new station was to cost about $10,000 and be completed by January 1, 1901.
Like many railway stations erected during this period, Central Vermont Railway Co's standard design combined function with style. The low hipped roof (a Romanesque feature) extends beyond the wall surface creating a large over-hang to shelter a waiting platform. Decorative brackets and columns support the roof and round arched windows and doors penetrate the four facades, typical of the style. The verge or barge board, a wooden ornamental motif along the eaves, was borrowed from the Gothic Revival style, a contemporary of the Romanesque. Many of the original materials used to build the station remain intact, such as the yellow pine interior sheathing, buff pressed brick, and window and door sills of Barre granite. The sounds and vibrations of the train rushing down the tracks completes this preserved early 20th century environment.
Architecture
A 1-1/2 story building of brick construction, the station's long, rectangular form is dominated by an expansive hip roof which overhangs the walls 6-1/2 feet and is supported by bracketed, wood outriggers. The west (front) and east (trackside) elevations are punctuated by round-arched fenestration, three doors with flanking windows on the east and alternating doors and windows on the west. Near the south end of the west facade, the eaves line of the hip roof is broken by a projecting gable with decorative infill in the peak which covers a projecting pavilion with a paid of round-arched windows. On the east elevation in a corresponding position a station agent's office projects in a similar fashion but also projects through the hip roof, without breaking the line of the eaves, and terminates in the form of a gable-roofed dormer. The building's round-arched fenestration is visually tied together by belt course slightly below impost level.
Recent history
In 2008, NL Wilson purchased the building and business—now operating as Windsor Station Pub. NL Wilson is in the process of upgrading and restoring the area around the Windsor Station.
References
- ^ a b "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2010, State of Vermont" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2010. http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/factsheets/VERMONT10.pdf. Retrieved 2011-1-6.
External links
Categories:- Amtrak stations in Vermont
- Windsor, Vermont
- Central Vermont Railway
- Buildings and structures in Windsor County, Vermont
- Transportation in Windsor County, Vermont
- Railway stations opened in 1901
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