Bangor (Amtrak station)

Infobox Station
name=Bangor
logo=
logo_size=


image_size=
image_caption=
address=541 Railroad Street
Bangor, MI 49013
line=rail color box|system=Amtrak|line=Pere Marquette
other=
platform=
tracks=
parking=Short-term only; free
bicycle=
passengers=3,786
pass_year=2007
pass_percent=-1.8
opened=1926
rebuilt=2005
ADA=
code=BAM
owned=Bangor, Michigan
zone=
services=
baggage_check=No

Bangor Station is an Amtrak station in Bangor, Michigan on the "Pere Marquette". The renovated station includes an enclosed waiting area, washrooms, a coffee shop, free parking, and payphones.

The station serves northern Van Buren County and the South Haven area.

History

The brick Bangor Station was built in 1926 by the Pere Marquette Railway, replacing an 1870 wooden station that burned.

Amtrak shared the station with a toy train manufacturer from 1984 (when Amtrak service began) to 1991, when the manufacturer ceased production. The station was in declining condition, and Amtrak vacated it in favor of a smaller adjacent structure.

In November 2001, the City of Bangor purchased the station from CSX Transportation to prevent it from demolition. In 2004, they sold it to a health care provider, who doubled the floor space of the building by expanding the attic (once used as a sleeping space for railroaders) into a second floor. The city still owned the south portico, and they enclosed it as a waiting room.

In July, the Michigan Department of Transportation awarded a $125,000 grant to the city and Amtrak to rebuild the waiting room and railway platform (owned by Amtrak). After floor, windows, doors, and washrooms were replaced and the benches were refinished, the station was fully reopened to trains on May 6, 2005.

The portico is now the waiting room, the waiting room is now a coffee shop, and the freight agent office and freight room are now space for the health care provider.

External links

* [http://www.mitrain.com/pere.html#ban Amtrak Michigan Services]
* [http://user.mc.net/~louisvw/depot/bang/bang.htm Michigan Passenger Stations]
* [http://ci.bangor.mi.us/Community/Announcements/railroad_depot.htm City of Bangor]
* [http://www.peremarquettecoffee.com/ Bangor Coffee Depot]
* [http://snow.prohosting.com/usarail/bangor.htm Amtrak Stations Database]
*Amtrak Photo Archive [http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtStationAB/BangorMIamshack.jpgStation 1991-2005] , [http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtStationAB/BangorMI.jpg1926 station exterior before renovation] , [http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtStationAB/BangorMIwaiting1.jpgWaiting room before renovation with original benches]

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