The Hidden Tunnels Of Union Terminal

[thelakelander]

During its heyday, the Jacksonville Terminal was the largest passenger railroad station in the South and served as an official gateway to worldwide travelers entering downtown, handling as many as twenty thousand passengers and 200 trains each day. Now part of the Prime Osborn Convention Center, the old passenger concourse at the Jacksonville Terminal doesn't attract the crowds it was originally designed to facilitate. Instead of welcoming thousands of visitors to town with its grand barrel-vaulted ceiling, the terminal's main waiting room is completely locked off from the passenger concourse except for during the occasional special event. Entombed underground just south of the main waiting room, lies the ruins of the abandoned Jacksonville Terminal Subway.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-hidden-tunnels-of-union-terminal/

[Jagsdrew]

One can only wish Amtrak would move to Union Terminal to centralize some of our transportation means.

[jax_hwy_engineer]

It would make a ton of sense with the JRTC nearing completion right next door. Greyhound, Skyway, bus, U2C (lol) and Amtrak all in one location.

One can dream

[thelakelander]

This helps:

https://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,35553.msg492776/topicseen.html#new

Fixing this rail congestion issue has always been a key need in facilitating the return of passenger rail to downtown. I don't think most realize how important this is.

[jax_hwy_engineer]

The article linked above and the thought that a new convention center may be in the works in the future make me think there's something behind the scenes that wishes to return the Prime Osborne to the Jacksonville Terminal. It's a cool building, and makes even more sense today as its former usage than as its current usage with all the pieces I discussed in my previous comment.

[duvaltilidie]

I figured this would be the best thread to ask this question. What.. was this? It's the inside of a little brick house located on Bay Street under the Myrtle Street Overpass.

[Charles Hunter]

Daleks?

[acme54321]

Looks like electric motors.  Maybe pumps of some sort.

[duvaltilidie]

Looks like electric motors.  Maybe pumps of some sort.

The location has me stumped more than anything. The only conclusion I could possibly come up with is maybe having had something to do with the trains in the past that once ran under the tunnels right by the JTA gated entrance and close enough to see the 1504 train. I'm hoping Ennis sees it and has some knowledge.

[Adam White]

Maybe it's an old pump house? Not sure, but that would be my guess.

[acme54321]

Looks like electric motors.  Maybe pumps of some sort.

The location has me stumped more than anything. The only conclusion I could possibly come up with is maybe having had something to do with the trains in the past that once ran under the tunnels right by the JTA gated entrance and close enough to see the 1504 train. I'm hoping Ennis sees it and has some knowledge.

That road must have been a lot lower at some point because the tracks went over the road right next to that structure.  The road would have been as low as Myrtle is now.  Those might have been the pumps that pulled water out the underpass, or even that hole area, when the roads flooded.

[thelakelander]

Looks like electric motors.  Maybe pumps of some sort.

The location has me stumped more than anything. The only conclusion I could possibly come up with is maybe having had something to do with the trains in the past that once ran under the tunnels right by the JTA gated entrance and close enough to see the 1504 train. I'm hoping Ennis sees it and has some knowledge.

I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the old Atlantic and East Coast Railroad, which crossed over Bay Street at this point to access the rail yard at their Jefferson Street freight depot. Bay Street has obviously been filled in but you can still see one of the old viaduct's supports in the last photo:

[Adam White]

I think it's a pump house. I just Googled it and I saw an article on Jacksonville.com - but when I clicked on the link, it just took me to the homepage.

[thelakelander]

Here you go! It was a pump house for Bay Street where it once dipped under the rail viaduct carrying the rail line into the old Atlantic and East Coast Terminal Railroad freight house.

Dear Call Box: Could you find out why there's a guard house just west of the old train station (now the Prime Osborn Convention Center) on West Bay Street. Until recently, it was overgrown with weeds, trees and vines. I drive by it every week taking my grandboys to see the old train like their great-granddad used to drive.

C.L., Jacksonville

Dear C.L.: We see why it could be mistaken for a guard shack. But a Jacksonville Terminal Co. map identifies the structure as a pump house, according to Larry Brennan, a train historian and artist. It was a control house for the pumps that kept the street drained, he said.

It is next to the site where a bridge crossed Bay Street giving access to the tracks on Houston Street and the East Coast warehouse, said Brennan, a member of the Southeast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. There was once a deep dip on Bay when driving underneath the railroad bridge. It was filled in years ago when the girders and overpass were removed, he said. The abutment for the bridge is still there just west of the pump house, Brennan said.

[jaxlongtimer]

Reading this brought back vague memories of that Bay Street dip from my childhood.  Tracks crisscrossed many streets in that area then to service the old brick warehouses now, sadly, long gone.

We would often find ourselves in that area to pickup packages at REA Express on Myrtle at the end of Bay where JTA's bus terminal sits today.  Also, the Bay Street sorting/main post office sat roughly where the rail car at the convention center sits today and we would go there for certain mail - I am thinking maybe overflow from the Downtown P.O. (the old Federal Courthouse first floor where the State Attorney's office is now) or maybe US Post Office packages.

I can still recall the the musty odors from those buildings and the exhaust of the trains at Union Station.  That area was bustling in those days.  Today, not so much.