Newbern Depot

Newbern Depot, also known as Newbern Illinois Central Depot or as the Newbern–Dyersburg station, is an Amtrak station and museum in Newbern, Tennessee. It is an unstaffed flag stop on the City of New Orleans route, which serves Newbern and nearby Dyersburg when passengers have tickets to and from the station. The building was constructed by Illinois Central Railroad in 1920 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

For the light rail station in Charlotte, North Carolina, see New Bern station.
Newbern Depot
General information
Location108 Jefferson Street
Newbern, Tennessee
United States
Coordinates36.1125°N 89.2625°W / 36.1125; -89.2625
Line(s)Illinois Central (CN)
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Other information
StatusFlag stop; unstaffed
Station codeAmtrak: NBN
Passengers
FY 20222,465[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Memphis
toward New Orleans
 City of New Orleans Fulton
toward Chicago
Former services
Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station
Dyersburg
toward New Orleans
 Main Line Templeton
toward Chicago
Dyersburg
toward Memphis
 Memphis – Louisville Trimble
toward Louisville
Newbern Illinois Central Depot
Newbern Depot is located in Tennessee
Newbern Depot
Newbern Depot
Location in Tennessee
Newbern Depot is located in the United States
Newbern Depot
Newbern Depot
Location in the United States
LocationJct. of Main and Jefferson Sts., Newbern, Tennessee
Coordinates36°6′44″N 89°15′44″W
Area1.5 acres (0.6 ha)
Built1920
Built byIllinois Central Railroad
Architectural styleCombination Depot, American Craftsman
NRHP reference No.93000213[2]
Added to NRHPMarch 25, 1993

History

The depot was built in 1920 by the Illinois Central Railroad. The third station erected at Newbern, it replaced a wooden building that burned in 1918.[3][4] The new brick facility was a combination depot that accommodated both passenger and freight services in a single one-story building, along with a railroad business office. It was built to a standard floor plan with little architectural ornamentation, but the windows and eaves show Craftsman influences.[4] Adjacent to the depot building is a cotton-loading platform where bales of cotton were taken off wagons and transferred to railcars during the era when Newbern was a center for the cotton ginning and shipment of cotton grown in surrounding counties.[5]

Illinois Central Railroad ceased passenger train service to the depot in 1965. The building was then used for storage until 1990, when it was acquired by the city of Newbern to create the Newbern Depot and Railroad Museum. To pay for a restoration, the town held a fundraising event, "Depot Days", which has become an annual celebration in the town.[3][5] It was subsequently restored based on the original architectural drawings, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 1993, as Newbern Illinois Central Depot.[2][4][6] In 1992, Amtrak service was moved from the small stop in nearby Dyersburg to the restored Newbern Depot in order to serve both towns; it is thus sometimes called the Newbern-Dyersburg station.[7] Amtrak's City of New Orleans train comes through twice a day; the depot is a flag stop, meaning passengers can get on or off the train, but there is no staffed ticketing or baggage service.[3] The museum exhibits old photos, railroad tools, uniforms, schedules, and other memorabilia, along with model trains and artwork commemorating the town's railroading past.[8]

This station and Memphis Central Station are the only Amtrak stations in Tennessee.

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of Tennessee" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. "Newbern, TN (NBN)". www.greatamericanstations.com. 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  4. Sharp, Leslie N.; West, Carroll Van (July 1992). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Illinois Central Depot". Middle Tennessee State University.
  5. West, Carroll Van (1995). Tennessee's Historic Landscapes: A Traveler's Guide. University of Tennessee Press. p. 465. ISBN 978-0-87049-881-7.
  6. Newbern-Dyersburg Tennessee Amtrak Station TrainWeb Image #4
  7. "Volunteers needed for Newbern museum; annual Depot Days coming soon". Dyersburg State Gazette. August 14, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  8. "Visitors Guide to the Newbern Depot & Railroad Museum". Visitors Guide to the Middle Mississippi River Valley. greatriverroad.com. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
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