Winslow, Arizona

[ezdays]

June 11th was our 46th anniversary, so we spent the night at the La Posada Hotel on Winslow. The La Posada is one of the few, and the largest, Harvey House hotels still standing. It is still undergoing restoration, but it is a great hotel if you like things that date back 75 years. It's also great for rail fans since it's on the BNSF mainline heading to California. If you'd like to see more on the history of the hotel, click here.

Here are a few of the shots I took the next morning around the hotel.

The Winslow depot, passenger platform side. The platform is huge so you can just imagin the number's of people boarding the trains there:

Inside the depot. Silent now. Even the ticket windows are plastered over:

Two trains a day now:

 

[ezdays]

Here comes the Southwest Chief heading to Chicago:

Hey, where's all the passengers?

On its way:

Sidetracked waiting for the Amtrak to clear the mainline:

 

[ezdays]

A couple of passenger cars next to an unused loading dock. Someone had thrown some rocks at a couple of windows on one car. :curse::cry:

Another restored passenger car:

Looking south across the tracks:

Looking south from the hotel grounds. The wooden hand-carved statue is of St. Anthony. The other statue there is yours truely:

 

[ezdays]

On a side trip to Jerome, we stopped at the museum there. I've posted pictures of Jerome before, but here's two just outside the museum which once was the home of the owner of the Little Daisy mine there back in the early 20's:

Some mining rail cars:

 

[TrainNut]

Cool stuffs Don. I had an aunt and uncle that lived in Winslow for a while but that is one of the places in Arizona that I have never been to (past it but not to it). Jerome is a different story. My favorite thing in Jerome is inside the museum - the 3d model of the hillside showing how many shafts, tunnels and airvents were actually dug. It seems as if the whole hillside should have collapsed by now. Mind boggling.

 

[ezdays]

Cool stuffs Don. I had an aunt and uncle that lived in Winslow for a while but that is one of the places in Arizona that I have never been to (past it but not to it). Jerome is a different story. My favorite thing in Jerome is inside the museum - the 3d model of the hillside showing how many shafts, tunnels and airvents were actually dug. It seems as if the whole hillside should have collapsed by now. Mind boggling.

Yeah, that 3D structure is amazing, you wonder how anybody knew where they were while they were down there.

 

[N Gauger]

Great Pics!! I googled it on maps - - if you go west on the satellite view - there's remnants of a roundhouse and turntable Neat stuff!!!!

Link to Google

Look for a rectangular building with a blue roof

 

[ezdays]

Great Pics!! I googled it on maps - - if you go west on the satellite view - there's remnants of a roundhouse and turntable Neat stuff!!!!

Link to Google

Look for a rectangular building with a blue roof

Yeah, I saw that on the map, I didn't see them while I was there though, too busy driving with all that rush-hour traffic. sign1 sign1

That was a major hub back in the 20's and 30's. I counted seven sets of tracks behind the hotel. It's still a busy line. The hotel is, of course, that big building with the red roof. They say they tried to sell it back in the 50's for $10,000 but there were no takers. The restoration alone is going to take around $7,000,000 and is probably priceless right now. It is truly a rail fan's delight.:thumb: :thumb:

 

[eightyeightfan1]

Nice pics Don....Didn't get there when I was there.
I was there in 1990. Stayed in a hotel across the same yard. Here's a pic I took when I was there, as well as a ground level pic of the turntable. The yard looked a little bit busier than when the satellite view was taken.

 

[MCL_RDG]

Thanks!

My wife and I had a great 'lil vacation looking over that Harvey House site. There is a documentary that pops up on PBS stations- maybe History Channel, etc. about the Harvey Girls. We want to visit the restaurant.

Thanks again.

Mark

 

[Relic]

those are some nice photo's, but shouldn't you have found a nice flat bed ford??

 

[ezdays]

One local channel here runs an "Arizona Highways" series, sponsored by our state magazine, The Arizona Highways. They go throughout the state and spend maybe ten minutes in different out-of-the-way spots. One episode featured the La Posada. Our local PBS station also has a similar series and they did an almost identical spot on the hotel about three weeks ago. They both included interviews with some of the former Harvey Girls and showed historical pictures. We went to the restaurant and was a bit disappointed that the waitresses weren't dressed in Harvey Girl outfites. But it was great, the food was good and we got to sit next to the window overlooking the tracks. The yard wasn't busy at all, in fact all we saw were through trains, some were just sitting there waiting for the mainline to clear.

Ed, I saw that motel you stayed in, I couldn't get near it though since just about all the old motels along route 66 through Winslow are all boarded up. If I lived there I'd be pushing for a Route 66 historical restoration district and get that area cleaned up and attracting more tourists. One spot they did that in is Kingman, that was also feature on one of those TV series.

Relic, If we waited long enough we would have. Since it is along route 66, there are frequent antique vehicle ralleys going through and stopping off there.

 

[eightyeightfan1]

those are some nice photo's, but shouldn't you have found a nice flat bed ford??

No...But I saw a standing on the cornerin Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see....
Thats too bad Don....If memory serves me right, there were only a couple of empty buildings back along the Ol' Route 66 in 1990. Amazing what sixteen years will do.

 

[zedob]

Common guys, take it easy...

Gosh, small world. I never thought I would ever hear that town's name again. How nice it has a railroad connection.