Thurmond station

Thurmond, WV
Looking southeast across the train tracks towards the Thurmond station building
General information
Location	County Route 25 & County Route 2 Thurmond, West Virginia United States
Owned by	National Park Service
Line(s)	CSX New River Subdivision
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	3 (1 unused)
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	Yes, extremely limited
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: THN
History
Opened	1905, 1977 (Amtrak)
Rebuilt	1995
Passengers
FY 2023	466 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Montgomery toward Chicago Cardinal Prince toward New York
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Charleston toward Chicago James Whitcomb Riley 1977 Prince toward Washington, D.C. Preceding station Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Following station Hawks Nest toward Cincinnati Main Line Prince toward Washington, D.C. or Old Point Comfort Harvey toward Price Hill Price Hill – Thurmond Terminus
Thurmond Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Station
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Location	Thurmond, West Virginia, USA
Coordinates	37°57′26″N 81°04′44″W
Built	1905
Architect	Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Part of	Thurmond Historic District (ID84003520)
Added to NRHP	January 27, 1984
Location

Thurmond station is a train station in Thurmond, West Virginia, United States, that is served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The Cardinal, which runs three times each week between Chicago, Illinois and Washington, DC, passes by the station three times each week in both directions. The station is on CSX Transportation's New River Line and is located on the east bank of the New River.

Ridership

Amtrak train 51 arriving at Thurmond

It is one of Amtrak's least-busy stations, it was the second least-busy for fiscal year 2006, after Greenfield Village, Michigan, which was less traveled because it had been discontinued from the Amtrak regular schedule in April 2006 (being open only to groups after that point). Of the 509 stations served by Amtrak in fiscal year 2012, Thurmond was again the second least-used station, just ahead of Sanderson, Texas. In fiscal year 2023, however, Thurmond was the fourth least-used station.

In 2022, the Amtrak station in Thurmond, WV saw 399 passengers served, compared to 285 in 2018. In 2023, 466 passengers were served at the Thurmond station.

As of 2024, due to the low annual ridership in Thurmond, the station is unstaffed, there is no waiting room, and no in-person ticket booth or kiosk.

History

The long, narrow two-story slate-roofed wooden structure, built in 1905 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, also houses a railroad museum and a visitor center for the New River Gorge National River. The depot features a projecting bay that served as a signal tower. The interior originally possessed three waiting rooms: one for white men, one for white women, and one for African Americans. The building was renovated in 1995. It is a contributing structure in the Thurmond Historic District. In 2023, a new small accessible platform was constructed to accommodate passengers with reduced mobility.

External links

Media related to Thurmond (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Thurmond, WV – Amtrak
• Thurmond, WV – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Thurmond Amtrak Station & Museum (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Thurmond Depot - The Museum (WVRailroads.com)
• Thurmond Depot Visitor Center - U.S. National Park Service, New River Gorge National River, official site
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. WV-42-A, "Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Thurmond Depot, Northeast end of New River Bridge, Thurmond, Fayette County, WV", 30 photos, 6 color transparencies, 4 measured drawings, 79 data pages, 3 photo caption pages