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All the United States Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Abandoned Train Station

Wilkes-Barre Abandoned Train Station

A train station that was abandoned by the coal industry and was later converted into a cocktail bar.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

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Luke Spencer
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These train cars were converted into bars and hotel rooms.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The train station featured beautiful roccoco staircases.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Inside one of the abandoned cars turned bars.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the station looking down from the second floor.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The train station today.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Cupola, 2022   alyraeson / Atlas Obscura User
Photo of the renovated station in June 2022   alyraeson / Atlas Obscura User
The renovated train station, now home to Visit Luzerne County. [Taken June 2022]   donnatalarico / Atlas Obscura User
Station in It’s former glory  
one of the rooms ceiling  
Near the Kitchen  
Near the Kitchen  
Inside near the kitchen  
Inside near the kitchen  
one of the rooms ceiling  
January 2023   Drekker / Atlas Obscura User
Train signal   alyraeson / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The City of Wilkes-Barre, like many mining settlements, fell into a deep depression when the nearby anthracite coal breakers closed. However, the last existing train station hung on as a cocktail bar until it too was abandoned. 

Wilkes-Barre was once a thriving coal mining town turned city in the Wyoming Valley of North Eastern Pennsylvania. Once the mines started to all close or fold in the 1970s due to low demand, the city was been left to gather dust. The Central Railroad of New Jersey's (CNJ) passenger train station, which stands in the shadow of the once mighty and still ornate defunct Stegmier Brewery is still a very recognizable landmark along Wilkes-Barre Blvd.. Left unused for some time plans for its reuse and restoration have been made and broken time after time. Once dwarfed by the noisy breakers, buildings, and railroad infrastructure of both the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley Railroad's servicing facilities it is now left to be only one of the few reminders in the downtown of what had been the bustling Railroad and Anthracite coal industry.

Once on the list of historic landmarks, the station was built in 1868, passenger service halted in 1961, and was shuttered in 1972 by the CNJ after the last of the operating breakers, the Huber breaker in Ashley, Pennsylvania closed leaving the railroad yard it was attached to mostly empty and ready for closure.

It lived for a time as a cocktail bar called "The Station" and a club joint called  "Banana Joe's". Two old Pullman cars were converted into hotel rooms, bars, and even a dance floor, but now even the station and bar lie in ruins and are left to vandals and the elements. The elaborate Rococco flourishes and grand staircases still remain, however.

In  2016, a developer bought the property with the hope of restoring the station to its former glory. In 2022, the building was remodeled into office space and reopened as the Luzerne County Visitor Bureau.

Related Tags

Abandoned Trains Railroads

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Added By

Luke J Spencer

Edited By

Rachel, hiteckredneck129, ngeru, lcpearce...

  • Rachel
  • hiteckredneck129
  • ngeru
  • lcpearce
  • alyraeson
  • donnatalarico
  • Drekker

Published

January 29, 2014

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Sources
  • https://nepascene.com/2022/02/old-wilkes-barre-train-station-boards-new-life-luzerne-county-visitors-bureau/
  • https://www.visitluzernecounty.com/Directory.aspx?did=5
  • https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne-county/luzerne-county-visitors-bureau-back-on-track-wilkes-barre/523-1a0e0d3a-1f0c-4953-8206-cde385340860
  • https://nepascene.com/2022/02/old-wilkes-barre-train-station-boards-new-life-luzerne-county-visitors-bureau/
  • https://www.timesleader.com/news/1539096/train-station-turned-visitors-center-to-open-monday
  • http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/pa-train-station
  • http://laurafisherphotography.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/lehigh-susquehanna-abandoned-railroad-station-in-wilkes-barre-pa/
  • http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=101674#/topics/101674
  • https://cherisundra.com/2014/05/20/a-resurrection-reversed-the-playboy-bunnies-the-deaths-of-the-wilkes-barre-train-station-part-2/
  • https://www.timesleader.com/news/767200/death-investigation-at-vacant-wilkes-barre-train-station/amp
Wilkes-Barre Abandoned Train Station
200 Old Train Sta Rd
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 18702
United States
41.241754, -75.879377
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