Amtrak – Central Station

love to visit Central Stations or Union Stations when I visit a city. I love to see the past and the history of the buildings. Most of them are done in some sort of 1910 to 1930 Art Deco… which I love to see. I took photos of the beautiful wooden chairs… can you imagine how many people have set there… who were they? where were they going??? I can only imagine their stories… what has gone on in these walls. I love old buildings. can you tell???

I have not had the pleasure of train travel yet and I do look forward to someday actually riding the rails.
The station itself was so much nicer than I expected to see. Beautiful wood work throughout the station and you really got a feel of what it may have been like to ride the trains decades ago. The staff was so very polite and helpful that it really has me looking forward to my first train ride.
I was here the other night to drop off a friend to return to his Navy training in Chicago. Unfortunately there were some issues due to flooding and the train was not able to run to his location. They arranged a bus to take him to another station in order to complete his trip. They were extremely easy to work with and very polite. The young lady at the desk maintained her calm and polite attitude even though there was a patron being rather rude and not listening at all. She truly impressed me.

Beautiful old station with wooden benches straight from the movies, about 6 blocks South of downtown Memphis. Amtrak shares the building with the police department which makes the free parking right there very, very safe. Staff was friendly and helpful with checked bags. Get there early to check bags or it’s no big deal to carry them on and stow them in racks on the lower level. If you’re driving, skip the expensive hotels downtown about 6 blocks away. It’s worth the drive towards the medical center area, about 3 miles, to find hotels about half the price — Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, grocery stores, and restaurants. Station is close to one of the Cental BBQs. The original Center BBQ is near the medical center area.

I have to say… I’m pretty impressed… I am on the train as we speak in the observation deck (after eating a mediocre breakfast in the dining car, hence the 4 stars instead of 5), typing away on my laptop, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows… and it is lovely. Very romantic. But, alas, I’m alone… as always. At least it makes for good people watching.
Coach seats were going for $ 59 a seat each way and roomettes range from $ 115-​$ 350 each way. Obviously I’m not a coach girl, so it can be as expensive as flying to New Orleans, but at least I don’t have to navigate the Atlanta airport in a crazy rush not to miss my flight. Oh, and flights when I looked were $ 1,200 with a stop, so train it was.
It is 8 hours, but at least I get internet on my iPhone because they definitely don’t have wifi on here (despite some claims on the internet).

We took the City of New Orleans to New Orleans for Twelfth Night. Have only rode on one other train and that was many, many years ago. This seems to be the only train that runs through this station. We parked our vehicle here for four days (incredibly it’s free!!) while in NOLA. Another added bonus is there’s a police sub-​station in the same building as Amtrak, so we were not concerned too much about our vehicle. The station is small and preserved nicely with wooden benches and décor.
Train is clean and the staff were friendly. Food is just okay (we had breakfast) and not as pricey as we expected. I had requested disability seating for two (had surgery and a walker) when I purchased tickets online, but didn’t have any seats available when we boarded??? So, had to literally «hop» up stairs on one foot to my seat. Pretty sure Amtrak dropped the ball on that one with my online purchase. So, if you’re disabled… call ahead and make sure you arrange seating. However, on the return trip we were able to get seating, but it quickly filled up and there was only two other disabled besides me. Like, entire families were seated in disabled section! I think Amtrak is supposed to check paperwork for this section because there is a price discount, but they don’t. (and they obviously should) All in all, other than the hopping up stairs it was an enjoyable trip.

excellent.
the antique wooden benches are comfortable, there’s plenty of nearby shopping, the staff was friendly, even the tsa agents were nice… i enjoyed my trip to chicago — the amtrak staff was super nice

This is one of the best train stations in America because of the staff. In Chicago, prepare to deal with government workers who won’t check your bags if they can think up a reason to avoid working. In Memphis? Two years ago, somebody dropped me off and I was going to check my bags and then go to the Peabody to kill time before the train. I asked the guy at the counter if he could call a cab for me and he took me over there himself.
The station itself is small and has the classic wooden pew style seating. It’s attached to the Memphis PD so there are plenty of cops outside. I always see a few cars with smashed windows so I’m not sure that I’d leave a car here even if the parking is free. There’s also one «homeless» guy and his wife that are always here. I put homeless in quotes since they seem to be dressed pretty well and are very friendly. Definitely not your typical aggressive bum.
There’s a bit of business around the station but, as far as I can tell, they are all fronts because nothing has ever been open when I’ve been there. The breakfast place across the street has never been open between 6−8am but maybe Memphians eat breakfast at some odd hour.
Anyway, this is the type of place that you have to deal with rather than choose to deal with but I would gladly take Central Station over MEM any day of the week.

I love the train. It’s the only way to travel. The price of a bedroom is well worth it and the dining car food is actually very good.

I took the Amtrak for the first time and had a nice experience except for the cleanliness of the train. The viewing car was o.k. but the other car smelled very bad and needed cleaning. The little napkins they put on the seats where your head goes were all dirty and needed replacing. I couldn’t sit in there because of the smell. Someone really needs to clean it. Since my ride was only about 4 hours long, I sat in the viewing car the whole way.

Visited in June, 2009.
The trolley connects directly here to give you a nice car-​free option when you take Amtrak into Bluff City. The Amtrak office is hardly staffed, but there’s assistance when the train arrives and departs. A skeletal version of the old Central Station in Memphis, but it’ll still allow you to arrive and depart without hassle.