The Newport News, VA AmStation at 9304 Warwick Boulevard opened in October 1981 and closed on August 21, 2024 and was located at the site of the former Hampton Roads suburban stop for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. This was never a proper station but had just a canopy by a parking lot. After the start of Amtrak, originally just the Amtrak passengers service continued to a station on the ferry pier at the end of 23 Street that is now the Train Station Restaurant (although I can’t figure out if as of August 2024 it is open or closed). This was an ideal place for the Newport News train station with connecting ferry service across the James River to Norfolk operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation connecting at the station.
With the opening of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in 1957 the station was in a less than ideal location for rail passengers and a new AmStation opened in 1981 replacing the original station along the waterfront for the generally two daily now named Northeast Regional Trains to Washington and other points north.
One train has generally been a day train leaving from Newport News early in the morning for Boston and the other running overnight north of Washington, DC to Boston running generally overnight up the Northeast Corridor. This overnight train ran with a sleeping car attached at various times in its existence, including being named the Twilight Shoreline in the 1990s, complete with a separate Twilight Shoreliner Lounge for Sleeping car passengers to receive café-car type microwavable meals (the train in the 1990s never had a proper dining car). These trains all connected to a dedicated Amtrak Thruway Bus to Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
The station never had decent crew facilities for turning trains – trains continued south of the station to make a very long yard move to reach the CSX wye within the Port of Newport News. At times there was a third Friday only train down from Washington and with the station only able to handle one train laying over overnight at the station, this train ran an unusual late Friday evening trip back to Richmond that passengers could purchase tickets for in some years, while in other years it was just a deadhead move.
The station was the only Amtrak Station in the Hampton Roads Region from 1981 until December 12, 2012 when Amtrak Virginia added service to Norfolk on along a different branch. The station one of the smaller AmStations every built. AmStations what I call Amtrak’s ‘modern’ modular station designs created to give Amtrak a new look for railroad stations in the 1970s and save on construction costs by not having to higher dedicated architects. The ‘modern’ station consists of pinkish grey cinderblock building with an overhanging brown roof line which is unusually angled up. A small portion of the station extends beyond the roofline forming windows into the waiting room above the roofline.
This new AmStation was built directly along the original platform shelter with a low-level platform below the grade of the actual train track. This platform is on the edge of a freight yard with many tracks visible beyond the station. This platform has a faded stand back yellow line, and some faded boarding position signs to help passengers know where to stand along the platform. The canopy along the platform was torn down sometime in the late 2010s leaving just a bear dark platform with a couple of LED light roles installed as the new station was under construction. The only station name sign is on the side of the building with the Amtrak and Newport News logos along it (a local railfan asked the station staff, in the middle of managing office movers after the last train arrived on the last day if the sign was going to be thrown away, it was there when I vested the now closed station in daylight the next day).
Amenities on the platform include a picnic table at the northern end of the platform and a platform that extends south of the station with no lighting. There is also a bench along the south side of the building for people to wait primarily for rides. A mobile lift sits on the platform for ADA accessibility although the platform requires large steps to get on and off trains with silver sets of steps along with the usual yellow stools to help people make this transition. Inside the AmStation is a very small waiting room (it did receive more modern silver banks of chairs for waiting passengers). A ticket office and vending machines were provided, along with the capability for checked baggage service. The overnight Northeast Corridor Amtrak trains normally had baggage cars and by the mid-2000s was the only train with baggage service available in New Haven, Providence, and Boston (except for the Lake Shore Limited). There are also small and dated looking restrooms.
Leaving the station passengers reach a small parking lot and a short driveway that leads out to Warwick Blvd, with a small sign saying Amtrak and Newport News by the station entrance. This driveway has no sidewalk pedestrians must walk in the road. The driveway does lead to a distinctive white “colonial”-style bus shelter (the only type of bus shelter used by Hampton Roads Transit) just outside the station for southbound buses towards Newport news, there is no clear place nearby to cross the street for northbound buses along the four lane strode with a median (at least their sidewalks).
On closing night there were a significant number of cars in the parking lot for long term parking with Amtrak promising to continue having Thruway buses stopping at the station until August 29, 2024 so passengers who left their vehicles at the old station before it closed can return to them. Amtrak only announced the opening date of the new station the day before it opened, although anyone who had an existing reservation to Newport News as of the Friday before the station closed received a cryptic email from Amtrak about the station moving which a reservation agent couldn’t even find reference to in Arrow when I called to confirm the Monday before the new station’s opening.
Photos 1-48: August 21, 2024 on closing night; 49-74: August 22, 2024;
