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Marion Union StationMarion, in central Ohio northwest of Columbus, is one of Ohio's trainwatching "hot spots," and is well worth your time to visit to see the 106-years-young, restored Marion Union Station, the relocated, restored AC Tower, and, if on Sunday when it operates, the Marion Model Railroad Club -- as well as the train action, of course. All three are on the same site on Center St., just west of downtown Marion; just turn right after you cross the first set of tracks and you're there. Marion was served by four railroads -- the Pennsylvania (north-south) on the east side of the station; Erie/Erie-Lackawanna and Big Four/NYC shared the east-west tracks north of the station; and Hocking Valley/Chesapeake & Ohio north-south on the west side. AC Tower, originally located across from the station, controlled the diamond crossings of all of the roads. Today the ex-PRR tracks are Norfolk Southern's Columbus District between Bellevue and Columbus, and carry the most train traffic. The E-L/NYC shared tracks became Conrail, and then CSX since the Conrail breakup, while the C&O tracks also are CSX today. Marion once had the major shop facilities for the Erie, later Erie-Lackawanna, just west of the station. These were closed in the Conrail era, and today the site has a small CSX local-service yard and some of the shop buildings are used by Union Tank Car Co. as a repair facility. The volunteers of the Marion Union Station Association literally saved Marion Station from the wrecking ball and have restored it to as close to its original appearance as possible. And they're still working on it, as evidenced by complete restoration of the stained glass ceiling in the waiting room. The station displays several interlocking machines from various towers, and several are hooked up so visitors can move the controls and watch actual signals change. In1999 the group got ownership of AC Tower, moved it (and the complete interlocking machine) onto the station grounds, and restored both the tower and the interlocker. If volunteers are available, the tower is open and visitors can make believe that they are actual tower operators controlling the trains crossing the eight sets of diamonds and the related tracks. You may download and print these two Marion map pages by clicking Marion Map -- it is a large, color file in PDF format.
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