Post by Clipper on Aug 6, 2019 7:30:28 GMT -5
wibx950.com/oneida-county-requests-ideas-for-rea-wing-at-union-station/
The article triggered memories from my childhood. Memories of a very busy Union Station, and the green delivery trucks of the Railway Express Agency bustling about the city. Larger delivery trucks, as well as the step vans that delivered packages to homes and businesses, similar to the UPS trucks of today. Memories of a time when my paternal grandfather worked as a parking lot attendant at the station in his retirement. He watched over a busy parking lot that at the time extended along the side of the station, around the back of what is now the Children's Museum, and the area under the old Bagg's Square bridge. I remember the green trucks backed up to the loading docks at REA, and the packages and boxes being moved to and from the trains on the old fashioned baggage carts with the hard rubber tires and spoked wheels. My grandfather took me to the station a few of times just to watch the trains. A couple of times he took me on a train ride on the old "Bee Liner." It was a self propelled passenger car that used to go from Utica to the North through Barneveld and Remsen. We lived in Barneveld at the time. He would pick me up, and we would board the train at the Barneveld depot, ride to Utica, and buy sandwiches at Union Station to eat on the train ride back to Barneveld. It was a short trip, but as a child it was very exciting and fun. Union Station was a busy, bustling place in those days with red capped porters rushing about and several passenger trains a day stopping there. My gramp also took me to the barber shop that used to be in the station, and he would get his shoes shined while I got a haircut.
Just pleasant old memories, triggered by a simple news article. So many memories to look back and reminisce about. Memories of a once busy downtown and of afternoons spent there, eating Karmel Korn, pizza slices from the kiosk in the department store, bowling on a Saturday afternoon at the Palace bowling alley, movies at the Avon or the Olympic. Utica was a great place to visit in those days. We lived in the Barneveld area and later in N. Utica, and a trip to downtown Utica was always something for a kid to look forward to.
The article triggered memories from my childhood. Memories of a very busy Union Station, and the green delivery trucks of the Railway Express Agency bustling about the city. Larger delivery trucks, as well as the step vans that delivered packages to homes and businesses, similar to the UPS trucks of today. Memories of a time when my paternal grandfather worked as a parking lot attendant at the station in his retirement. He watched over a busy parking lot that at the time extended along the side of the station, around the back of what is now the Children's Museum, and the area under the old Bagg's Square bridge. I remember the green trucks backed up to the loading docks at REA, and the packages and boxes being moved to and from the trains on the old fashioned baggage carts with the hard rubber tires and spoked wheels. My grandfather took me to the station a few of times just to watch the trains. A couple of times he took me on a train ride on the old "Bee Liner." It was a self propelled passenger car that used to go from Utica to the North through Barneveld and Remsen. We lived in Barneveld at the time. He would pick me up, and we would board the train at the Barneveld depot, ride to Utica, and buy sandwiches at Union Station to eat on the train ride back to Barneveld. It was a short trip, but as a child it was very exciting and fun. Union Station was a busy, bustling place in those days with red capped porters rushing about and several passenger trains a day stopping there. My gramp also took me to the barber shop that used to be in the station, and he would get his shoes shined while I got a haircut.
Just pleasant old memories, triggered by a simple news article. So many memories to look back and reminisce about. Memories of a once busy downtown and of afternoons spent there, eating Karmel Korn, pizza slices from the kiosk in the department store, bowling on a Saturday afternoon at the Palace bowling alley, movies at the Avon or the Olympic. Utica was a great place to visit in those days. We lived in the Barneveld area and later in N. Utica, and a trip to downtown Utica was always something for a kid to look forward to.