A recent business trip afforded me the opportunity to check in on KCUS and see firsthand the restoration efforts.

The weekday impression I came away with is that indeed, KCUS is facing a difficult route to becoming a "destination". It's a bit removed from the Convention Center, as well as the historic district, so you kind of have to "want" to go to Union Station, rather than as a addition to local attractions, and that's not helping matters.

Place is beautifully redone, of that there's no doubt, and the restoration work is a joy to behold. But the almost-afterthought treatment of Amtrak is pretty sad.

I was dismayed to see that the Fred Harvey cafeteria, which had been converted to a Food Court, had but one vendor (a pizzeria) open at lunchtime on a Thursday. The Union Cafe, housed in the former Ticket Office, is a pleasant lunch experience, and there is a steakhouse in the former Fred Harvey Restaurant space.

The Waiting Room really goes to waste as the "Sprint Performance Center" - it's completely barren. (Though by the rigging in the ceiling for theatrical lights, and seating stockpiled in the former trackway approaches, it seems equipped for public activities).

The creation of the Science Center and other performance spaces are what gobbled up the trackways near the Great Hall, so the result is that Amtrak passengers have to traverse the entire length of the Waiting Room to get to the platform. To my eves, that detracts from the whole sense of the place being a train station.

I was happy to see that for the holiday season, almost one third of the Great Hall was occupied by a huge O-scale train layout, which seemed to be making it something of a holiday destination for the local folks.

The Station has an active interpretation program, as well as a self-guided audio tour. The tour route includes some areas left unrestored (excepting hazardous material mitigation) as an example of the ruin the station had fallen into, and some nicely done macrographics and exhibit cases are located on the balcony level overlooking the Grand Hall.

Here are some images from my visit:
http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1042417/KCUnionStation.htm

Union Station's website:
http://www.unionstation.org/index.cfm
(be warned of the audio accompaniment!)

Best Holiday wishes to All --
John Isaksen

Those of us who can't be there appreciate your short tour and observations. I believe the KCS F unit is one of the former CN FP9 units KCS bought for its official train. Did you visit the nearby KC Terminal roundhouse, now converted so some kind of office complex?

No, I didn't get to the Terminal - wasn't aware of it. There is some office redevelopment going on with the Railway Express Building adjacent to the station, though.

While there appears to be only one pair of platform tracks at the station, there are several stub tracks that run through the parking lot area - that's where the F-unit was on display. In fact, lot security was talking to KC Terminal Railroad people about closing the parking lot for a move of some sort while I was taking the picture of the F-unit.

I'll post some more pictures of the station later today.