Memphis Union Station - Demise

Demise

St. Louis Southwestern Railway discontinued passenger service to Memphis in October 1952, and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway merged into Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) in 1957, effectively reducing the number of tenants in Memphis Union Station from five to three. In early 1964, Missouri Pacific Railroad served notice that their last passenger train serving Memphis would be moved from Union Station into a former freight station on west Calhoun Street. The Missouri Pacific benefitted from being a foreign (not otherwise doing business in Tennessee) corporation in Tennessee, once its petition before the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was heard, to cease operation of passenger service to Memphis, it could rely upon legal precedent (as when Gulf Mobile & Ohio, ended service south of Saint Louis, and thereby voiding its joint agreement to fund New Orleans’ Union Station ) to void its joint agreement to support the operation of Memphis Union Station.

The remaining two tenant railroads in Memphis Union Station were unwilling to assume the full burden for maintenance and operation of the station, as the remaining passenger and express freight revenues of these carriers into Memphis, brought in far less revenue than the continued operation of the station required. Louisville and Nashville Railroad made arrangements to become a tenant at Memphis Central Station, and Southern Railway returned to their ancient freight station on Lauderdale Street. Memphis Union Station was closed on April 1, 1964, fifty-two years to the day from the time the station had opened with great fanfare.

A prolonged court battle ensued, with the City of Memphis claiming that Union Station had been abandoned without the approval of the Tennessee Public Service Commission. After appeals courts ruled against the railroads, both L&N and Southern were forced to re-open part of Union Station on December 1, 1966. Missouri Pacific had successfully discontinued their last Memphis passenger service, a Memphis to Little Rock connecting train, in August 1965, and was thus not affected by the order to re-open Memphis Union Station.

Passenger traffic into Memphis on both the L&N and Southern was negligible, and the added expense burden of reopening Union Station caused both roads to soon plan train discontinuance proceedings of their own. These efforts were ultimately successful, and Union Station was again closed for a second and final time on March 30, 1968, following the departure of the last Southern Railway passenger train from Memphis. The Memphis Union Station property was sold to the United States Postal Service for construction of a new mail sorting facility, and the station itself was demolished by February 1969.