White Sulphur Springs, WV (WSS)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$334,255

Station Ridership

FY 2011

6,056

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The White Sulphur Springs station was built for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O, succeeded by CSXT) in 1930. This brick building was intended to replace another aging wooden station that had been built in the early 1900’s. The depot was originally constructed as part of a larger C&O rebuilding effort to repair and maintain many of its aging passenger stations and to serve the historic Greenbrier resort, located directly across West Main Street.

Control of the station passed to the Greenbrier in the 1980’s to 1990’s and the resort converted the wooden building to a Christmas store and local gift shop in the early 2000’s. It is still decorated as such, with a red exterior with white accents. The entrance features a portico supported by pillars with red and white “candy cane” striping. This year round holiday décor gives this station one of the most distinctive looks in the Amtrak station system.

The Amtrak stop today is a shelter on the platform, although the station does still opens its doors to arriving and departing travelers. As a part of the Mobility First program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the White Sulphur Springs station is to receive a new wheelchair lift as well as an ADA-compliant tactile edge on the existing platform. Stimulus money will fund an informational kiosk to be placed on the platform.

What is now the Greenbrier and White Sulphur Springs were one and the same for the first 125 years. The spring of Sulphur water that remains at the center of the resort property issues forth below the green dome of the white-columned Springhouse that has been the symbol of the Greenbrier for generations. Since 1778, people have come to “take the waters” to restore their health.

Due to the isolated location, development proceeded slowly until a stagecoach route was carved through the forested mountains. By the 1830s, the resort attained its first period of prominence as planters, judges, lawyers, and merchants from the southern states congregated in the mountain village.

The resort originally consisted of rows of cottages, many of which still stand today. The first large hotel on the property, officially named the Grand Central Hotel but known to long-time patrons as The Old White Hotel, came in 1858. By 1910, the property was purchased and renovated by C&O and reopened in 1913 as the Greenbrier.

The Greenbrier was a showcase for C&O and was vigorously promoted in railroad timetables and literature. The many tracks behind the station were for business and private cars to be brought by C&O trains and parked there by the wealthy and famous using the hotel. Special resort trains were often run and the 1930 station was built as part of a plan to make the Greenbrier an attractive destination for the new Pullman trains coming out at that time, the Sportsman (1930) promoting the resorts on C&O routes and the George Washington in 1932 (one of the first Pullman trains to be completely air conditioned), as the old wooden station was not in line with the modernization of the trains and hotel at that time.

During World War II, the resort served both as an army hospital and as a relocation center for some of the enemy diplomats still within the United States. In 1948, after the war, Sam Snead returned to where his career had begun in 1936. For many years, he was the Golf Pro Emeritus, until his death in May 2002. Snead established Greenbrier's reputation as one of the foremost golf resorts.

The Greenbrier underwent many renovations during the 1950s and 1960s, during which time a large bunker was created under the grounds of the resort. This bunker was intended to serve as an escape from a nuclear bomb for the entirety of the legislative branch, which would relocate from Washington, D.C. The bunker was maintained until it was decommissioned in 1992 following a news story revealing its existence.

CSXT sold the Greenbrier in 2009 to local entrepreneur Jim Justice, who aims to return the hotel to its former status as five-star resort.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or help with baggage at this unstaffed facility.

White Sulphur Springs has tri-weekly train service.