White Sulphur Springs, WV (WSS)

Passengers use the platform adjacent to the historic Colonial Revival style depot, which now houses a shop. The nearby Greenbrier resort and its predecessors have been popular retreats since the early 19th century.

315 West Main Street
White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $340,458
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 4,532

Ownerships
Routes Served
Contact
Local Community Links

Facility Ownership: CSX Transportation (CSXT)
Parking Lot Ownership: Old White Development Company
Platform Ownership: CSX Transportation (CSXT)
Track Ownership: CSX Transportation (CSXT)

Cardinal

Ismael Cuevas
Regional Contact
governmentaffairschi@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

City of White Sulphur Springs

Amtrak passengers in White Sulphur Springs only use the platform, which is covered by a canopy. The adjacent brick Colonial Revival style depot was built for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) around 1931 and was intended to replace an older wooden building from the early 1900s. The earlier structure had been constructed as part of a larger C&O 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 1980s to 1990s, and the resort converted the building to a Christmas store and gift shop. 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 national system.

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 the 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 1931 depot was built as part of a plan to make the Greenbrier an attractive destination for the new Pullman trains coming out at that time, including the Sportsman (1930) and the George Washington (1932), one of the first Pullman trains to be completely air conditioned.

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, successor to the C&O, sold the Greenbrier in 2009 to local entrepreneur Jim Justice, who aimed to return the hotel to its former status as a five-star resort.