Large medallions in the foreground, removed from the ceiling, will be examined and restored.

It’s as if the ghosts of all those who have traveled through these halls before us can still be heard… I find myself yet again walking through empty rooms that echo not only my footsteps, but the seeming sounds of the past

The Sacramento Valley Station finds itself as a hub of transportation for the Sacramento area. Currently serving as an inter-modal complex, the facility includes Amtrak, light rail, regional bus services and taxi amenities.

The public portions of the building are those that many are familiar with such as the main hall, or passenger waiting area, where customers purchase tickets or pass through to the facilities outside to the north. Outside are the bus berths, passenger tunnel and platforms, areas for taxis, and of course the rail lines themselves.

What the public hasn’t seen as much of are the dilapidated and crumbling rooms, now being renovated and refitted for future use. Light rich rooms, these areas have moods all to themselves. A large main hall that was used as a restaurant area reverberates densely, as the building creaks and moans. Smaller offices that were calm and quiet in their desolation, now barren, waiting. Scaffolding hangs in the main hall, above which I now stand, observing workers that are restoring the artistic portions of mural painting, wall and ceiling.

The building itself qualifies as a historic property under the National Historic Preservation Act and is listed in historic registers, including the California Register of Historical Resources and National Register of Historic Places, among others.

Project Manager, Greg Taylor, descends a ladder after reviewing some of the yet-to-be-restored artwork.