Tuscaloosa, AL (TCL)

2105 Greensboro Ave
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

Station Ownership

Facility:
Norfolk Southern Railway

Parking:
Norfolk Southern Railway

Platform(s):
Norfolk Southern Railway

Track(s):
Norfolk Southern Railway

Amtrak Contact

Todd Stennis

Routes Served:

• Crescent

History

The brick Tuscaloosa station, about a mile south of downtown Tuscaloosa, was built in 1920 for the Southern Railway. Norfolk Southern Railway maintains an office in the building.

Tuscaloosa, also the seat of Tuscaloosa County, sits on the Black Warrior River. The city was named after the Chocktaw chieftain, Tuscaloosa, which means “black warrior”. The river shoals in this area of western Alabama were the southern-most reliable ford on the river, and thus the natural convergence of many trails from early times.

After the War of 1812, settlements began to emerge near the Creek village at the river’s fall line. In 1817, Alabama became a territory and on December 13, 1819, the territorial legislature incorporated the town of Tuscaloosa, one day before Alabama was admitted to the union as a state. From 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa served as Alabama’s capital. The University of Alabama was established there in 1831, as well as the Bryce State Hospital in 1850. During the American Civil War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the university, along with the damaging much of the rest of the city.

During the Civil War, because of the abundance of oaks and hardwoods in the area, Tuscaloosa was nicknamed “the Druid City.”

A system of locks built on the Black Warrior River in the 1890s opened up an inexpensive means of transport to the Gulf seaport at Mobile, stimulating the mining and metallurgical industries in the region. Together with the University of Alabama and expanding high-quality mental health facilities in the city, Tuscaloosa saw prosperity through much of the next century. Manufacturing plants for firms such as Michelin, JVC, and Mercedes contributed to its economic advancement, though Tuscaloosa remains largely a college town.

Tuscaloosa was the source of a joke in the 1931 Marx brothers film "Animal Crackers," as Groucho Marx explained why it's better to shoot elephants in America than Africa: "Of course in Alabama the Tuscaloosa, but that is totally irrelephant to what I was saying.”

This facility has a waiting room and is staffed by Amtrak employees.

Tuscaloosa is served by two daily trains.

ADA Compliance

Federal law requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2010. The following is a list of items typically required for transportation and public facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please check the regulations for guidance or contact us for more information.