Amtrak, PA Railroad Museum in talks to save iconic 30th Street Station sign

The iconic flipping departures board may be saved.

Amtrak departures board
Danya Henninger/Billy Penn
Anna Orso

The iconic 30th Street Station departures board could be saved.

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA is in “initial conversations” with Amtrak regarding acquiring the board that’s set to be taken down, according to Howard Pollman, a spokesman with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Billy Penn reported earlier today that Amtrak is planning to replace the decades-old flipping, clicking departures board that operates on Windows 95 in favor of a newer, digital model. The new board is still in the design phase, and Amtrak hasn’t set a timetable for when it plans to remove the old one.

Philadelphia is one of the only cities on the East Coast that still uses a flipping departures board, and it could be the last. New York’s Penn Station had its board, called a Solari Board, replaced this week.

The response to Amtrak’s decision to nix the board was met on social media with a wave of nostalgia tinged with grief.

Lucky for these people, the iconic sign may soon be saved. Sort of.

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