"I think that the use of the train station is much more interesting and positive than just to let that building deteriorate or remain as a gazebo facing the train tracks with no function." Mayor Rick DeGolia said that to The Almanac in November 2022. That was two years after Caltrain's last stop at Atherton and almost four years before the building would open to the public.
The quote stuck because of three words: "facing the train tracks." On Sunday, October 18, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Town of Atherton will cut the ribbon on the Atherton Train Station Museum. The building visitors walk into no longer faces the tracks. During restoration it was turned around in the way that counts most for a small building, which is where you enter it.
The front door moved to the other side
When the City Council backed a concept for the depot on October 20, 2021, the plan was to keep the building, turn its entrance toward the new Town Center, and use it as a public rail history space. The rail side became a secondary viewing side.
The construction details show how literal that was. The opening on the track side is being closed with glass wall panels that match the structure's design, plus a double door. On the civic center side, the center wall panel is coming out and active double doors are going in. Restriped accessible parking and accessible paths now lead in from the parking area and from Town Center.
There was another option. The grant that paid for this work could have funded pedestrian access improvements linking Town Center to the Menlo Park Caltrain station. That would have put the money toward reaching trains in the next town. The Council's concept folded the station property into Town Center instead. DeGolia put the choice in 2022 terms. The depot could stand as an aging relic next to the civic center, or it could become a point of interest within it.
This small shelter has been rebuilt many times before
Turning the depot around is the latest of many changes to the building. Its record is mostly a record of being rebuilt, enclosed and expanded. The Town's 2021 request for design proposals sets out the sequence:
- By 1866: Fair Oaks is a flag stop. Trains halted only when a waiting passenger waved a cloth to signal them.
- 1912: The stop is renamed Atherton.
- 1913: A replacement shelter goes up, with a terra-cotta roof, redwood framing and Tuscan concrete columns.
- 1916: Glass goes in on three sides.
- By 1939: The fourth side is enclosed.
- 1954: Glass-walled extensions are added.
- 1990: The shelter is rebuilt, and every original material except the concrete columns is replaced.
The Town's own materials give different founding dates. Its Winter 2025 newsletter dates the flag stop to 1863, while the design RFP says 1866. The 2026 event announcement adds that the line was built largely by Chinese laborers. It also says the station's four-sided glass made it one of the few fully glass-enclosed railroad stations of its time.
So the glass box people know from the commute was itself a remodel. Its walls went up in stages over nearly four decades, on a building that was rebuilt again in 1990. Closing in the trackside opening and adding doors on the Town Center side follows the same pattern. People have kept changing this shelter to fit how it gets used.
What it cost, and how many times it was going to open
The money came from the station closure agreement. Caltrain's governing board and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority provided $400,000. The Town's construction bid package listed Measure A as a partial funding source and put the engineer's estimate at $300,000.
San Francisco-based Garavaglia Architecture handled the design, and the Town committed $96,000 to that work. On April 19, 2023, the Council voted unanimously to award the construction contract to Castillo Plumbing, Inc. of Hayward for $302,000. Council members agreed it seemed like a steep price for a 620-square-foot building. With $96,000 already committed to design, The Almanac reported, the grant couldn't stretch to cover roughly $43,000 in extras the Council wanted: an HVAC unit to protect displays and electronics, rehabilitating and painting the monument sign, and repainting the clock.
The opening date moved several times:
| Target | Where it was stated |
|---|---|
| September 2023, for the Town's centennial | Council hopes reported by The Almanac, 2022–2023 |
| October 2025 | Town notice for a June 2025 community meeting |
| Late fall 2025 | Athertonian, Winter 2025 edition |
| This fall | Athertonian, Summer 2026 edition |
| Sunday, October 18, 2026 | Town event listing |
Back in April 2023, City Manager George Rodericks estimated construction at four to six months. He also cautioned that outfitting the building with memorabilia could take longer. The public record doesn't explain why the opening slipped from there to 2026.
What fits inside 620 square feet
The centerpiece is a secure display case with model trains running on a track, set up to tell the history of the train in Atherton in order. A video display, benches and freestanding historical displays fill out the room. The Winter 2025 newsletter also listed dioramas, interpretive displays, multimedia, a video called "Tracks of Change," and two- and three-dimensional exhibits on railway history. They run from the mid-1800s through the rise of Silicon Valley.
Under the 2021 concept, the Atherton Heritage Association supplies historical photographs and a limited amount of memorabilia. More research was planned using local and regional archives, historians and residents. In June 2025, the Town invited train enthusiasts, historians and modelers to a community meeting. They viewed videos and model examples and offered artifacts, displays, historical knowledge or volunteer time. In April 2023, the Council also approved about $25,000 in library funds for two Atherton history videos tied to the centennial. Those videos could run on a loop at the museum, City Hall and the library.
The Town's newsletter has said it will look for volunteers and docents once the museum opens. For regular hours and admission after the ribbon-cutting, check with the Town.
The trains still go by
The museum's displays run up to today's electric trains. Caltrain's current schedules list Menlo Park and Redwood City but no Atherton stop. Caltrain ended Atherton service permanently on December 19, 2020, and shifted that service to Menlo Park and Redwood City. When its board voted to close the station, Caltrain said the stop averaged 114 passengers per weekend day before the pandemic. It also said the outdated platform layout would eventually need an upgrade of about $30 million.
The service residents now ride from those two stations has changed a lot. In September 2025, after its first year of electrified service, Caltrain reported faster trains and more of them. That included weekend trains every 30 minutes and at least one train in each direction every 30 minutes at every station. Visitors to the depot can watch those electric trains go by from the secondary viewing side.
Where the museum sits on the Town Center calendar
Turning the doors toward Town Center connects the depot to everything else the Town has put there. The Atherton Library opened its 6,200-square-foot Children's Garden on June 27. It has a willow hut, a tree house and an outdoor classroom connected to the library's makerspace, and it cost a reported $682,000. The Town has also studied parking changes that could add up to 17 spaces at Town Center.
The fall dates put the museum right next to those spaces:
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 2–4 p.m.: Train Station Museum ribbon-cutting and opening. Register through Eventbrite from the Town's event page.
- Thursday, Oct. 29: The Halloween Spooktacular at Town Center, with snacks, bounce houses, library crafts, costume parades and a scavenger hunt. The Town's newsletter lists it as 3 to 5 p.m. and the Eventbrite listing says 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., so check before you go.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, at sunset: The Town Center tree lighting.
All three happen at Town Center, where the depot's new double doors now open.
If you're heading to the ribbon-cutting on the 18th, or you still have a photo from the old Atherton platform, I'd love to hear about it. Places like this depot are part of what makes a town feel like home, and those stories are some of my favorite conversations. Let's Connect with Liz Lanza.
