 When service from Union Station was inaugurated in 1928 , both eastbound and westbound trains were departing the station almost every hour bound for destinations across the United States . Passengers in the station 's expansive waiting room could patronize its news stand , telegraph office , barber shop , shoeshine stand , or its lunch counter and soda fountain . Train schedules were handwritten on a large blackboard , while station staff announced the arrival and impending departures of the trains by megaphone . 
