No Flippin’ Way!? Amtrak’s 30th Street Station is Getting Rid of the Iconic Flipboard!

Feature Image Via Foxtod, Public Domain

For over 30 years the fluttering sound of numbers and letters has echoed throughout Amtrak’s 30th Street Station.  Millions of people over the years have had their eyes glued to the iconic flipboard to watch for departure and arrival times.  Many joyous reunions and tearful goodbyes took place beneath this piece of railroad history.  Now after decades of use, Amtrak is saying goodbye.  That’s right, the entity that has a monopoly on railroad travel is looking to replace the flipboard with a digital version.

It looks like these changes are recent moves Amtrak is making to modernize their stations.  Newark and New York’s Penn Station have both recently underwent the transformation and many nostalgic travelers didn’t take too well to the changes.

Although, we’ve unofficially referred to the departure/arrival board as “the flipboard,” the official name is actually the Solari board, named after the Italian designer. The small silver lining in this story is that the Solari board will not be scraped thanks to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania which looks to preserve it. There is no official word on when the flipboard will be replaced but officials are hinting at it happening in the near future. Personally it’s a sad thing to see.  Sure we have to “move forward” in society and “get with the times” but if we keep updating everything just to make our lives more convenient and easier will will completely loose touch with the past.  Some things should just always be and the flipboard is one of those things.