Track 61 is a storage track abutting a private railroad platform on the Metro-North Railroad in Manhattan, New York City. It is located beneath the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel, within an underground storage yard northeast of Grand Central Terminal. [1] [2] The platform is part of the Grand Central Terminal complex.
Track 61 is part of the "Lex Yard", a twelve-track storage yard under the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. It shares a platform with track 63, to its west. A similar platform exists between tracks 53 and 54, to the east. [3] The yard was built during the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the 1910s, and served the terminal's power station and heating plant. The platforms at tracks 61/63 and 53/54 were originally used to carry ashes away. The power plant was demolished in 1930 to make way for the hotel. [4] : 150
The platform was not originally intended to be used as a station, but its location made it ideal for unobtrusive access to the Waldorf Astoria when the hotel was built. [4] : 164 [5] Track 61 was famously used by General John J. Pershing in 1938; by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II in 1944; and by General Douglas MacArthur in 1951. [6] [7] [4] : 163 The track was also used for the exhibition of the American Locomotive Company's new diesel locomotive in 1946; [4] : 166 a fashion show by Filene's and the New Haven Railroad in 1948; [8] a charity-benefit dinner in 1955; [9] and an event featuring Andy Warhol in 1965. [10] The 1946 event was the only event in which Track 61 was open to the public. [4] : 164
In 1978, there were plans to convert Track 61 into a platform for Amtrak trains, though this never happened. [4] : 163 The track was also reportedly set as an escape option for President George W. Bush, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice in 2003, while in U.N. General Assembly meetings. [11] As of May 1,2014 [update] , it has been reported to still be in occasional use. [1]
Track 63 held MNCW #002, a baggage car, for about 20 to 30 years. The railcar's location near Roosevelt's Track 61 made the former tour guide Dan Brucker and others incorrectly claim that it was the president's personal train car that transported his limousine. The baggage car was moved to the Danbury Railway Museum in 2019. [11] [12]
Grand Central Terminal is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the Long Island Rail Road through the Grand Central Madison station, a 16-acre (65,000 m2) rail terminal underneath the Metro-North station, built from 2007 to 2023. The terminal also connects to the New York City Subway at Grand Central–42nd Street station. The terminal is the third-busiest train station in North America, after New York Penn Station and Toronto Union Station.
The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, 625 ft (191 m) Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze and Weaver and completed in 1931. The building was the world's tallest hotel until 1957, when it was surpassed by Moscow's Hotel Ukraina. An icon of glamor and luxury, the Waldorf Astoria is one of the world's most prestigious and best-known hotels. Once owned by Conrad Hilton, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, a division of Hilton Hotels, operates under the name of the original hotel in locations around the world. Both the exterior and the interior of the Waldorf Astoria are designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as official landmarks.
The Lake Shore Limited is an overnight passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the Northeastern United States, with sections to New York City and Boston. The central segment of the route runs along the southern shore of Lake Erie. East of Chicago, the Lake Shore Limited follows the former main line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to South Bend, Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo. From here the train takes the Empire Corridor through Rochester and Syracuse to Albany–Rensselaer station in Rensselaer, New York. At that station, the train divides, with one section continuing to Springfield and Boston in Massachusetts, while the other continues along the Empire Corridor to New York City. The train is scheduled for 19+1⁄2–20+1⁄4 hours for the 959 miles (1,543 km) between Chicago and New York, and 21+1⁄2–22 hours for the 1,018 miles (1,638 km) between Chicago and Boston.
Cortlandt station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, located in Montrose, New York. Trains leave for New York City every hour on weekdays, and about every 25 minutes during rush hour. It is 38.4 miles (61.8 km) from Grand Central Terminal and travel time to Grand Central is about 62 minutes.
Wassaic station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the town of Amenia, New York. It is the northern terminal of the Harlem Line.
New Haven Union Station is the main railroad passenger station in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the third such station in the city of New Haven, preceded by both an 1848 built station in a different location, and an 1879 built station near the current station's location. Designed by noted American architect Cass Gilbert, the present beaux-arts Union Station was completed and opened in 1920 after the previous Union Station was destroyed by fire. It served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for the next five decades, but fell into decline following World War II along with the United States railroad industry as a whole.
The BMT Astoria Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway, serving the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. It runs south from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to 39th Avenue in Long Island City above 31st Street. It then turns west and serves Queensboro Plaza over Queens Plaza.
The Atlantic Terminal is the westernmost commuter rail terminal on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for the West Hempstead Branch, and a peak-hour terminal for some trains on the Hempstead Branch, Far Rockaway Branch, and the Babylon Branch; most other service is provided by frequent shuttles to Jamaica station. The terminal is located in the City Terminal Zone, the LIRR's Zone 1, and thus part of the CityTicket program.
The Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard station, is the northern terminal station on the BMT Astoria Line of the New York City Subway. Located above 31st Street between 23rd Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens, it is served by the N train at all times and the W train on weekdays.
East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) two miles from its Main Line in Queens to the new Grand Central Madison station under Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's East Side. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) project was originally scheduled to open in 2009 but was delayed by more than a decade. The new station and tunnels opened with limited service to Jamaica station in Queens on January 25, 2023, before full service began on February 27, 2023. The estimated cost of the project rose over threefold from US$3.5 billion to US$11.1 billion as of April 2018, making it one of the world's most expensive underground rail-construction projects.
Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed construction of the yard in 1910; it was originally the largest coach yard in the world, occupying 192 acres (0.78 km2).
Port Washington is the terminus of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch in Port Washington, New York. The station is located on Main Street, between Haven Avenue and South Bayles Avenue, just west of Port Washington Boulevard, and is 19.9 miles (32 km) from Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan. A pedestrian bridge exists between the platforms, and is in line with Franklin Avenue, ending at Haven Avenue.
The Long Beach station is an intermodal center and the terminus of the Long Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Park Place and Park Avenue in the City of Long Beach, New York, serving as the city's major transportation hub.
The Park Avenue main line, which consists of the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Park Avenue Viaduct, is a railroad line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running entirely along Park Avenue. The line carries four tracks of the Metro-North Railroad as a tunnel from Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street to a portal at 97th Street, where it rises to a viaduct north of 99th Street and continues over the Harlem River into the Bronx over the Park Avenue Bridge. During rush hours, Metro-North uses three of the four tracks in the peak direction.
The Portland Terminal Company was a terminal railroad notable for its control of switching (shunting) activity for the Maine Central Railroad (MEC) and Boston & Maine (B&M) railroads in the Maine cities of Portland, South Portland, and Westbrook.
Pennsylvania Station was a historic railroad station in New York City that was built for, named after, and originally occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The station occupied an 8-acre (3.2 ha) plot bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. As the station shared its name with several stations in other cities, it was sometimes called New York Pennsylvania Station. Originally completed in 1910, the aboveground portions of the building were demolished between 1963 and 1966, and the underground concourses and platforms were heavily renovated to form the current Pennsylvania Station within the same footprint.
Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines. It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on the same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads.
M42 is a sub-basement of Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The basement contains an electrical substation that provides electricity to the terminal and helps power its tracks' third rails.
Terminal City, also known as the Grand Central Zone, is an early 20th century commercial and office development in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The space was developed atop the former Grand Central Station railyard, after the New York Central Railroad decided to rebuild the station into Grand Central Terminal, and reshape the railyard into a below-ground train shed, allowing roads and skyscrapers to be built atop it.
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