GCT FDR Train Car-Untapped New York-Michelle Young

Track 61 is a storage track abutting a private railroad platform on the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is located beneath the

Waldorf Astoria New York The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...

hotel, within an underground storage yard northeast of

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

. The platform is part of the Grand Central Terminal complex.

History

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. The yard was built during the

construction of Grand Central Terminal 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 sit ...

in the 1910s, and served the terminal's

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

and

heating plant A heating plant, also called a physical plant, or steam plant, generates thermal energy in the form of steam for use in district heating applications. Unlike combined heat and power installations which produce thermal energy as a by-produc ...

. 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. 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. Track 61 was famously used by General John J. Pershing in 1938; by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1944; and by General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

in 1951. The track was also used for the exhibition of American Locomotive Company's new diesel locomotive in 1946; a fashion show by

Filene's Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...

and the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

in 1948; a charity-benefit dinner in 1955; and an event featuring

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

in 1965. The 1946 event was the only event in which Track 61 was open to the public. In 1978, there were plans to convert Track 61 into a platform for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

trains, though this never happened. The track was also reportedly set as an escape option for President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, Colin Powell, and

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

in 2003, while in U.N. General Assembly meetings. , it has been reported to still be in occasional use.

Roosevelt traincar

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 falsely claim that it was the president's personal train car that transported his limousine. The baggage car was moved to the

Danbury Railway Museum The Danbury Railway Museum RailincSearch MARKs accessed September 2009 is a railway museum housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the clos ...

in 2019.

References

External links

Grand Central Terminal Guide: What to SeeTrack 61 on "Urban Ghosts"A Look Inside Track 61, The Secret Train Platform Under The Waldorf-Astoria
{{coord, 40, 45, 23, N, 73, 58, 27, W, display=title Metro-North Railroad Subterranea (geography) Waldorf Astoria New York Grand Central Terminal Upper class culture in New York City

History

Roosevelt traincar

See also

References

External links