      
Grand Central Terminal Overview
Grand Central is a "Terminal", not a station, because trains
terminate there mainly on stub-end tracks. The existing building
is not the first facility to be built on 42nd street.
Construction of the first
building, called Grand Central Depot, was begun in 1869 when
Commodore Vanderbilt was in charge of the New York Central and
Hudson River Railroad. Work also began that year on a new
connecting railroad from Spuyten Duyvil to Mott Haven that would
allow Hudson River Railroad trains to use Grand Central Depot.
This construction now makes the final stretch of track of the
Husdon Line, as it goes to Mott Haven/Harlem 125th Street. When
the New York Central moved to the new Grand Central Depot in
1871, the old station at 27th Street was bought by P.T. Barnum
and converted into the first Madison Square Garden. |
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Grand Central
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The current Madison Square Garden was built over the site of the old (and
Grand) Pennsylvania Station. Grand Central Depot was
inadequate from the day it was completed in 1871 until it was
replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913.
Grand Central Depot was actually three adjacent railroad
buildings for the Hudson River Railroad, The New York and
Harlem and the New York and New Haven railroads. If you
arrived from New Haven on a trip to Ossining, you would have
to exit the New Haven portion of the building and re-enter the
Hudson River Railroad depot. When traveling with baggage, this
was a tremendous inconvenience. To remedy this problem, the
buildings were connected during a major upgrade in 1898.
At that time, Grand Central Depot was renamed Grand Central
Station, a name that has endured for many years and is now
retained by the subway station beneath Grand Central Terminal.
Two problems doomed the old facility: congestion and smoke
from steam engines.
To correct these problems a two level terminal was built with
third rail electrification. Grand Central Depot, and its
massive train shed ( a canopy over the tracks ) is now gone
over 80 years, but a part of the building has been preserved.
Just behind the southbound platform at Philipse Manor is a
sculpture of a massive eagle. It once sat on top of Grand
Central Station. A duplicate, from the other corner of the
building, has been preserved at Phoenicia, New York, just off
Route 28 as you enter the north end of the village. While the
eagle may not be worth the trip to Phoenicia, about 100 miles
from New York City, the Empire State Railroad Museum, also
located in the town is an interesting collection of railroad
memorabilia. Another eagle from Grand Central Depot made its
way to a garden in Bronxville, New York. The owners of this
eagle have donated it to Metro North. It was restored at the
North White Plains shop. Moving the old sculpture without
damaging it was a monumental task. The Metro North wreck gang
was up to the task. This eagle has returned to Grand Central
and will be perched outside the entrance on Lexington Avenue
and 43rd Street.
The cost to construct Grand Central Terminal was a staggering
$43 million. The price was offset by the sale of "air rights"
over the enclosed facility. Many majestic buildings were
constructed including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For many
years, the elevators in these buildings would be powered by
third rail current provided by the New York Central.
Grand Central remains a grand facility today. It almost
suffered a fate similar to the old Pennsylvania station. In
1968, the Penn Central corporation proposed an office tower to
be built over the building. The idea was not novel. When
original proposals were made to build Grand Central, the
architectural firm of Reed and Stem proposed a 700' office
tower to be built above the building. When the office tower
proposal was brought back by Penn Central, there was a great
deal of public outcry to save Grand Central. There was little
hope that the building could be saved until Jacqueline Kennedy
Onnasis stood in front of the building and urged the
preservation of the historic site. Penn Central withdrew their
plans and Grand Central was saved and designated as a historic
site.
Although the glory years of long distance trains has passed
(Amtrak now routes all its New York trains to Penn Station),
Grand Central is getting better with age. In a restoration
project of enormous scale, Grand Central has become more
accessible with north end access and new retail and restaurant
facilities. The celestial ceiling was restored to its original
beauty. The marble was cleaned and repaired. The beauty will
not go unnoticed. In 2002, Metro-North carried over 72 million
passengers. That is a record that keeps getting broken,
surpassing previous numbers that were set during World War II
in the heyday of rail travel.
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