PARADE OF TRAINS, Grand Central Terminal

by Kevin Walsh

On the weekend of May 11th and 12th, 2013, Grand Central Terminal assembled a group of restored luxury sleeper, lounge, and diner cars that ran on various railroads countrywide as part of its Centennial exhibitions, ongoing until July 7th.

Countrywide train travel still exists, as washboards, VCRs, and Walkmen still exist, but the mode is no longer relied on in the age of jet airliners. Yet, jet airliner travel these days, for all but the richest business and pleasure travelers, is akin to being strapped into a metal tube and flung through space for several hours, with the old amenities, such as meals, having been stripped away long ago. The owners of the train cars seen today in this exhibit attempted to replicate a luxury hotel experience aboard moving trains. There was dinner service with table settings, floral arrangements and cloth napkins. For the right price, you had a bedroom that resembled the one you slept in at home. To pass the time you could lounge around in plush chairs and settees and read a book or a newspaper, or converse with your fellow traveler. (This was long before the time when people isolated themselves with personal machinery and devices on which they played video games, or yelled into personal wireless telephones.)

Several of the cars in the exhibit were employed on the Twentieth Century Limited, the most famed USA passenger rail service of all, which ran nearly nonstop between New York and Chicago from 1902 to 1967 and was the setting for a Broadway musical named for it in 1978. A special red carpet was rolled out to greet passengers entering the train in GCT (some say the phrase “red carpet treatment” came from this) and the carpet was duly exhibited here.

 

Parade of Subway Cars

 

A young woman poses in front of an R-33 World’s Fair car, #9306. As an added attraction, the MTA ran what was colloquially called the “Train of Many Colors” on the Times Square Shuttle on the two days of the GCT exhibit. This car was built in 1963 by the St. Louis Car Co. and served on the Flushing Line in Queens until November 2003. Though other R-33s were later painted maroon as part of the IRT “redbird” fleet, when placed into service they were bright blue and white in the “World’s Fair” paint scheme. Note the interlocking TA logo — you can still find a few of those at MTA shops around town.

 

Car No. 6239, part of the R-15 fleet, was in service from 1950 to 1984. The car was used to test early air conditioning schemes.

 

Car #5760 was one of the first R-12 cars and served from 1948-1981.

 

A pair of vintage subway ads: the popular Subway Sun, a series of public service ads drawn by artist Amelia Opdyke “Oppy” Jones; and Jane Fonda’s 1968 space fantasy Barbarella.

Before proceeding to the classic cars, let me indulge my predilection for lighting fixtures. Grand Central Terminal, for me, is an elusive beast to represent fully, thanks in part to its sheer bulk and vastness. Last spring I was taken for a tour (with other enthusiasts) of the terminal by tour director Dan Brucker, and though I had my camera along, I was more or less paralyzed by the spectacle. I also dislike taking pictures indoors using flash, which gets in people’s eyes. One of these years, I will do GCT justice with a page.

Here is just one facet of my fascination. Till its renovation in the 1990s, GCT was lit almost entirely by incandescent bulbs, which imparted a warm, almost sensual, glow (subway stations had likewise been lit by incandescents). To house the bulbs, GCT architects devised a diverse group of lamp stanchions and housings, many of them gilded as seen here to impart opulence. Lately, long-lasting fluorescents that burn yellow but a bit more coldly, light up the vast interiors.

Also seen here is a sample of a restored Twin freestanding lamp that had formerly been on the traffic ramp that wraps around the Terminal.

 

Parade of Trains

It was time to board the Parade of Trains. Or…not exactly time. On both days, the MTA estimated that over 40,000 guests arrived to view the cars, or double what was expected. Thus the Terminal was jampacked with people who were there for the Parade of Trains but also many other Centennial-themed exhibits. I arrived in GCT at noon and I estimate that I saw my first train interior around 2:30. The line, which begun in the entrance corridor near 42nd Street, snaked into the back of the terminal, past the Transit Museum, into the 45th Street entrance corridor, onto an unused platform, onto an idling Metro-North trainset (the air conditioning was turned on) then back into the 45th street corridor and finally, onto Tracks 34-37 for the exhibit. Here, I’ll show the car interiors I found most interesting, which were on tracks 34-35.

The Hickory Creek is a sleeper-observation car built in 1947 for the Twentieth Century Limited, and was christened on September 15, 1948 in GCT by future President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among its advanced amenities for its time were fluorescent lighting, pneumatic doors that operated with the pull or push of a door handle and a raised lookout lounge.

 

The NY Central 43 was built in 1947 and served on the NY Central’s New England States train. It was one of a group of 13 Tavern Lounge cars.

 

Table setting in the Wisconsin, built in 1948 for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.

 

Tavern seating in the NY Central 448, built for the NY Central’s New England States train in 1948.

 

The Ohio River, a sleeper/observation car built in 1926 by Pullman (which had innovated the sleeper car in the 19th Century).

 

The Birken is a diner-lounge car built in 1954 for the Canadian National Railway by the Canadian Car & Foundry (see entry about the manufacturer on this webpage).

 

Babbling Brook, a sleeper-observation lounge car built in 1949 by the Budd Co. for the NY Central’s New England States train. See Ozark Mountain Railcar for this car’s history — it’s been around.

 

Dover Harbor was built in 1923 by Pullman for the Pennsylvania RR’s Broadway Limited and Spirit of St. Louis trains. This is the oldest Pullman car still in active service. It’s covered by a comprehensive website.

 

A place setting in the Tioga Pass car, built in 1959 for the Canadian National Railroad. Today it is an excursion car in California.

 

Streamline Moderne seating and lamp in the Overland Trail, built in 1949 by Pullman for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Would you get a haircut in a moving railcar? The Southern Pacific offered such a service on this trainset. Retired barber Jerry Gipple was on hand to explain the amenity.

The Overland Trail is equipped with (what is thought to be) the sole operating streamliner era railroad barbershop in the world. Once a common feature aboard the premier trains of old … the railroad barbershop succumbed to the realities of the jet age in the mid 50s. The honor of carrying the last barbershop probably falls to the famous Super Chief, flagship of the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The train, affectionately known as “The Train to the Stars”, because of its Hollywood celebrity patrons, lost several premium services on January 10th 1954 including the barbershop.

Before the jet age, the business traveler made up a very important percentage of the railroads’ ridership … and they needed to arrive at their destination clean, well groomed and “dapper”, if they wanted to “make that sale”. The onboard barbershop made all that possible as quite typically, the barber not only provided the tonsorial arts at speed, but also presided over a shower, bath and clothes pressing services as well. Overland Trail, linked above

 

The Berlin, built in 1956 for the Union Pacific RR by Pullman was possibly the most richly appointed traincar in the exhibit. Once inside you will definitely notice the rich mahogany-finished walls and three master bedrooms with full size beds.

 

The Montana was built by the Milwaukee Road Shops for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Olympian Hiawatha train.

So I finished a long day at this point. I do feel that an exhibit of this type would be better done in an outside trainyard because exterior photography would be better there, and the crowds were so great that there were cries of “keep moving” single file through the occasionally cramped traincars. It was difficult to get a really good shot in several cars, which is why I didn’t get more. Still, this would seem to be a one-of-a-kind exhibit, especially in NYC, and it remains to be seen if GCT will do another one anytime soon.

I may have erred regarding identifying cars — I welcome corrections in Comments.

5/25/13

19 comments

mrnyc May 26, 2013 - 7:54 am

great job. although i would love to see this exhibit i could never go with those crowds! i certainly agree it should be held at an outdoor railyard instead.

amtrak had a similar event in philadelphia recently at 30th st station for national train day.

Reply
Wayne Whitehorne May 26, 2013 - 9:57 am

#9306 was removed from service in 1976 when the transit museum opened. She never wore the redbird paint scheme (or any other livery either) as the other cars in the fleet did.

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Matthew Comcowich May 26, 2013 - 11:38 am

Thanks for an excellent page about the Parade of Trains. I tried to get down there myself on Saturday and was shocked at how poorly managed the crowd control was, even by MTA standards. Finally we got to the part with the idling Metro North trains and we just said forget it. From the sound of FNY’s experience, we probably wouldn’t have made it to the end of the line before it closed.

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Dan May 26, 2013 - 6:46 pm

Great photos.

As a kid during the 1950s and 60s, I took the train from Grand Central to the midwest twice every year. So I absolutely loved the Parade of Trains. It was definitely worth getting up early to beat the crowds and step inside a New York Central car for the first time since 1966.

I still travel around the country by train all the time (which I highly recommend). Although Amtrak isn’t as fancy as the vintage cars pictured here, the overall experience hasn’t changed much at all.

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Jeff May 27, 2013 - 10:16 pm

I always wanted to travel cross country by train so last week I checked out the Empire Builder between Everett,WA & Chicago for a upcoming trip later this year. For a senior traveling alone, a seat cost $289. It’s a 40 hr trip so you would have to sleep in the seat for that price. Adding a room brings the price up to $1165. Darn, it’s beyond my budget so I’ve had to settle for flying coach at $360 round trip, 4 hrs each way. But if I could afford first class on a plane, I’d go by train.
For train fans Youtube has lots of old films & RFD channel on TV has a good show on trains & locomotives. Added benefit of old films is they also show old buildings & cars. Try not to cry if you see old Penn Station. Those b*****ds!

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Dan May 28, 2013 - 11:08 am

Jeff says: I always wanted to travel cross country by train so last week I checked out the Empire Builder between Everett,WA & Chicago for a upcoming trip later this year.

If you regularly use a credit card, get an Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard, which is their version of an air miles card.

You get Amtrak points with each purchase, which you can use toward free train trips (coach and sleeper) everywhere that Amtrak goes. You’ll find information about it on Amtrak’s web site.

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Mike May 28, 2013 - 11:16 am

Speaking of GCT lighting fixtures, perhaps you can help me out with something. I once heard a story that all the GCT light fixtures feature bare bulbs because they were considered the height of technology when GCT was built, and they wanted to show them off as a design feature. This sort of makes sense to me because they are featured so prominently everywhere, but I’ve always wondered if it is in fact true. Any thoughts?

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Dan May 28, 2013 - 11:26 am

We took the Hudson line down to GCT. We got there about 11 AM and there was already a 4 hour wait on line. About 20 minutes later some staff and transit police broken into the line about 50 feet in front of us and announced that no one from that point back would be admitted.

Really poor crowd control and lack of planning. It would have been nice but, I won’t do that again.

Had a nice dinner down at Eataly so it wasn’t a total loss.

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Kevin Wong May 28, 2013 - 2:58 pm

World’s Fair R33 9306 was never repainted red. It was removed from #7 service in 1976 and joined the Transit Museum fleet while in its original colors.

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Teve May 29, 2013 - 6:02 am

It was a good exhibit, and yes, the crowds were crazy. It’s always like that for these exhibits and shows in GCT.

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Al Tz May 30, 2013 - 9:14 am

Last years’ “National Train Day” at GCT, sponsored by Amtrak, had very similar equipment displays with the passenger cars, diners, sleepers; and also including locomotives, museum display,and work cars, as well as a lot of other exhibits in Vanderbilt Hall.

In 2012 the crowds were handled better than this years’ reports. Other than a 30 or so minute wait in a long, hot, corridor west of the platforms; once the line reached the trains it moved well and there was plenty of time to dawdle in the cars or on the platforms to view and photograph. Some cars planned for 2012 didn’t make it because I think MTA gave the exhibit one less platform (two tracks full) than planned so I can’t say which year had more equipment on display.

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Tal Barzilai May 31, 2013 - 4:48 pm

Are there any trains used for traveling like Amtrak that still have dinning rooms and beds in the cars these days or were they are all stopped?

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Gary Fonville June 1, 2013 - 12:28 pm

There are several long distance Amtrak trains that originate in NYC:
1. Lake Shore Limited (NYC-Chicago) via Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland)
2. Cardinal (NYC-Chicago) via Washington DC, Cincinnati. Three weekly departures only
3. Crescent (NYC-New Orleans)
4. Silver Meteor (NYC-Miami)
5. Silver Star (NYC-Miami)

These five trains DO have dining and sleeping accommodations.

Amtrak discontinued a few years back a sleeper equipped train that ran between Newport News,Va and Boston, MA. I always thought not because of lack of demand but equipment shortages. Amtrak recently ordered new locomotives, dining cars and sleeping cars. Most dining cars used on the east coast are now approaching years years old.
an

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WILLIAM SIEMON June 2, 2013 - 11:59 pm

Approaching WHAT?!!!

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Gary Fonville February 23, 2014 - 10:04 am

60 years

Reply
The Mysterious “Golden Era” Passenger Railcars On The Northeast Corridor | Geekometry November 9, 2013 - 2:01 pm

[…] held by a private owner, and currently assocaited with the Morristown & Erie Railway, and was recently publicly featured in celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Grand Central Terminal. Related […]

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The Mysterious “Golden Era” Passenger Railcars On The Northeast Corridor - Geekometry January 1, 2014 - 6:27 pm

[…] held by a private owner, and currently assocaited with the Morristown & Erie Railway, and was recently publicly featured in celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Grand Central Terminal. Share this article with […]

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Cyril Bennett April 19, 2014 - 5:57 pm

A good show well received by all in my group. Luncheon at the Oyster Bar was fine. Crowds!! Well that i NYC

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Inland Express July 26, 2014 - 9:05 am

Really informative read, appreciate you taking the time to put it together, I’m also glad to be able to share my own thoughts and am looking forward to returning to read what other people have to share.

Reply

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