(rshsdepot) Cincinnati Union Terminal Model

["William Spurlock" <ilock_@_bellsouth.net>]

After 10 months of work we finished just days before the National Model
Railroad Show, a model of the Cincinnati Union Terminal built from over
150,000 Lego bricks. The model was the hit of the show and received much
media coverage, both TV and newspaper. If your interested in seeing a few
photos of it at the show, I've placed them at the following URL:

http://www.railstations.org/lego/index.htm

The station will be on display again at the Cincinnati Museum Center (former
Union Terminal) early next month as a part of the SummerRail festival and
again as a part of the Holiday Junction show over the holidays.

Bill Spurlock

- -----Original Message-----
From: rshsdepot-owner_@_lists.railfan.net
[mailto:rshsdepot-owner_@_lists.railfan.net] On Behalf Of Will Enser
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:55 AM
To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net
Subject: (rshsdepot) New Penn Station no longer dream


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/329448p-281556c.html

New Penn Station no longer dream
BY PAUL D. COLFORD
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005

State and city officials yesterday named the developers who will replace 
one of the city's lost jewels - the old Pennsylvania Station - with a new 
gem.
After years of delay, the city, state and two big developers are all 
aboard with a design to turn the main post office on Eighth Ave. into a 
grand transit hub recalling the elegant Pennsylvania Station that was 
razed in 1963.

The $818 million plan will preserve the handsome facade of the James A. 
Farley Post Office, erected in 1913, while adapting the building as the 
new Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station, to honor the late U.S. senator, who 
pushed hard for the idea.

"This is going to be a magnificent gateway for New York," Gov. Pataki said 
at yesterday's unveiling of the design, which also calls for shops, 
restaurants and a boutique hotel.

Pataki noted that more than 500,000 subway, NJTransit, Long Island Rail 
Road and Amtrak riders a day now use Penn Station, a bland hub located 
across Eighth Ave. He called the current location "horribly inadequate." 
It's "certainly not an appropriate gateway to the greatest city in the 
world," he added.

As envisioned by James Carpenter Design Associates, in collaboration with 
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, the new central train hall will mirror the 
old Penn Station through the addition of tall, steel arches on which will 
sit a huge, yet lightweight, skylight.

A second, so-called "grid shell skylight" will be set atop a hall to be 
located roughly in the middle of the building, between Eighth and Ninth 
Aves., that will serve as a taxi station and baggage dropoff.

The winning plan for the project was submitted by a team of major New York 
developers, The Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust, which has extensive 
holdings in the area.

The companies will put up about $300 million of the projected $818 million 
cost at different stages before the work is completed in 2010.

The city, state and federal governments and the Port Authority are also 
helping to fund the project, whose main transit beneficiary will be 
NJTransit trains.

The congestion that commuters now face in reaching the track level in Penn 
Station will be relieved with the addition of staircases and other access 
to 11 platforms that already sit under the Farley building.

The Postal Service will occupy 250,000 square feet.

Up to 1 million square feet of air rights will be applied to the northeast 
corner of Eighth Ave. and 33rd St., where a Duane Reade store now stands. 
A residential tower is expected to rise there, next to Vornado-owned 1Penn 
Plaza.

"The completion of the Moynihan Station gives a second chance to recapture 
the extraordinary station that once was Penn Station," said Charles 
Gargano, chairman of the state Economic Development Corp.

Gargano's agency spearheaded the plan and arranged for the planned 
purchase of the Farley building from the Postal Service for $230 million.

Yesterday's unveiling was the latest chapter in a long-running effort to 
give the Farley building new life as a transit hub.

Moynihan's dream project seemed far along six years ago, when 
then-President Bill Clinton came to New York to join Pataki and the 
senator in introducing plans for "the new Penn Station" in the Farley 
building.

Amtrak, the owner of Penn Station, was then onboard, but has since pulled 
back its planned financial contribution.

Mayor Bloomberg said the project will create more than 10,000 construction 
jobs, more than 3,300 permanent jobs and more than $50 million a year 
intax revenue, and provide an anchor destination amid plans for new West 
Side development.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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