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Re: (rshsdepot) Grand Central's secret stariways
Speaking of Grand Central, is there a definitive history of those buildings that I might use as a reference for a history on Halifax NS's North Street ICR station? I understand that Alexander MacNab, the chief engineer of the ICR's Nova Scotia division at the time, borrowed heavily from the American Design by Snook (?)
Jay Underwood
Elmsdale NS
>
> From: Jim Dent <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
> Date: 2007/01/09 Tue AM 12:28:58 EST
> To: RSHS List <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
> Subject: (rshsdepot) Grand Central's secret stariways
>
> http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.rrties1jan09,0,1965159.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
> Grand Central's secret stariways
> By Mark Ginocchio
> Staff Writer
>
> January 9, 2007
>
> NEW YORK -- Each day at Grand Central Terminal, commuters scale dozens
> of steps as they head to train and subway platforms, and the dining
> concourse on the lower level.
>
> But the view of most visitors are a number of staircases that lead to
> expensive artifacts, secret train platforms and what is presumed to be
> the biggest basement in New York City.
>
> They are as much a part of the history of Grand Central as the celestial
> ceiling, the gold clock atop the information booth in the main concourse
> and the statues of Hercules, Mercury and Minerva at the entrance.
>
> One of the staircases cuts through the bedrock of New York City, 109
> feet, or 10 stories, below the lower level of the terminal.
>
> The gray rusted steel steps and the jagged granite walls that have been
> blotched yellow and red with age lead to M-42, a secret basement that
> occupies 88,000 square feet underneath New York - the entire width and
> length of Grand Central.
>
> Today, M-42 contains generators that produce traction power for
> Metro-North Railroad trains.
>
> During World War II, M-42 may have been one of the most well-guarded
> basements in the United States. The room contained generators that
> powered the entire terminal and all of the city's trains, said Dan
> Brucker, a Metro-North spokesman and Grand Central historian.
>
> M-42 was a well-known target of Adolf Hitler, so armed sentries
> patrolled the basement around the clock.
>
> During the war, it was rumored that German intruders would try to
> destroy the generators by pouring buckets of sand into the turbines,
> Brucker said. If power were lost, it would have been a catastrophe.
>
> "Anyone who came down that staircase would be arrested on site," Brucker
> said. "If anyone ever saw you with a bucket of sand, you would be shot
> on sight."
>
> It is no longer the impenetrable fortress of the World War II era, but
> M-42 is still closed to the public. However, employees use the staircase
> to get to the basement, because the 100-year-old elevator is often out
> of service, Brucker said.
>
> One staircase employees rarely use leads to the peak of Grand Central -
> the clock tower that houses the world's largest sample of Tiffany glass.
>
> In the terminal's Operations Control Center, also closed to the public,
> a blue metal door is blocked by a copy machine. The copy machine can be
> moved and the door opened to reveal a small entry blocked in part by a
> concrete X. Duck beneath the X and there is the first of a series of
> thin ladders that lead to the stained-glass Tiffany clock.
>
> Each ladder leads to a small rectangular opening and a concrete landing,
> though one has to duck beneath hot pipes to get from one to the next.
>
> At the top, you can see the inner workings of the clock - gears covered
> with thick black grease. The gears are treated every day and the time is
> set by satellite to an atomic clock in Bethesda, Md., Brucker said.
>
> Dust bunnies are scattered on the floor next to the gears, along with a
> few oil cans used for greasing. The clock has a heavy, stained-glass
> plate with Roman numeral VI that can be opened, revealing 42nd Street below.
>
> It is the highest point a person can reach inside Grand Central.
>
> Not every hidden staircase is so dramatic. One gets little notice from
> hundreds of thousands of commuters who pass by.
>
> Inside the glass-encased information booth in the main concourse,
> customer service employees use a secret exit to get to Grand Central's
> lower level.
>
> At the center of the information booth is a thick gold pillar with a
> sliding door. Opening the door reveals piles of boxes with old
> schedules, brochures and other papers, making the pillar appear like a
> storage room.
>
> But inside, a narrow spiral staircase leads three stories below the main
> concourse. Halfway down is a landing that information booth employees
> use for lunch breaks.
>
> At the bottom is a small window where Kye Martin, a customer service
> representative, answers questions for commuters in the lower level.
>
> The only way for Martin to get to her post is to enter the information
> booth in the main concourse, open the sliding door and circle down.
>
> "I'm up and down quite a bit," Martin said. "It's good exercise."
>
> The lower-level booth isn't as busy as the one on the main concourse,
> which usually has at least three customer service representatives.
>
> "The main concourse carries the big business," Martin said. "It really
> only picks up down here during the business rush hour."
>
> Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
>
>
> =================================
> The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
> railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
>
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www.nsrwyhalloffame.com
Visit the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society:
http://novascotiarailwayheritage.com/
=================================
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