New York Penn Station turns 100

This month, New York Penn Station will mark its 100th anniversary.

About 550,000 passengers pass through the facility each day, making it the busiest station in Amtrak’s system and one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world, according to a press release. Penn Station also is used by MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and New Jersey Transit trains, as well as Amtrak high-speed trains and other intercity services. Combined, the three agencies operate more than 1,000 weekday trains at the station.

Penn Station opened in 1910; public areas were reconstructed in 1968.

Amtrak will celebrate the facility’s anniversary on Oct. 18 by displaying rare photos, artifacts and other items that commemorate the station’s history. In addition, representatives from Amtrak, NJ Transit and LIRR will be on hand to reminisce about some of the station’s most memorable moments.

And despite the ongoing bitterness over the destruction of an architectural gem in 1968, the event gave rise to the modern preservationist movement. In time, and with much support from Mrs. Kennedy, the reaction to the loss of Penn Station helped save Grand Central Station from a similar fate.

The Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Penn Central Transportation vs. New York City lead to the saving of countless historic structures, protecting much of our nation's history from loss to "the bottom line".

Let's hope the visibiliy offered through the redevelopment of the Farley Building helps re-establish the railroad's importance to the economy of the city in people's minds.

Happy Birthday Penn Station! Now if you could find a good hockey hockey team to play above you all would be well. Go Devils!

Sadly, the title of this thread should really be "What's Left of New York Penn Station Turns 100".

Had it just lasted a few more years it might still be with us, although as Mr. Fidelis notes, the destruction of the original Penn Station was a major factor in the change in both laws and public opinion that ultimately saved many other architectural classics, including GCT.

LIRR service began September 8, regular PRR mainline service at Penn Station did not formally begin until November 27. The North River tunnels and Penn Station superstructure were largely complete by January 1910.

An excellent history of the conception, design and building of Penn Station and all the associated infrastructure came out three years ago: Conquering Gotham (Viking, 2007), by Jill Jonnes.

Jers2709 wrote: public areas were reconstructed in 1968.

Obviously you see the glass as being half full....

Happy Birthday anyway!

Also note that some features, such as the staircases and portions of the subway corridors remain original.

DId NJT always serve NYP or was that a recent event? I always thought NJT just took you to a pier or H&M station in Jersey and stopped.

Up until the 1950s, the PRR also had the Exchange Place commuter terminal on the Jersey City waterfront. (There's not the slightest trace of a railroad in that area these days, although PATH is underground and the Hudson-Bergen light rail line is a block away.) PRR commuter service using MP54 MU's began running out of Penn Station when the AC electrification was activated in 1932. Prior to that, some locals went to Penn with an steam-to-electric engine change at Manhattan Transfer, but you're right, until the 1930s many or most commuters reached Manhattan by PATH or ferry, and Penn Station wasn't the sole terminal until the late 1950s when Exchange Place closed.

TomNelligan wrote:...but you're right, until the 1930s many or most commuters reached Manhattan by PATH or ferry .....

More to the point, as both Mr. Nelligan and myself well know, it was on the H&M, or Hudson & Manhattan - a wholly owned PRR subsidiary. The line was adjudged a Bankrupt during December 1954 and eventually came under control of the Port of New York Authority and adopted the trade name of Port Authority Trans Hudson, or PATH. Their Lower Manhattan terminal was named Hudson Terminal, which was on the site which today is temporarily known as Ground Zero.

Here's more on the H&M (not the Swedish retail apparel chain):

http://www.hudsoncity.net/tubesenglish/

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 5B818DF1D3

I don't think anyone has actually answered the gentleman's question about NJT servicing Penn Station directly yet:

Please, anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here. Every time I learn something new something old is forgotten and I've been learning a lot of new things recently! Just be polite. I'm really quite fragile...

The NJ Transit trains that operated along the Northeast Corridor, and I think also some that operated along the North Jersey Coast Line, served Penn Station from the first day of NJ Transit's operations. Trains from the Gladstone-Peapack Branch and the Morris and Essex Line are relatively recent additions to New York Penn, operating over a connection between the Northeast Corridor and the M&E Line that opened in 1996.

The project consisted of two ramps, designed for high speed operation (though the trains crawl through there) that allowed trains formerly bound for Hoboken to ascend to the northbound track of the Northeast Corridor for travel into Penn Station and a ramp to allow those trains, now outbound from Penn, to return to the M&E. The project was first called "The Kearny Connection", but as this name sounded like a place for a drug transaction to some politicians it was later renamed and marketed as "Midtown Direct" service. It has been an overwhelming success thus far. That success is one of the many reasons more capacity is needed for trains from NJ bound to NY Penn, however the massive project to build new tunnels under the Hudson River and construct a new terminal beneath the existing one was recently cancelled by Governor Christie due to budget constraints.

Prior to 1996, all through trains from the Morris and Essex Line and the Gladstone Branch terminated in Hoboken (the H&M/PATH terminal mentioned by the poster). Many trains from the North Jersey Coast Line also terminated in Hoboken by way of Waterfront Connection, a connection which allowed trains on the Northeast Corridor heading for NY Penn to divert and head to Hoboken.

Many trains from the electrified portion of the Montclair-Boonton Line (Montclair University and stations east) began operating into Penn Station in late 2002 when the "Montclair Connection" opened.

Prior to the opening of the Montclair Connection in 2002, all of the trains from the two lines that were merged upon the project's completion, the Montclair Branch and the Boonton Line, had terminated in Hoboken (again, the H&M or PATH terminal the poster mentioned).

So yes, NJ Transit has always operated to Penn Station. However, much of the service to NY Penn is less than 2 decades old.

My apologies if someone did already explain this and I missed it.

I would say that some of the service to Penn Station, namely those from Hoboken Division are recent. The NEC and NJCL has always operated into Penn Station during the existence of NJT and is the bulk of NJT operations into Penn Station even today

To better answer Tadman's question, since things evolve over time, let's roll the clock back to 1960. PRR trains from today's NEC as well as the NJCL, operated to NYP. DL&W and Erie trains operated to Hoboken (the merger was late in 1960 although Erie trains were already operating to Hoboken) where there were ferries as well as the H&M. Jersey Central trains (both today's Raritan line as well as CNJ-operated NJCL trains operated to Jersey City where it was then ferry to NY (no H&M from that terminal). And I think the NYS&W still had service which terminated in the Meadowlands near the Lincoln Tunnel Expressway where there was then a bus transfer to the PABT. The NJCL (the NY&LB RR then) was an odd-case as it operated no passenger trains of its own. Instead, both PRR and CNJ operated the trains each to their respective terminals with PRR trains making an engine change at South Amboy to/from electric.
Now move to 1970. PC replaced PRR but their trains were the same including the NJCL trains. EL still went to Hoboken and NYS&W trains were gone. The big change was with the CNJ. Jersey City was closed with CNJ trains now terminating at Newark Penn. Raritan trains were largely the same as today. On the NJCL, there were still separate PC and CNJ trains with PC trains still changing engines at South Amboy and operating to NYP while CNJ trains now followed the same route as PC trains but no engine change and they terminaed at Newark.
Eventually, NJT came into the picture, the PC/CNJ distinction went away on the NJCL, and the Midtown Direct connection was built for the former DL&W M&E trains.

Was anyone able to make it to Penn Station yesterday?

TomNelligan wrote:Up until the 1950s, the PRR also had the Exchange Place commuter terminal on the Jersey City waterfront. (There's not the slightest trace of a railroad in that area these days, although PATH is underground and the Hudson-Bergen light rail line is a block away.) PRR commuter service using MP54 MU's began running out of Penn Station when the AC electrification was activated in 1932. Prior to that, some locals went to Penn with an steam-to-electric engine change at Manhattan Transfer, but you're right, until the 1930s many or most commuters reached Manhattan by PATH or ferry, and Penn Station wasn't the sole terminal until the late 1950s when Exchange Place closed.

Didn't Exchange Place actually make it-- just barely-- into the 1960's as a functioning terminal? And wasn't it also electrified when they installed the AC in the '30s?