Grand Central Centennial 2013 100th Anniversary

Metro North really does embrace the railroad history to a certain degree. At employee orientation they went over some of the historic facts of GCT, NY Central, etc.. They brought you into the library with old books and railroad artifacts presented by a current Metro North employee who oversees this area. On the second day they brought down to see the dynamo which powered Grand Central years back. They said it was even guarded by soldiers during WWII.

I thought it was a nice distraction from all the medical and employment forms to fill out. Metro North doesn't name recognition of the LIRR, but they are not afraid to show what it developed from. Just a quick example is the CDOT diesel fleet in NH colors Genesis and Brookville. When the LIRR shop forces painted SW1001s 102 and 104 in an old scheme they caught hell for it. Getting back to original post the 100th anniversary was a nice added touch to GCT.

Don't confuse the efforts of individuals with MNCR, same with CDOT, they are not MNCR, or MTA

RMNE was not contacted about or asked to display any equipment or artifacts at the GCT 100th Anniversary event. Dutch is in error regarding that.

If that request had been made, or the opportunity was available, I'm sure RMNE would have responded quite positively.

One little side note re: the "NYC" FL9: when those two units were being contemplated, RMNE was asked by MN's Jack Swanberg to provide all the technical assistance for that project. The lettering blueprints, striping layouts, nose decals, color formulae and samples all came from RMNE-- which had researched and painted a certain UP E9 as an ersatz "NYC" E-unit a few years earlier.

As for "loser" railroad paint schemes, The Milwaukee Road (two cars painted as such there at GCT) certainly qualifies: read some railroad history and see what an economically marginal railroad it was for most of it's life.

It was a very nice display, a really great event, and garnered lots of enthusiasm and positive PR for MN with the general public, who were the majority of the people attending. And that can only be a good thing for trains and railroading, both new and old. Metro-North is a first-class commuter railroad, probably the best in the US (certainly the best in NY), with a LOT of good people who do a great job. And anyone who rides MN and remembers what things were like in the 60s-70s and early 80s, would agree with that statement.

Actually quite a few of the private cars represented railroads that offered through sleeping car service from GCT at some point. The B&M car was from the State of Maine, which operated out of GCT. The UP car operated on the City of Los Angeles and City of San Francisco, which the NYC interchanged cars (10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleepers, as this car was) with in the mid to late-1950s, and the SP car operated on the San Francisco Overland, which the NYC interchanged cars with from the late-1940s through the mid-1950s. In terms of the Frisco car, the NYC operated through sleeping car service with the Frisco for a couple of years (1946-48), and after that it prominently advertised connecting service with them in the first couple of pages of their timetables into the late 1950s.

To me the types of cars represented is more important than the railroad they came from. The cars from LA were interesting and it was interesting to get the perspectives of the owners and passengers on those cars who were on a two week trip via Amtrak. You had multiple NYC cars that can be documented that regularly operated into/out of GCT along with the B&M sleeper. We are really nitpicking here but perhaps there could have been a sign or photo showing these cars were GCT alumni. I was especially pleased that an RPO and a diner were on display as these are car types the general public rarely sees. Several sleepers had rooms made up for sleeping and did a good job explaining them. The only car type not on display would have been a long distance coach, but I could see skipping one as they are not "glamorous" nor would finding one to display that was available be easy.

From our booth in Vanderbilt Hall I would say the crowd we saw ran about 70% non-fans to 30% fans. Since the goal is to bring in the general public I would call the event a success.

Dutch,
You clump "foamers" in with rail preservationists. There is a distinct difference. One is about, "Wow, that train is so cool" vs. "this speaks to a higher cultural theme and therefore we have an ethical obligation, given its history, to show why these are significant and should be saved." I attended the event with a "non-railfan" who happened to be a female. Had I not been there to explain, in general terms (I wasn't jumping up and down saying, OMG OMG OMG that is an FL-9) why a car like the Hickory Creek was significant or how it differed from the Dover Harbor, the event would have been lost on her. "Four hours for this?" I'm not saying they should have catered to the railfan group. I could car less. In fact, I'd prefer they didn't go with their huge guts and cameras. They give the rest of us a bad name. However, from an educational standpoint, they really didn't do a great job.

I went with my father and brother, and we all enjoyed it. Metro-North doesn't have to do events like this, but I think they're smart to draw upon people's general affection for, and fascination with, trains. I had never been inside a railway post office, and one can tell that lounge cars like the Babbling Brook were pre-ADA, to wit, tight squeeze. If I were putting together a wishlist for next year, one car that would have enormous historical import would be a segregated coach.