Grand Central Tour

Does anyone know if the MTA has ever considered giving a select few (hopefully me included) a tour of the inner workings of GCT?

I would love to see things like the loop tracks on the upper level (37,38,39, 40 to 10,11,12), and some of the more "out of the way" places.

There is a backstage tour of GCT offered on Saturdays. I believe it starts at 12noon by the info booth.

Don't know if it covers the loop, which I suspect is hardhat (and employees only) territory

The tour is restricted to public access areas only. No tour would cover the loop, or any of that sort of thing.

Group Tours
Group tours are booked through the Jones Lang LaSalle Tourism department. These tours cost $5.00 per person for groups of 10 people and over or a $50.00 flat fee for groups under 10 people. The tour is a one-hour historical walking tour with the group's own personal tour guide. These tours are given Monday — Sunday with flexible time options to suit your group's needs. Tour must be arranged and booked with full pre-payment 3 weeks prior to the group arrival. Groups can book tours by calling (212) 340-2347 [email protected].

Individual Tours
Every Wednesday at 12:30 pm, there is a free tour catering to the individual run by the Municipal Arts Society. Meet at the information booth on the Main Concourse . For more information on this tour call (212) 935-3960.

Every Friday at 12:30pm, there is a free tour catering to the individual which is run by the Grand Central Partnership. Meet on 42nd Street in front of the Phillip Morris/ Whitney Museum across the street from Grand Central. For more information on this tour call (212) 697-1245.

http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/

There really isn't too much that is exciting about the "inner workings" of GCT. The loop looks like any other track in GCT. Other areas are just dingy forgotten rooms and areas that don't look like anything unless you have a map with you. Were you looking to see something in specific?

-otto-

I'm not sure what else is out there to see. You always hear rumors (and they are probably just that) about what's underneath Grand Central's lower level. I am actually interested in the "dingy" parts though.

Can you still walk on the walkways in between the windows? Years ago you could.
Also, there are tunnels beneath the lower level and maybe between the levels which had steam pipes in them. Years ago you could walk through them at will, although they later got lots of homeless people in them. I assume you can no longer walk through them but I don't know.

I'd love to see the "Dynamo Room".

Here's a description from an old Journal News article "Discovering the secrets of Grand Central Terminal" published 9/09/2001

"This huge room is not on any maps or blueprints of Grand Central,'' Brucker said. "During World War II, troops were stationed in the Dynamo Room with shoot-to-kill orders. What's so special here? If a saboteur had thrown a bucket of sand into the converter, it would have crippled troop movements throughout the Northeast.''

The room is where power enters Grand Central and is converted to illuminate the terminal and power trains as they run north to 72nd Street. About as large as the main concourse, the room once held five hulking rotary converters, the last of which was shut down in March 1989, said substation electrician Patrick Nicolosi. Two remain for posterity, although the railroad now uses solid-state transformers.

Brucker said railroad experts place the Dynamo Room 109 feet below the lower concourse, or nearly 200 feet below street level. Frank J. Prial, Jr., an architect with Beyer Blinder Belle, the firm responsible for Grand Central's recent restoration, insists it's not quite so deep. Both agree, however, that before the basement of the World Trade Center was excavated, this spot claimed distinction as the deepest rock cut in Manhattan.

Nicolosi has grown accustomed to the stifling heat given off by the transformers during his 31 years in this hot spot, where the temperature can to rise to 140 degrees in the summer. Nicolosi gets a break, however, in a small air-conditioned office.

Also in the room is a defunct signal system used before radio communication was available to help trains stuck in a tunnel. "There were ropes along the tunnel, and the train man would ring a brass bell, and it would print out the location on a ticker-tape machine, so they could send help,'' Brucker said.

The rest of the article is at
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... crets.html

Man, is that article full of crap.

Well not totally. just everything is half-true. What else would you expect from the Journal News?

-otto-

The Dynamo's are no longer active and either removed or in process of being removed in little pieces.
All power is now provided by Solid state DC power stations and remote controlled.

Is it really an 81 foot drop from street level to the concourse? That seems like too much.

If you enter from the west side, you walk directly in from the former cab rack opp 43rd street. You walk straight ahead, with Michael Jordan's on your left. Down the big staircase, and you're on the concourse. The stairway might be, tops, 30 feet.

There's a nice, very quiet bar (Campbell Apartment) up a few stairs at the south end of that cab rack area

Out of morbid cuorisity, how large is the old substation room, and where exactly is it situated w.r.t the rest of GCT? Partly, cause I'm curious if any of it's going to be used as space for the LIRR projectg (if that ever even happens )

The substation room is still the substation room, it just does no longer have MG sets for converters. its no were near were LIRR terminal will be.

A few things:

The walkways through the windows are still used, and still glass-floored. But they're not open to the public, and in recent years (decades?), their access doors have been equipped with automatic locks.

The concourse floor is not 81 feet below street level, or even 30. More like 15. The concourse itself is 150 feet high, so I have no idea where the figure "81" could have come from.

The "shoot to kill" story in the Journal News article is true, but misrepresented. Most critical facilities during the war--stations, post offices, etc.--were guarded by troops with that order, but the order was to be carried out only if the trooper was challenged (ie, "oops, I took a wrong turn" would get you detained, not shot). Furthermore, "shoot to kill" is not a summary death sentence. It simply means fire without warning, and continue firing until the challenger is down. Preferrably, the person will live, so he can be interrogated later. However, if the person dies, the guard is not held accountable. (Those were the sentry instructions I got in the Navy. Any grunts here who were told differently, feel free to pipe in.)

The famous steam tunnels--AKA Burma Road--once frequented by "industrial archeologists" (including myself, long ago) are kept under tight lock-and-key these days. Attempts to explore them will result in lengthy detainment. Needless to say, they were never open to the public, and were only sporadically inhabited by homeless folk. The equally-frequented baggage tunnels, however, are now very much open to the public in the form of the new Northwest Passage.

Anyone whose gone googly-eyed over reports of mysterious "multiple levels," as depicted in Jennifer Toth's book, The Mole People, had best read this.

JFB wrote: The concourse floor is not 81 feet below street level, or even 30. More like 15. The concourse itself is 150 feet high, so I have no idea where the figure "81" could have come from.

I dunno, The article refers to it being 109 feet below the Lower Level, and 200 feet below street leve.

The Lower concourse has got to be at least 30 feet underground. It's ceilings are high, and it's essentially 2 stories underground (the main concourse floor must be 10-15 feet below 42nd street level. )

Then add the fact they were probably referring to Park Ave, as this is much higher than 42nd street, and inflates the numbers, and you are probably looking at 50-60 feet below Park Ave Street level for the LL Concourse. Further extrapolate that they actually mean the LL platform areas rather than the concourse (another story down) at with a bit of artistic license and few qualms about streching the truth, you might put the LL at 80 feet underground.

As for the room housing the rotary converters, this is stated as being 8 stories below the concourse (which it doesnt say) in "Grand Central : Gateway to a million lives".

Figure about 15 feet a story, and you've reached 120 feet below the concourse level - perhaps 150 feet below street level.

Course, never let the facts get in the way of a good story