Grand Central Centennial 2013 100th Anniversary

I have to agree with the excellent crowd control. A number of visitors were remarking how similar the lines were to Disney. Keep you moving as a means of keeping you happy. Having the M7s present to keep people "cool" (both literally and figuratively) was an excellent, excellent plan. Well done, MN.

I was also please to see how much good PR "railroads" recieved through this event. Foamers seemed to be in the minority, middle-class families the majority. Anything to help raise awareness is always welcomed.

Criticism from an educational standpoint: No real preservation "eye-catchers." While certainly the "Hickory Creek" was remarkable (as well as the "Dover Harbor"), the stuff from DRM was sorry looking (with the exception of the RPO) and not a great representation of the what the preservation world is capable of. Also, the fact a New Haven FL9 was not present (or any New Haven equipment for that matter) a travesty. Its also too bad more heavyweights weren't present, specifically the Valley Railroad's "Great Republic", which was part of the 1930 Yankee Clipper consist. Again, I understand they didn't have to do it at all and I'm glad they did. However, from an interpretative exhibit standpoint, they get a D.

Flame away.

It sure was a good event
Really nice cars
And also really nice personal telling you about each car
And it sure was nice of metro north to keep a couple of sets for keeping people cool

244inmypants wrote:Also, the fact a New Haven FL9 was not present (or any New Haven equipment for that matter) a travesty. Its also too bad more heavyweights weren't present, specifically the Valley Railroad's "Great Republic", which was part of the 1930 Yankee Clipper consist. Again, I understand they didn't have to do it at all and I'm glad they did.

Yes I agree. A New Haven FL-9 present would have been great . DRM has one as well, and would've preferred to see that vs the RS-3M #605. Perhaps MN could've brought down one of CDOT's NH-painted Gennies. But it was great seeing the Tonawanda Valley. That car has always been one of my favorite. We used to have it at the Valley Railroad back in the 90s and I dreamed of the day when it would be restored. It is nice though seeing it being worked on at DRMX and looks a lot better than it did on the VRR. Too bad we couldn't walk through it, but having the lights working was a nice touch, and was able to see the inside.

Seeing the "Great Republic" at the show would've been great, along with the "Wallingford" (both which operated out of GCT on NH trains). Perhaps it would have been possible had Amtrak been a sponsor of the event. Getting equipment out of the VRR and down to GCT would have involved a trip on both Amtrak AND Metro-North, vs Danbury which shares property/yard space with MN. So I can see why that was done. It's easy for us to be armchair event coordinators, I guess. The Great Republic DID in fact go to an event in GCT c 1991, but that was just as its restoration was commencing, and solely for the filming of "Malcolm X".

Regardless, it was a great event and a great display of historic rail cars. Kudos to everyone at GCT and MN and for pulling it off, and for the private car owners to allow thousands of guests to visit their cars.

244inmypants wrote:...Also, the fact a New Haven FL9 was not present....

There was a New Haven FL-9 present. It was just wearing NYC paint.

.

I arrived at GCT with my significant other at 12:15, a 2 hour trip from home. We immediately sought out the line for the "Parade of Trains". Hmmmmmmm, no obvious starting point at track 37, lots of police, I locate a Metro-North official type person and I politely inquire where does the line begin for the Parade of Trains?

"The line is shut down. You can't join the line. There is a 4 hour wait to see the exhibit. Come back tomorrow".

I just spent $ 68.00 on rail fare on Metro-North, traveled over 2 hours to get here. I can't come back tomorrow, it's Mother's Day.

"Sorry, Can't help you."

But you heavily promoted this event, I've been looking forward to this for months.

NYC Police Officer: "Disburse the area immediately"

Wow. So we go out to Vanderbilt Hall and say hello to Otto at the R&R booth. We go to Salvation Taco on 39th for lunch. Back at GCT by 2:30PM only to learn that they had opened up the line again, and closed it again.

Very, very disappointed to say the least. Next time we'll arrive by 8AM.

I liked the event. The vintage Subway cars were a great touch. I saw the Hickory Creek many times before so I didn't even bother standing in the 3 hour plus line. I really wished I was able to get into the Phoebe Snow Tavern Lounge Cars. I hope that one day ELDCS is able to get atleast one of them and restore it the way it should be. It would complement their fleet of cars including the City of Lima very well.

I was also disappointed not to see a NH Painted FL-9. It should've been back to back with the NYC FL-9. Very sad to see NH get snubbed yet again like they did during the Penn Central Days. Don't believe me? Look how much NYC/Penn Central Tracks are around today vs the NH Tracks and structures. As for the ex Metro North Switcher that was a Lackawanna and a commuter car that ran with NYC they were in pretty run down shape. I can only hope they're restored within a few years. Also that FL-9 really needed a good cleaning or a repaint.

I was quite impressed with the Dover Harbor, Babbling Brook and the M&E Fleet of Private Cars.

My Sunday photos

244inmypants wrote:Criticism from an educational standpoint: No real preservation "eye-catchers." While certainly the "Hickory Creek" was remarkable (as well as the "Dover Harbor"), the stuff from DRM was sorry looking (with the exception of the RPO) and not a great representation of the what the preservation world is capable of. Also, the fact a New Haven FL9 was not present (or any New Haven equipment for that matter) a travesty. Its also too bad more heavyweights weren't present, specifically the Valley Railroad's "Great Republic", which was part of the 1930 Yankee Clipper consist. Again, I understand they didn't have to do it at all and I'm glad they did. However, from an interpretative exhibit standpoint, they get a D.

Flame away.

I wonder if RMNE/Naugatuck Railroad was asked to display, and if not, why? They actually have equipment that is up to spec and can make the trip from Thomaston to GCT (proved in the past with the movie shoot using NAUG heavyweight coaches in GCT a couple years ago)... Seems like a lot of extra effort was involved dragging stuff from Danbury that was not ready for "prime-time" (except for the PRR RPO which looks really nice).

Truthfully, as nice as the displays were, the only word that comes to mind is RANDOM. An SP car. An L&N car. Some MILW cars. ??? Nice as they are, what do they have to do with GCT? What was the point of the display?

Flame away.

-otto-

from what I understand RMNE was asked and they turned MNCR down.

as for display it was nowhere advertized as a historic fact, only that there would be a parade of trains consisting of a lot of private cars.

How many cars that actually were used into and of out Grand Central on a regular basis are remaining in good enough condition to be displayed for a show like this? My guess, few.

According to their website and promotions, the point was to bring in passenger cars from what we might call the post-WWII 'Golden Age' of rail passenger service. The cars available might never have operated into GCT but they were emblematic of the equipment that did. I think ROS hit on the problem planners faced. That they always face.

What you would like to have versus what's available.

It was a very popular exhibit, not primarily aimed at railfans though. I had already seen just about all the equipment that was there, and with my step-daughter visiting this weekend from Atlanta, I was unable to attend. I wish I could've though. From the photos it looked pretty cool.

I understand your point Dutch but still, it is an exhibit, no matter how you look at it. You have ten of thousands of people there (when do you ever get that in the rail preservation world), why not educate them! Just seems like a great opportunity was lost. As for the RMNE, I heard differently as in, they were not asked. Rumor mill. Whatever.

As for the Golden Age of railroads, the 1950s really were not. Put a streamliner next to a heavyweight and you bland industrial designs vs. the epitome of rail travel. By the 1950s the rich were flying most places anyway. Even the "Hickory Creek" will pale in comparison to the "Towanda Valley." Again, people like what they like, but a full out heavyweight Pullman sleeper, complete with sections, bedrooms, roomettes, etc would have been a focal point.

When Pasenger services were much larger in scope back in the war years into the streamliner era, Sleeper cars(Pullman or RR owned)
were interchanged like freight cars between the major "Named" trains,so it was possible(if rare)that sleepers from the ATSF,SP,UP,etc
could wind up at GCT or NYPenn. Amtrak offered a "Transcon" NYP-LAUPT sleeper via NOL(Cresent to Sunset Ltd)untill the Superliners
went into service.
So a B+M and SP Sleeper was plausable to wind up at GCT(as long as the cars was OK'ed by NY Central back then).
NYC ETT's had lists of cars not allowed into GCT due to clearence problems.
ATSF had painted a sleeper to match the 20th Century colors,PRR painted a sleeper to match UP's colors.
Both offered "thru car" services with Pullman at Chicago.

Be thankful MNCR even makes the effort to put the show together, frankly I don't care what they have as long as they have something there, it takes alot of coordination, dedication, effort and planning to put an event together like that. Sure some of the stuff (like the Acela that had to be pushed in by a diesel) never will or did use grand central in revenue service, but at the same time this is the kind of show that is going to cultivate a new generation of railfans and engineers out of the children that this kind of show makes an impression on.

They did educate them, just not the way rail buffs wanted it, the exhibit had nothing, ziltz, zero to do with NYC or NYNH&HR and was never advertised as such.

you want NYC or NYNH&Hrr go to museum, not MNCR and GCT, as Don Nelson once said, why would we cater to losers in railroading, we are Metro North.