(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: Notebook #93: Mystery solved? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-27 From 1986 through the summer of 1987, I lived for the most part, in New York City. I loved living in New York City but at no time did I have roof over my head that I could call my own; I lived in a string of shelters from Covenant House on 41st Street to the men’s shelter at 8 E. 3rd Street and a shelter near St. Mark’s Place and 2nd Ave. Shelter caseworkers tended to like me. They felt that I was a bit out of place and were aware that I actually did have the option of returning home to Detroit that most of their residents did not have. (They also understood why I didn’t want to exercise that option.) They also thought that, at some point, I would see the need to get myself together and probably leave the shelter system on my own accord (which I eventually did). So, for the most part, during my stay in New York City, caseworkers did what they could do to keep me busy and, eventually, employed. I worked as a desk clerk at one of the Department of Human Services offices in Long Island City, Queens. I held one day jobs in places as varied as a kitchen worker in a tony private school on the Upper East Side to dragging clothing racks through the Garment District. I worked at a hot dog concession stand in Grand Central Terminal. I rarely worked the cash register at the hot dog concession stand. I assisted in prepping the food; typical fare like burgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. Because I did not have very much interaction with the customers, I can honestly say that I rather enjoyed the job when I was there. Food prepping, taking out the trash, and going to retrieve supplies from downstairs were my primary duties. One day I had to get something from a sub-level below where I usually retrieved supplies. As I found the items I was looking for, I noticed a number of people, obviously homeless, on a set of old dilapidated train tracks and an old dilapidated train. I was curious about what I was seeing but didn’t inquire any more, as I had to return to work. I have always assumed that I simply came across a set of train tracks that had been abandoned and no longer in use. I am now reading and plan on reviewing Jake Berman’s The Lost Subways of North America: A Cartographic Guide to the Past, Present and What Might Have Been, a book primarily about the failures (and some successes) of a number of American cities to establish rapid transit systems. The chapter on New York City is devoted to the trials and tribulations of the now partially built Second Avenue Subway. And I thought about the scene of the abandoned subway terminal I saw almost forty years ago. Wasn’t that, after all, a lost and now defunct part of the subway system? To the GoogleBoomTube I went and in 10 seconds I learned that what I probably saw was a part of the system (not the NYC subway) that isn’t lost or defunct and may in fact still be in use. After I tell you who we are and what we do here at Top Comments, I’ll tell you all about it. Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find! After I typed in the search items, the first hit was an Atlas Obscura article about Track 61, which runs under Grand Central Terminal and the Waldorf Astoria. Built along with the rest of Grand Central Terminal, Track 61 was never properly abandoned, as it was actually constructed to be a powerhouse and storage area for unused New York Central Railroad cars, not a passenger station: Contrary to popular belief, Track 61 is not part of the NYC Subway but rather part of the New York Central Railroad, now Metro-North. The station is not much to look at, what with all the untended grime and dirt, but there is still an antique train car permanently parked in the hidden powerhouse. However, the dingy industrial stretch of track has managed to gain a fair amount of fame as the private transport stop for US presidents. The earliest reported use of the track was during the tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who supposedly had his car transported to the station. The car was then lifted right into the Waldorf’s garage. Roosevelt is also rumored to have entered and exited via the station in order to hide his worsening case of polio. Track 61 likely hid the comings and goings of a number of Presidents over the years and was confirmed to be prepped for a quick getaway route for George W. Bush while he took meetings at the Waldorf. This emergency exit elevator in the Waldorf Astoria supposedy goes down to Track 61. Jen Carlson at Gothamist ran a story on Track 61 back in 2015. According to Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, FDR, who most famously used the secret entrance, did so "in part to hide his disability from the public." Everything was made so large that, according to the MTA's Dan Brucker, it could fit FDR's armor-plated Pierce Arrow car, which would drive off the train, onto the platform, and straight into the elevator. Brucker has said that FDR's car would exit on 49th Street and head to the hotel garage, but on other occasions has said FDR's "limousine would be lifted up and then backed out into the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria." At least one visit is confirmed by Secret Service logs, and took place on October 21st, 1944, "when the president had a full day of campaigning in a 51-mile, four-borough motorcade. His day was capped by a speech at the Waldorf... at 10:05, according to the logs, he was to take the hotel's elevator 'and proceed via New York Central elevators to the New York Central Railway siding, located in the basement of the hotel, where his car will have been spotted.'"... Those pictures of the train and the rails largely match what I remember seeing in 1987. But...the homeless people. Went back to do some more digging and found this March 17, 1980 article in The New York Times by David Bird about the homeless that live in the tunnels beneath the Waldorf Astoria, The Yale Club, and Grand Central Terminal. Truthfully, I still don’t know for sure that what I saw that day at Grand Central Station was Track 61. But all of the elements that I have been able to gather lean to that conclusion. And that’s kind of a cool find. Comments below the fold. From belinda ridgewood: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/27/2202103/-Top-Comments-Notebook-93-Mystery-solved?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/