Grand Central Parade of Trains

[Fading Fast]

I went to the Grand Central Parade of Trains show today and thought you all would enjoy seeing some of the pictures. It was fun to walk down the iconic 20th Century Limited red carpet and onto an actual 20th Century Limited Train. The diesel engine is from another New York Central train and the interior shot is from yet a third New York Central train car.

 

[dhermann1]

My pics all came out TERRIBLE. Wish I had known you were there. I got caught up in an epic experience there today. Was with a couple of non Lounge vintage frieds. A guy from the National Railroad Histiorical Society saw my friend Matt and his girlfriend Michelle, and went kinda nuts. He told them to stay after the show closed so he could take some pics. So Matt grabbed me and other friend Mary Alice, and we had about a thousand pics taken of us, around the 20th Century observation car, and the NRHS's Pullman combo, Dover Harbor. What an experience! Pics will eventually follow, but we experienced all the pleasures of classic train travel for about a half hour or more, short of actually moving. What a hoot.

 

[dhermann1]

I must say, however, that since we had to stand in line for over an hour and a half (including about 30 minutes sitting in an air conditioned commuter train car), we paid the price. My feets are KILLING me.

 

[Fading Fast]

My pics all came out TERRIBLE. Wish I had known you were there. I got caught up in an epic experience there today. Was with a couple of non Lounge vintage frieds. A guy from the National Railroad Histiorical Society saw my friend Matt and his girlfriend Michelle, and went kinda nuts. He told them to stay after the show closed so he could take some pics. So Matt grabbed me and other friend Mary Alice, and we had about a thousand pics taken of us, around the 20th Century observation car, and the NRHS's Pullman combo, Dover Harbor. What an experience! Pics will eventually follow, but we experienced all the pleasures of classic train travel for about a half hour or more, short of actually moving. What a hoot.

Wow - to have been able to take pics and see the trains without the crowds must have been terrific. Like you, we waited about an hour and a half (some of it spent in an air conditioned train with two very young screaming kids a seat behind us) and seeing the trains was fantastic, but insanely crowded. What was amazing is how many trains were in one place, the fact that we could walk through them and that their was a car from the 20th Century Limited. That said, when we left, my girlfriend and I both had headaches and felt tired from the crowds, stale air and noise. Again though, well worth it.

 

[Shangas]

This sounds like it would've been a fantastic event!

 

[Fading Fast]

This sounds like it would've been a fantastic event!

What surprised me was that it was hardly advertised at all (I only stumbled on it searching for something else on Grand Central's website), but it was very impressive (a lot of effort went into organizing it and getting all those trains there for only two days) and very crowded (not everything needs a lot of advertising). New York City is like that though, so much is going on at any one time, that rarely does any one event dominate. In the town I grew up in, a train show like this would have been news for weeks before and after, but in the river of New York City it's just another pebble that hardly makes a ripple. All that blah, blah aside, I still can't believe that there were so many trains and that one had such great access to them.

 

[dhermann1]

Here's a nice shot of me with one of the volunteers in one of the many fabulous vintage train cars yesterday. MANY more to come, eventually.



And here's the link to the classic Pullman car that we had the privilege of rambling ALL over.

http://www.doverharbor.com/index.html

 

[dhermann1]

A couple more.
Here's the car in the view above:


Me, sauntering down the corridor:


Solid comfort in the lounge car:

 

[triple-d]

Grat pics, thanks for sharing.....old trains are neat.

 

[dhermann1]

Link to friend's Facebook album. My pics all came out lousy.
https://www.facebook.com/dan.herman...50516392840.1073741839.100000036928750&type=1

 

[EmergencyIan]

What surprised me was that it was hardly advertised at all (I only stumbled on it searching for something else on Grand Central's website), but it was very impressive (a lot of effort went into organizing it and getting all those trains there for only two days) and very crowded (not everything needs a lot of advertising). New York City is like that though, so much is going on at any one time, that rarely does any one event dominate. In the town I grew up in, a train show like this would have been news for weeks before and after, but in the river of New York City it's just another pebble that hardly makes a ripple. All that blah, blah aside, I still can't believe that there were so many trains and that one had such great access to them.

Yeah... I live in New York City and am in Grand Central five days a week, but I knew nothing of the show. I wish I had, because I would loved to have gone.

- Ian

 

[GHT]

Is it true, that in America, all your old, 20th century steam engines were scrapped? I was told this some time ago when staying at the Chattanooga Station Hotel. We had done the tourist bit, visited Lookout Mountain & Ruby Falls, my wife indulged me and let me visit the civil war sites of Chattanooga's battles, it's been a long fascination of mine. You would think, being European, I might be more interested in the Napoleonic Wars, but somehow the American Civil War just has a certain draw.
The original Chattanooga Terminus Station is now a hotel, on the tracks, sleeper cars are parked, these have been converted to permanent hotel rooms. Having said that, I have just been on line to have a look and post a link, to find that it's all changed, ah well. That's life. But it was whilst we were staying at this hotel that an older guy, who works at The Chattanooga Preserved Heritage Railroad, who had been to the UK numerous times, and had an amazing photographic archive of our preserved steam engines, told me that none of America's great iconic, steam engines, of the Art Deco period remains.
It's not something that I have ever researched, but I am interested to know, if he was right.

 

[dhermann1]

Many of them were. The New York Central had a fleet of 4-6-4 HUdson locos that pulled the 20th Century and Empire State Express trains, that were fabulously covered with terrific Art Deco shells, that were all scrapped.
But here and there you'll find thrm. One problem is that many of them no longer meet requirements for moving on the regular rail lines. But they are out there.

 

[pompier]

#844 and #3985.....

Union Pacific still has two steam locomotives in operation, #844 and #3985. Both of these remained in regular service til the late 1950's. Now they travel the country for displays or special charters. I saw 844 a few years ago when it stopped in El Paso, TX. Very impressive beast. Was a treat to see it up close.

 

[MPicciotto]

There are a great many steam locomotives in the US operating on tourist lines. Strasburg RR in Pennsylvania even pulls freight with their's between passenger runs. But I don't know of any of the streamlined ones remaining in operation. Stuff like Henry Dreyfus designed.

Matt

 

[dhermann1]

The Southern Pacific Daylight 4449 is a gorgeous semi streamlined 4-8-4 G4 locomotive that is still functional. It has the profile of a streamliner, without being fully enclosed. As beautiful to look at as the streamliners were, the extra shrouding only made maintenance more difficult as all the extra non functional metal had to be taken off before the mechanical parts could be acccessed. As far as I know, the streamlining did not significantly reduce wind resistance or add to their speed. But they sure looked nice.