Cincinnati Union Terminal

When architecture was in it's glory days.  

Yes. This is an amazing Art Deco design. I can really get into train stations..... Grand Central Terminal is my favorite. 

I believe that many of us love the old stations and wish there were more.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to travel up to Patterson for the OGR Day at the Highrailer's layout,  my fist time seeing it. On Sunday, my friend Steve Maier took me into NYC for the day and we spent some time at Grand Central - what a pleasure!  My first visit to New York as well although I was born there in the Brooklyn Navy Hospital during WW2. Had not been back until Sunday...

"Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice..."  (for the Gen X'ers among us )

A wonderful building and among my favourites. Here's a short thread I sparked a few years ago on smaller, layout-sized Union Station ideas.

https://ogrforum.com/...ure-and-models-ideas

Looks like the facility was built for Art Deco NYC steam streamlinets!

When I was a 19 year old new fireman after working for the Penn Central for about a year I was forced to working the Cincinnati transfer runs. These trains went from the former NYC's Sharonville Yard north of Cincy to the C&O and L&N yards across the Ohio River in Kentucky as well as to the B&O, N&W, Southern Rwy, and other NYC and PRR yards. We usually died on the foreign railroad on the 16 hour law. One dark night my engineer was drunk and could not stay awake. So the conductor asked me if I could run the train to L&N's Decoursey Kentucky yard so he wouldn't have to turn in the engineer. I said yes. The worst part was going through the maze of tracks at C.U.T. I had not been on a route through the C.U.T trackage. We usually got on the B&O then on the C&O's line up to the Ohio River bridge. But as luck would have it THIS trip they were routing us through C.U.T.  to the C&O bridge. I had no idea where I was going so I just crept along about 10 mph following a zig-zagging snake-like line of green and yellow lights in a sea of red dwarfs. We made it through the mess and all the way to DeCoursey yard. That was my working inauguration to the Cincinnati Union Terminal.

Beautiful building, and a couple nice pix - foreground element isn't something I've seen much of from there. Looking at maps, the front faces pretty much due east? Is construction all done? Sort of asking if there's a clean view from Western Avenue.

Thanks in advance,

David

C. U. T. opened before the scheduled date because of a flood.  One unique architectural feature is at the edge of the dome immediately inside the doors.  A person on the left where the base of the dome meets the floor can speak in a normal voice and be heard by a person on the right where the base of the dome meets the floor as the sound waves travel along the dome.  Kids tend to remember things like that.   John in Lansing, ILL

rattler21 posted:

C. U. T. opened before the scheduled date because of a flood.  One unique architectural feature is at the edge of the dome immediately inside the doors.  A person on the left where the base of the dome meets the floor can speak in a normal voice and be heard by a person on the right where the base of the dome meets the floor as the sound waves travel along the dome.  Kids tend to remember things like that.   John in Lansing, ILL

Because of the excellent acoustics, there was a large pipe organ installed in the concourse about 10-15 years ago. (Maybe even longer) The pipes are installed in chambers constructed behind the old ticket booths.  The sound rivals that of any cathedral. Probably better than most.  I'll have to get down there to check it out since the remodeling.

Tom

NKP Muncie posted:

Beautiful building, and a couple nice pix - foreground element isn't something I've seen much of from there. Looking at maps, the front faces pretty much due east? Is construction all done? Sort of asking if there's a clean view from Western Avenue.

Thanks in advance,

David

Yes. Faces east, construction complete, clear shot along the boulevard.

Wyhog posted:

When I was a 19 year old new fireman after working for the Penn Central for about a year I was forced to working the Cincinnati transfer runs. These trains went from the former NYC's Sharonville Yard north of Cincy to the C&O and L&N yards across the Ohio River in Kentucky as well as to the B&O, N&W, Southern Rwy, and other NYC and PRR yards. We usually died on the foreign railroad on the 16 hour law. One dark night my engineer was drunk and could not stay awake. So the conductor asked me if I could run the train to L&N's Decoursey Kentucky yard so he wouldn't have to turn in the engineer. I said yes. The worst part was going through the maze of tracks at C.U.T. I had not been on a route through the C.U.T trackage. We usually got on the B&O then on the C&O's line up to the Ohio River bridge. But as luck would have it THIS trip they were routing us through C.U.T.  to the C&O bridge. I had no idea where I was going so I just crept along about 10 mph following a zig-zagging snake-like line of green and yellow lights in a sea of red dwarfs. We made it through the mess and all the way to DeCoursey yard. That was my working inauguration to the Cincinnati Union Terminal.

This is a great story. Thank you for sharing it. 

Planning to visit the terminal today. Got to town in time for a shot in dwindling light last night.

David

David - if its not too late for you to see this - by all means take the building tour.  There's a lot of Art Deco on the 'inside' -- old corporate offices, etc. that are really terrific examples of the Art Deco era.  As I recall, the tour takes you up to the mezzanine  so you get to see some of the building 'up close'.  Don't forget the museum(s) downstairs - the one that replicates parts of Cincinnati has a great train layout - along with streetcars.  I think it's S-scale.

Wyhog posted:

When I was a 19 year old new fireman after working for the Penn Central for about a year I was forced to working the Cincinnati transfer runs. These trains went from the former NYC's Sharonville Yard north of Cincy to the C&O and L&N yards across the Ohio River in Kentucky as well as to the B&O, N&W, Southern Rwy, and other NYC and PRR yards. We usually died on the foreign railroad on the 16 hour law. One dark night my engineer was drunk and could not stay awake. So the conductor asked me if I could run the train to L&N's Decoursey Kentucky yard so he wouldn't have to turn in the engineer. I said yes. The worst part was going through the maze of tracks at C.U.T. I had not been on a route through the C.U.T trackage. We usually got on the B&O then on the C&O's line up to the Ohio River bridge. But as luck would have it THIS trip they were routing us through C.U.T.  to the C&O bridge. I had no idea where I was going so I just crept along about 10 mph following a zig-zagging snake-like line of green and yellow lights in a sea of red dwarfs. We made it through the mess and all the way to DeCoursey yard. That was my working inauguration to the Cincinnati Union Terminal.

Boy did this bring back some memories. Like you I was an 18 y.o. new fireman, mid 60's, on the B&O and as a "newbie" you end up working the extra board. Several times I worked the C.U.T. shuffling REA cars as well as some passenger trains. But some of the most memorable were as you described working the L&N transfers to the Decoursey Yard, seldom did the originating crew make it all the way, the vast majority of the time you would end up being timed out long before you even got near the bridge. Anything and everything had priority over the transfers. The best part of working the CUT was taking your lunch break at Camp Washington Chili.   

richs09 posted:

David - if its not too late for you to see this - by all means take the building tour.  There's a lot of Art Deco on the 'inside' -- old corporate offices, etc. that are really terrific examples of the Art Deco era.  As I recall, the tour takes you up to the mezzanine  so you get to see some of the building 'up close'.  Don't forget the museum(s) downstairs - the one that replicates parts of Cincinnati has a great train layout - along with streetcars.  I think it's S-scale.

Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, I didn't check back in for a few days. Perhaps someone can clarify - I was talking to a fellow whose name I've blanked on - something Morris?  - in public safety at the museum. Asked him about the model train layout, and he said it was no longer there, or off limits, or something. Of course, I should have gone down to check for myself, but didn't. Oh, and according to the website, tours are only on weekends - though maybe I should have tagged along with one of the school field trips. Lots of schoolkids there.

Beautiful building. What it must have been like in its heyday.

David

Our Philadelphia station.In fact, my wife and I will be leaving from it this afternoon, taking the Crescent to New Orleans, then the Sunset Limited to AZ.