Apparently there was a thread on this documentary back in 2014. If you have not seen it, it is well worth your time- less than an hour. It is on both PBS and amazon prime. Amazing pictures of the station construction (and destruction unfortunately) and the building of the tunnels. How is it possible they were only 1/16" off when the tunnel from NJ met the tunnel from NY under the Hudson?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
@hokie71 posted:Apparently there was a thread on this documentary back in 2014. If you have not seen it, it is well worth your time- less than an hour. It is on both PBS and amazon prime. Amazing pictures of the station construction (and destruction unfortunately) and the building of the tunnels. How is it possible they were only 1/16" off when the tunnel from NJ met the tunnel from NY under the Hudson?
Thanks for the link. I'm not able to watch the entire thing on the PBS site, though. Just the trailer and clips.
It's hard to believe Penn Station has now been gone longer than it stood.
@hokie71 posted:Apparently there was a thread on this documentary back in 2014. If you have not seen it, it is well worth your time- less than an hour. It is on both PBS and amazon prime. Amazing pictures of the station construction (and destruction unfortunately) and the building of the tunnels. How is it possible they were only 1/16" off when the tunnel from NJ met the tunnel from NY under the Hudson?
Saw it when it premiered in '14. Worth a watch. About as comprehensive as a 1 hour show can be, which is to say not much. It's a jumping off point to do some additional research on your own. That's how I treat most TV documentaries anyhow.
I don't recall any flat out garbage like in the one the History Channel did on Grand Central, where they tried to peddle a story about an ex-NYC baggage car, used by Metro-North for MOW storage, as "Franklin Roosevelt's Super-Special-Secret Private Car" or some such nonsense.
& some other older posts ….
I saw that as well, it was pretty well done. In terms of how they were only 1/16 of an inch off, it is why they mentioned it, given the technology of the time where all they had was basic surveying gear and trigonometry to work with, it is incredible. Even today with the kind of technology we have that would be pretty impressive, it shows how carefully they did the project.
Speaking of which, Governor Cuomo today said he is looking for federal funds to expand Penn Station.I
@Sean007 posted:Speaking of which, Governor Cuomo today said he is looking for federal funds to expand Penn Station.I
Nowhere in the linked article is there a word about Penn Station.
As a former New Yorker, who now lives outside of Atlanta, I have zero interest in seeing my tax dollars go to New York, to pay for a facility I will never travel to or use. Let the good people of New York pay for their local boondoggles and let we Georgians pay for ours.
It's a what if: Shoud NYP have been built in the first place? Maybe something big on the NJ side with an expansion of the heavy rail system which became PATH to provide the first and last mile...
But NYP's location, and connecting to the NH, gave us the route of today's NEC.
@Nick Chillianis posted:Nowhere in the linked article is there a word about Penn Station.
As a former New Yorker, who now lives outside of Atlanta, I have zero interest in seeing my tax dollars go to New York, to pay for a facility I will never travel to or use. Let the good people of New York pay for their local boondoggles and let we Georgians pay for ours.
If every state paid for their own boondoggles and every state got back from the feds the same amount they paid in taxes to the feds, paying for Penn station would be no problem ( hint,a lot of states,including yours,get back a lot more from the feds than they pay in taxes, so someone is paying for things you use that they will never use)
I loved that documentary. Incredibly interesting. Amazing engineering, especially for the time. Those tunnels still in operation today, which is amazing. Sad ending, but worth the watch if you find the full documentary.
"As a former New Yorker, who now lives outside of Atlanta, I have zero interest in seeing my tax dollars go to New York, to pay for a facility I will never travel to or use. Let the good people of New York pay for their local boondoggles and let we Georgians pay for ours."
Nick, I feel your frustration. But...how many of your annual federal tax dollars, (as a percentage, say, of your federal tax bill) do you suppose, are earmarked for the project in NY? Back in the 1960's, when war protesters wanted to stop paying the portion of their federal taxes that went towards the Vietnam fiasco, they were surprised to find out how little their individual contribution towards that war actually was. That war, at its height, was costing $1,500.00 PER SECOND, I seem to recall reading. I suspect that your individual contribution to the Penn project, as a Georgian, is pretty reasonable. We NY'ers appreciate whatever you can do to help us.
Disclaimer: I don't like taxes, or wars, or being "asked" to pay my unfair share to subsidize other states' financial problems. But that's what being a good citizen is all about. I pay my taxes, I went to war, and we're all in this together.
"Lead us into Penn Station."
@Nick Chillianis posted:Nowhere in the linked article is there a word about Penn Station.
As a former New Yorker, who now lives outside of Atlanta, I have zero interest in seeing my tax dollars go to New York, to pay for a facility I will never travel to or use. Let the good people of New York pay for their local boondoggles and let we Georgians pay for ours.
Hi Nick - not sure why the N.Y. Times changed the article, but some reason they did. The story is also available on YouTube and MSNBC.
As for how our tax dollars are spent, I'm sure many people who are not from the NYC area feel the same way.
My point was in keeping with the thread that Penn Station was being renovated again.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
