grand central terminal

The railroad prints of Joseph Pennell

Every now and again I think back to my time in art school and some of the more interesting classes I attended while there. All students were required to take classes in disciplines like drawing, photography, painting, printmaking, design, and sculpture, but we were also able to choose more advanced classes in those areas as well. Sometimes I would pick things that just sounded cool, like metal casting (who wouldn’t want to start the forges, dress up in shiny silver colored heat protective suits and work with molten aluminum?). As fun as it was, I recall a review session where...

Photos

Visual Vibe: Grand Central Madison

Today marked the (very) long awaited public opening of “Grand Central Madison” to the world. Construction to bring the Long Island Railroad to the east side of Manhattan first started in the late ’60s, but was eventually cancelled due to lack of funds. It wasn’t until the ’90s that the plan was revived, with the intention of bringing trains into Grand Central Terminal. The wait may have been long, but it is nice to get a chance to see the beloved Terminal, in essence, reinvent itself yet again. Things may be changing, but at their core they really do stay...

History / Photos

Through the Lens of Anthony Angel: New York City Rail Infrastructure in the 1950s

As a photographer, explorer, and now-New Yorker I’ve found myself curiously drawn to the work of Angelo Rizzuto. Anthony Angel, as he called himself, was a street photographer who captured the city from the late 1940s until his death in 1967. His body of work was largely overlooked by the fine art world, seen more as snapshots from a madman with a camera than any sort of photographic art. Yet from a historical perspective, the images resonated with me. Angel created a nearly 60,000 image strong visual time capsule of New York City—his photos of the old Pennsylvania Station, of...

Featured / History / Observations / Photos

Grand Central Stargazing: Secret Signatures on the Ceiling

In its century-plus of existence, over a billion travelers have traversed the hallowed halls of Grand Central Terminal. But how many of that intrepid number, as they gazed up at the magnificence of the constellations overhead, knew that the ceiling held a secret? I’m not talking about how the constellations are “backward”—doesn’t everybody know that? Nor am I referring to the fact that the ceiling today is not the original fresco from when the Terminal opened its doors. No, I’m talking about the secret signatures that span the mural, encircling stars and hiding inside the appendages of the towering beasts...

Photos

Up Close with Grand Central: Summer Edition

When you’re out taking train photos for over a decade, things are bound to change. You probably will end up upgrading your camera equipment somewhere along the way, and your workflow for editing photos changes when you learn new things, or take advantage of new software. And somewhere along that journey you may suddenly realize that some fundamental part of your aesthetic isn’t quite what it was ten years ago. For some reason I found myself fascinated with panorama photography (which maybe you heard about?) back when I started this site in 2008, but it’s a rare moment today when...

Observations / Photos / Train Stories

Hudson Line back on track… sort of

Last week’s Hurricane Ida brought massive winds and torrential downpours from Louisiana on up to the northeast, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. In New York significant flooding adversely effected our entire transportation system—making highways and railroads resemble something more like waterlogged canals. Stuck vehicles were abandoned up and down the Bronx River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway, and the entirety of Metro-North service was suspended.