The other book dealing with railroad stations has to do with one which was so much a part of my growing up in Manhattan. It was the station we departed from when we made our summer trip to Atlantic City. It was the station with a glamourous restaurant, The Savarin. It was the station whose interior was exotic, majestic, emblematic of exciting trips. It was, of course, Pennsylvania Station, the Pennsylvania Station that was destroyed by a thoughtless city administration or maybe just thoughtless people. The current book about Penn Station, "New York's Pennsylvania Stations" by Hilary Ballon, a 2002 publication, consists of three parts: The First Pennsylvania Station, A Landmark Dismantled: A Photographic Essay and The New Pennsylvania Station.
The history plus photos, before and after, is for one who knew the station almost heart-breaking. It is the final section of the book that gives one hope. The Post Office building, right behind the old, original Penn Station is being proposed as the NEW Penn Station. Drawings and other illustrations as to what this building might look like, what it could be as a railroad terminal (in a perhaps old-fashioned meaning), a landmark structure functioning as an interlocking transportation medium, connecting subways, commuter trains, connections to airports, etc.
How long this remains a dream is still unknown. The book was published six years ago and I haven't seen anything out of New York City reporting any serious action to date.
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