The Rise and Fall of Penn Station

A fascinating program, worth watching for any train history buff, about the building and eventual demolition of the amazing Penn Station in New York, will be on PBS Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 at 9:00 PM. Part of the wonder of traveling by train in the past, were the sometimes spectacular train stations passengers passed through. This is the story of one of them.

In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City’s Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.