The secret below Grand Central Station

Filmed and edited by Ramón J. Goñi
New York / BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7830369.stm

Go underground to New York's secret rail platform under Grand Central Station - Track 61.

It does not appear on any station maps or plans and was built specially for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to use in the 1930s.

FDR had polio and used the hidden platform to get on and off vehicles without revealing his disability to the public.

Heather Alexander took a tour.

Published on BBC NEWS (12/16/2009)
Reporter: Heather Alexander
Shot & Edited: Ramón J. Goñi

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• FDR
• Grand
• Central
• Station
• New
• York
• United
• States
• Obama
• Train
• Track
• 61
• secret
• Platform
• Waldorf
• Astoria
• Lift
• Polio
• Dumeetha
• Luthra
• Ramon
• Goni

[the1thatgotirwin]

she should be sorry for the bad camera angles

[ramonjgoni]

Thanks for your comments and just a quick reply to them.

The lift to the Waldorf Astoria clearly indicates that we are below the building. Several media outlets had already reported months ago on this issue and it was not a big secret anymore.

For narrative purposes, we decided to play the game set but the interviewee though.

This said, thank you again for spotting this. Next time we are filming a real hidden place we will make sure it cannot be identified by any means.

[viksra]

Well the big orange "E49" printed on the wall at 0:45 means they are under East 49th Street... so yeah.

[ramonjgoni]

Thanks for your comments and just a quick reply to them.

The lift to the Waldorf Astoria clearly indicates that we are below the building. Several media outlets had already reported months ago on this issue and it was not a big secret anymore.

For narrative purposes, we decided to play the game set but the interviewee though.

This said, thank you again for spotting this. Next time we are filming a real hidden place we will make sure it cannot be identified by any means.

[alisterfolson]

Mutant Ninja Turtles have known this for awhile....

[slobomotion]

I enjoyed Grand Central and when I married a French man who stayed with me in my home in NYC before I expatriated, he liked it, too. We were very sorry to see the open air restaurant go and it was a good place to use a bathroom, you just had to ask for the key. I worked around the area for years and enjoyed the shops in it. The whole place had a certain odor to it. Greetings from Paris, France. Very good video and uprated.

[MrNintendoguy1]

@ramonjgoni LET ME GUESS M42

[1jalv]

Its Terminal, this guy is a hoax, that "X" means its privatly owned, youm dont admit it exhists but your taking us down to see it? FDR did use the platform, as did vanderbuilt and many others, thats a baggage car, not freight, no such thing as machine gun turrents or bullet proof, that green is Pullmann Green, used on almost ALL pulmann cars, that car belonged to the pensy and was then turned to metro north to provide the rigging for GCT 1, the double ended, electric crane now in danbury

[chud1able]

its grand central TERMINAL u idiot.

chud1able

[sapher2020]

Build a rail line just for one person, sound like something Obama would do. Tax dollars hard at work!!

[disney8wiz]

Each version of this story involves the same perpetrator — a GCT Metro North manager accompanies the reporter to allow and monitor safe access to this restricted industrial area full of heavy moving equipment, and lays three things on them; a day-glo safety vest, a hard hat, and sensationalized half truths.

[disney8wiz]

@dam2630 Right, but the siding wasn't built exclusively for a president, or even 'for' anything. The siding was built first, then the Waldorf-Astoria above it. The street access 'for' the power station platform just happened to be documented as being used to accommodate many people whose needs required a longer stay that would otherwise interfere with the high traffic of the terminal operations. Coincidentally, Track 61 happened to be documented as being used by a president.

[disney8wiz]

@bcschmerker Grand Central is commuter rail, those trains have NOTHING to do with the subway system. The entire existing rail yard at grade level was excavated below grade, then the 'air rights' were leased to build at ground level, which is when the Waldorf Astoria was built, just like all of Park Avenue. Go read the history of Grand Central and look at it's map. It's just a siding, between other sidings (60 & 62) which happens to have a platform convenient to the hotel and power station.

[smartassstevie]

why keep it away from the public? good way to open it as a tourist attraction so the city or mta can bank off that stuff.

[WileE116]

Don't forget the Vanderbilts and Rockefeller family had access to this underground train station too!