Fifty years ago, in the May 1975 Trains Magazine, prolific author William D. Middleton visited New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. His 14 page article opened on a down note, with Middleton writing:
Grand Central’s great long-distance trains are gone now. deposed by the airplane and the automobile: and no longer do the rich, the powerful, and the celebrated pass through the terminals train gates bound to and from their missions of importance.
1975 was not a glowing chapter in Grand Central’s history. The great passenger trains were gone, Amtrak, just four years old, was struggling to maintain a semblance of long-distance service with hand-me-down equipment. Middleton’s article largely focuses, in considerable detail, on the terminal’s stunning architecture and its glorious past. Happily, better days were ahead for the Manhattan landmark.
