New York City, the largest city populace in America, keeps many secrets. Conspiracies, dramas, shady covert operations, and webs of corruption have captivated our imaginations for years, this photo is of one such setting, the secret platform known as Track 61. This great image is provided with permission from @briankindergan via instagram, but please no further distribution beyond this site.
Under the luxurious glamour of the historic Waldorf Astoria hotel lies an abandoned railway platform. Dusty, rusted, and cold, it was built and designed for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who desired to keep his paraplegic state a secret. He would be seen riding through NYC in his limousine on his way to the famous hotel. Only he didn’t use the front entrance.
Roosevelt’s limousine is reported to have exited on 49th Street; from there, it drove onto a uniquely designed train car. The car brought the presidential vehicle to the Track 61 siding, where FDR’s Pierce-Arrow limousine drove down a ramp into the basement station and onto an elevator equipped to lift an 8,000lb. armored vehicle up into the safety of the Waldorf Astoria.
The unique set up of the then President’s design provides an excellent backdrop for covert operations, but the real mystery is embodied in a train car, marked as privately owned, that’s been sitting on the track since WWII. It is heavily plated with steel and remarkably reinforced, with added spaces similar to gun turrets and armed security seating—designed to carry something heavy, vulnerable, and highly confidential. Whatever it concealed is uncertain, according to History.com, and experts continue to investigate the its past.
Any number of events could have taken place in the Waldorf Astoria’s basement. Its unprecedented design and secretive, unresolved WWII train car excite our imaginations, make for plenty of rumors, and further deepen the shadows of the New York City underground.
Note: We try to be as accurate as possible but make no guarantees. Please use this information at your own risk.
Sources
Image courtesy of @briankindergan via instagram, please no further distribution beyond this site.
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/gct61.html
http://gothamist.com/2015/02/20/waldorf-astoria_train_tracks_subway.php#photo-1
http://www.6sqft.com/theres-a-secret-train-track-hidden-in-the-depths-of-grand-central-terminal/