Advice on changing trains at New York Penn

[the_traveler]

The upper level has escalators on both E & W from tracks 7/8 to (I think)13/14. (The main concourse or Amtrak tracks.) Track 5/6 uses the E escalator, I am not sure what the W gate has - I have only used the E gate.

 

[jis]

7/8 through 13/14 are also getting escalators (and possibly elevators) to the West End Concourse, which will eventually become the main platform access concourse from the Moynihan Concourse.

 

[PVD]

I'll be on the Leaf on Friday, heading to Buffalo for the Gold Medal game of the WJC (Ice Hockey) If I get into the station early enough, I'll take a look and see if anything temporary is going on....

 

[Hytec]

Maybe the 7/8 escalator by Club Acela is opened only if there are sleeper passengers? Each time I've ridden 19 and 20 recently, they were 10 cars long with 4 coaches up front. Maybe if a train departing on 7 or 8 had only coaches, they wouldn't use that escalator. There was no sign above or near the locked door that indicated track access of any kind. It looked just like a closet with a locked door. Next time I go through NYP I'll look for all escalators, both E and W. Maybe the ones for 9/10, 11/12, and 13/14 are also behind closed doors.

I'm confused when y'all use the terms "E" and "W". When #19 was boarding the sleepers were on the rear, or East end of the train facing the East River. The engine was on the West end facing the Hudson River. If I interpret some of the previous posts correctly, I get the impression y'all are saying the escalator next to Club Acela is 7/8 W, and the coach passengers were using 7/8 E, which would be the reverse of how #19 was oriented.

 

[Skunky]

Yes it’s the reverse of how the train is situated. Go down the west escalator and walk east past the coaches to get to the sleepers.

Escalators the are visible from the main hall are usually left running in the up direction until there’s a train at the platform and they’re ready for boarding. Escalators that aren’t directly visible like for tracks 1-6 are behind doors that an employee has to unlock and the start the escalator.

I’m pretty sure there is a door at the bottom of each escalator, to keep out the cold or heat from outside.... it’s pretty darn cold on those platforms right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[railiner]

Guess I'll have to take a good look around NYP the next time I am there....my old memory of the escalator's are ''foggy''...

I do recall the original layout of the 'new' Penn Staion, in the late '60's....at that time the ticket offices were along the current 'rotunda', and there was a wall along the entrances to the west gate escalator's, which did have a pair of sliding doors to close each off....the area of the current ticket office contained retail space and restaurants...

Danny Simmons used to belt out his famous announcements, and operate the Solari Board from a glass booth above west gate, track 11-12

 

[jis]

Guess I'll have to take a good look around NYP the next time I am there....my old memory of the escalator's are ''foggy''...

I do recall the original layout of the 'new' Penn Staion, in the late '60's....at that time the ticket offices were along the current 'rotunda', and there was a wall along the entrances to the west gate escalator's, which did have a pair of sliding doors to close each off....the area of the current ticket office contained retail space and restaurants...

Danny Simmons used to belt out his famous announcements, and operate the Solari Board from a glass booth above west gate, track 11-12

The departure hall has been rebuilt twice with slightly different layouts since the '60s. It looks nothing like it did back then. Also many more escalators have been added since then, even if one completely ignores the new east side NJTransit Concourse and the new West End Concourse.

 

[railiner]

Guess I'll have to take a good look around NYP the next time I am there....my old memory of the escalator's are ''foggy''...

I do recall the original layout of the 'new' Penn Staion, in the late '60's....at that time the ticket offices were along the current 'rotunda', and there was a wall along the entrances to the west gate escalator's, which did have a pair of sliding doors to close each off....the area of the current ticket office contained retail space and restaurants...

Danny Simmons used to belt out his famous announcements, and operate the Solari Board from a glass booth above west gate, track 11-12

The departure hall has been rebuilt twice with slightly different layouts since the '60s. It looks nothing like it did back then. Also many more escalators have been added since then, even if one completely ignores the new east side NJTransit Concourse and the new West End Concourse.

Ah, that may explain my lack of remembering the East Gate escalator's....(I wasn't even thinking about the two newest concourses)....

 

[jis]

The East Gates were completely rebuilt when the old ticket window and office area between the Rotunda and the Departure Concourse was opened up for the waiting areas. The West Gates were also rebuilt around the same time. In all cases all the enclosing doors were removed and the escalators just came straight into the hall.

 

[railiner]

I wish I could find some photo's online, depicting the changes in that area since the station was first rebuilt in the sixties....there are lots of photo's showing the old classic station prior to that, but can't seem to find those from the Penn Central era....

 

[jis]

All the changes I described took place in the Amtrak era. I know very little about what happened between 1966, when Penn Station was still being dismantled - and 1977, when I came to this country the second time.

 

[railiner]

I think the first remodeling, when they moved the ticket offices, was sometime in the late '80's?

 

[PVD]

I promised to look around and see if anything was going on at NYP, but based on NY weather, and the horrible cold forecast for this weekend in Buffalo, my trip is off.....

 

[jis]

They have been repairing and rebuilding the escalators from the main hall to the platforms for several months now. It is just a question of which specific one they are working on at present.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I promised to look around and see if anything was going on at NYP, but based on NY weather, and the horrible cold forecast for this weekend in Buffalo, my trip is off.....

What!?! Your safety and comfort is more important than finding out where all the escalators are located and where they lead to? I'm shocked!!

 

[PVD]

The wind chill for the Winter Classic made it feel like 0, that was pretty bad, but fun......maybe if I take the train in for next Saturday's Ranger game instead of driving...