Which Is Your Favorite Station

[Heading North]

I love NYP for its complexity and energy (in the same sense that some European stations have no architectural charm, but are impressive just for the sheer number of trains), but voted for PHL because it feels the most like a train station--it's the most classic of the three.

The front area of WAS is wonderful, but the gate area is depressing and woefully inadequate, with lines weaving everywhere even on regular days. They would be better off with a couple of set-aside waiting areas (like in NYP) and easier gate access for everyone else.

 

[railiner]

I voted for NYP for a simple reason. It has got trains. Lots of trains. More than anywhere else.

Oh, and the fact that I live nearby has no bearing. Yeah, right!

 

[acelafan]

I love NYP for its complexity and energy (in the same sense that some European stations have no architectural charm, but are impressive just for the sheer number of trains), but voted for PHL because it feels the most like a train station--it's the most classic of the three.
The front area of WAS is wonderful, but the gate area is depressing and woefully inadequate, with lines weaving everywhere even on regular days. They would be better off with a couple of set-aside waiting areas (like in NYP) and easier gate access for everyone else.

The gate area at WAS is small and inadequate. I assume back in the day of peak rail travel, WAS was configured in a very different manner. Last time I was there, a regional to NYP was boarding on a Sunday afternoon and the line queued up from Gate H all the way back beyond Gate A! It was pretty chaotic with people trying to maneuver around all the folks getting ready to board the train. The gate area and adjacent hallways need a new coat of paint, as well. Can you imagine if the airports were as dingy as many of our train stations with homeless people living in the bathrooms? Travelers wouldn't put up with it. And Newark, NJ takes the prize on all of that, unfortunately. (Sorry, a little off topic!)

 

[nferr]

I agree with what's posted above. Washington is a great station for location, food, shopping, entertainment etc. But it's a horrible station for boarding. Unless you're lucky enough to be in the Acela lounge and preboard, the cattle call waiting areas outside the gates are atrocious.

 

[stonesfan]

Penn Station all the way.

It lacks the eye friendly majesty of Washington DC. But the fact is Penn Station is a shambles that somehow works. From those horrible tight waiting areas, to the godawful staircases down to the platforms, to the horrible, dingy platforms themselves that resemble a giant sewer. However, it has some kind of infectious charm, like its a giant ants nest of tunnels, caverns and cosy little rooms. The place is a people watchers dream. All kinds of headless chickens running from one bum deal to the next. Frustrated long distance travellers bemoaning the lateness of their train, or tourists with simply no idea of when there train is, where their train is, or quite why on Earth the most powerful Nation in the World could come up with a Station so badly designed, its almost as if it there to put people off train travel for life.

However, one thing you do have NYP, is that you have soul. You are the salt of the Earth. Washington DC is just a show pony in comparison.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

The gate area at WAS is small and inadequate. I assume back in the day of peak rail travel, WAS was configured in a very different manner. Last time I was there, a regional to NYP was boarding on a Sunday afternoon and the line queued up from Gate H all the way back beyond Gate A! It was pretty chaotic with people trying to maneuver around all the folks getting ready to board the train. The gate area and adjacent hallways need a new coat of paint, as well. Can you imagine if the airports were as dingy as many of our train stations with homeless people living in the bathrooms? Travelers wouldn't put up with it. And Newark, NJ takes the prize on all of that, unfortunately. (Sorry, a little off topic!)

Newark, NJ is my favourite station of all. I love it, and besides the disgusting presence of mouse traps that I try my damnedest to destroy, remove, or render inoperable, I love spending the day there, train watching or just enjoying the station itself.

 

[acelafan]

The gate area at WAS is small and inadequate. I assume back in the day of peak rail travel, WAS was configured in a very different manner. Last time I was there, a regional to NYP was boarding on a Sunday afternoon and the line queued up from Gate H all the way back beyond Gate A! It was pretty chaotic with people trying to maneuver around all the folks getting ready to board the train. The gate area and adjacent hallways need a new coat of paint, as well. Can you imagine if the airports were as dingy as many of our train stations with homeless people living in the bathrooms? Travelers wouldn't put up with it. And Newark, NJ takes the prize on all of that, unfortunately. (Sorry, a little off topic!)

Newark, NJ is my favourite station of all. I love it, and besides the disgusting presence of mouse traps that I try my damnedest to destroy, remove, or render inoperable, I love spending the day there, train watching or just enjoying the station itself.

I will say the locals are unique!

 

[Neil_M]

Newark, NJ is my favourite station of all. I love it, and besides the disgusting presence of mouse traps that I try my damnedest to destroy, remove, or render inoperable, I love spending the day there, train watching or just enjoying the station itself.

Loves tramps in the station, hates mousetraps........ Go figure, as some might say.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Loves tramps in the station, hates mousetraps........ Go figure, as some might say.

I object to the eviction of harmless residents of any location, be it a station or otherwise, and be they human or rodent or canine, or feline. Mice help deal with the litter in the station and stop food from rotting on the tracks themselves. They are too cagey to actually interact with the people in the station, and they do not exist in the station building itself. I can understand if one of the concessions in the station were to use traps- in that case the creature in that location has ceased to be harmful.

But on the station platforms? Or in the case of Hoboken, outside of the station? Mice have every right to be in these locations, and the traps have no place in them. They execute creatures for having the gall, the utter gall, of attempting to live in a location where there presence is, in fact, mildly beneficial.

 

[Neil_M]

Loves tramps in the station, hates mousetraps........ Go figure, as some might say.

I object to the eviction of harmless residents of any location, be it a station or otherwise, and be they human or rodent or canine, or feline. Mice help deal with the litter in the station and stop food from rotting on the tracks themselves. They are too cagey to actually interact with the people in the station, and they do not exist in the station building itself. I can understand if one of the concessions in the station were to use traps- in that case the creature in that location has ceased to be harmful.

But on the station platforms? Or in the case of Hoboken, outside of the station? Mice have every right to be in these locations, and the traps have no place in them. They execute creatures for having the gall, the utter gall, of attempting to live in a location where there presence is, in fact, mildly beneficial.

Would you like rats as well? I bet most people would disagree with you, a station full of vermin, both 4 legged and 2 legged is not the sort of image that encourages people to use the train.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

hey lets put the mice and rats in the dining car of the train. that way as people drop there food the mice and rats can eat it and save the cleaning crew from having to do it thus allowing amtrak to save money. hey lets do the same for restaurants also i'm sure the FDA won't mind sense after all it helps keep the place clean how would you feel GML if you got bit from one of the rats and got rabies would you still support the rats in the station.

 

[Tony]

Now why isn't anyone voting for New York's lovely Pennsylvania Station?

Because we all remember the original Penn Station, and in comparison, today's Penn Station is a dump?

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Pennsylvania Station, New York City is 100 next year. Here is how it looked then

The Video on this page gives an incredable view of the Station.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Aloha
Pennsylvania Station, New York City is 100 next year. Here is how it looked then

The Video on this page gives an incredable view of the Station.

TThanks Eric, sometimes a picture does speak a thousand words! Those too young to have seen/remember the Grand Old Penn missed out!

The MSQ and Station today are basically a dump compared to what was! When will they ever learn?

 

[GG-1]

The MSQ and Station today are basically a dump compared to what was! When will they ever learn?

Aloha

Well MSG is not a Dump for me, I went on my first date to an Ice Capades Show oh so long ago, worked there several times also. Remarkable while the Garden was being built and the old Station removed the work according to several sources said trains were not delayed. I think I was about 15 then, not sure of the exact date of the current garden construction.

To me the true heart of Pen Station is the platform level and the access to all the transportation that exist down there. It may no longer be an architectural marvel, but it is an incredible tribute to people usage needs. The Garden is about a 50,000 seat Arena with mass transit built in.

Mahalo though for seeing its original beauty though she was grand.

Eric

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Would you like rats as well? I bet most people would disagree with you, a station full of vermin, both 4 legged and 2 legged is not the sort of image that encourages people to use the train.

Rats don't bother me, especially on the tracks themselves. And Neil, as must be apparent to you by now, I don't actually give a flying *cough* what people think.

hey lets put the mice and rats in the dining car of the train. that way as people drop there food the mice and rats can eat it and save the cleaning crew from having to do it thus allowing amtrak to save money. hey lets do the same for restaurants also i'm sure the FDA won't mind sense after all it helps keep the place clean how would you feel GML if you got bit from one of the rats and got rabies would you still support the rats in the station.

In the dining car of the train, where the rats and mice would be damaging food about to be consumed by passengers, and would be forced to be in close proximity to people, they are not being harmless. On the track bed of a station with high level platforms where they consume, out of view of passengers, the refuse that gets thrown on to the tracks, and, at night, consume the refuse that has been thrown onto the platform, is a whole different concept.

I have never seen a mouse or rat in the station that has been within 10 feet of a person. If a person gets within that radius, they go running and hiding.

What amuses me is that most people seem perfectly willing to feed pigeons and finches. Them eating food off the platform is perfectly alright, despite the fact that when you get down to it, pigeons in particular are fairly unsanitary creatures. Contrariwise, if people see a rodent doing the same thing, they freak out about the disgusting conditions around them. In complete ignorance of the fact that rodents are generally highly intelligent (more intelligent then the fools that hate them!) and are among the most fastidious of animals, constantly cleaning and grooming themselves.

 

[AAARGH!]

What amuses me is that most people seem perfectly willing to feed pigeons and finches. Them eating food off the platform is perfectly alright, despite the fact that when you get down to it, pigeons in particular are fairly unsanitary creatures. Contrariwise, if people see a rodent doing the same thing, they freak out about the disgusting conditions around them. In complete ignorance of the fact that rodents are generally highly intelligent (more intelligent then the fools that hate them!) and are among the most fastidious of animals, constantly cleaning and grooming themselves.

I totally agree with you GML. I know... Shocking :blink: :unsure:

 

[Poindexter118]

I know we're only supposed to vote for the top three. But, my favorite is L.A. Union Station. I just like the looks of it. Plus it's user friendly.

 

[GG-1]

I know we're only supposed to vote for the top three. But, my favorite is L.A. Union Station. I just like the looks of it. Plus it's user friendly.

Aloha

Well in choosing the station I voted for part, bigist part was the facility for boarding and disembarking the train. While I agree with you on LAUS beauty, the procedures for getting to and from the trains leaves much to be desired. So much so if it had been a choice I think I would have skipped it. What I find most interesting is the remarks that accompanied the votes on those corridor stations, and am curios if adding other Corridor stations would change the percentages.

 

[had8ley]

But, my favorite is L.A. Union Station. Plus it's user friendly.

I dunno about that...might go down in flames in a poll

 

[DET63]

I can't believe that the ever-popular Elyria and Alliance, Ohio, Sanderson, Texas, and Winnemucca, Nevada, were left out of the poll.

 

[GG-1]

I can't believe that the ever-popular Elyria and Alliance, Ohio, Sanderson, Texas, and Winnemucca, Nevada, were left out of the poll.

Aloha

In the original request the poll was "which is your favorite station, of the top 3 in the nation ."

 

[DET63]

I can't believe that the ever-popular Elyria and Alliance, Ohio, Sanderson, Texas, and Winnemucca, Nevada, were left out of the poll.

Aloha

In the original request the poll was "which is your favorite station, of the top 3 in the nation ."

OK, so I put in 4 stations.

 

[Guest]

NYP has more drama than a Broadway play.... plus its free!!

A huge, diversified supporting character cast makes this all happen at all hours.

Never a dull moment at NYP.

Plus you can go chill in the outer areas of the acela lounge with great privacy.

 

[Jersey Jeff]

Nowadays, passengers arriving in Pittsburgh enter through a drab Amshack-like waiting room. Right next door is the luxury apartment/office building known as the Pennsylvanian which used to be the PRR station.

The building is closed to the public, but my Mother In-Law works there. I snapped this picture of the waiting room last summer.

By thecontrarian at 2009-07-24