This post is the fourth (Post 1|Post 2|Post 3) in a multi-post series about my day wandering down to Midtown Manhattan after Superstorm Sandy when there was no subway service and the only train service to Manhattan was the Metro-North Harlem Line that resumed hourly service after 2pm, all bus service was fare-free.
I left the PBAT and walked the 8 blocks south to 34th Street-Penn Station, first I noticed sandbags on a few subway grates, I started by visiting the Subway Entrances and went down one that was unguarded, getting a picture of closed turnstiles and the closed entrance concourse into Penn Station, next I tried to see if the station was actually open. It was completely closed. There was something very eery that a mother nature could actually keep (a full day after the weather had passed) America’s busiest Railroad Station completely closed to the general public with no train service operating from it.
Employees and cops guarded the entrances. Most were completely closed, one at the corner of 30th Street and 8th Avenue was open (I even triggered the automatic doors) with signs outside saying Open For Employees Only, All Must Sign-In. There was a desk directly in the doorway. The new New Jersey Transit Entrance looked open with no employees, the doors were just all locked. I was looking at the cops (and squad cars) and only found LIRR and Amtrak police, none from New Jersey Transit (who man their concourse).
I left Penn Station and got a few photos of the entrances to the 1,2,3 IRT 7th Avenue Line Station.
I really need to finally make a super-section for Penn Station (I’m thinking like five different, interconnected pages), all the photos of it closed are in this gallery below (and these photos will be incorporated into actual web pages when I finally have a chance to write Penn Station).
Here they are for now:
Enjoy the Gallery of Penn Station!