Jump to content
 

World's Busiest Train Stations


melmerby
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

Hi all

Following on from Tony Robinson's series on Moday nights Channel 5 have a new 4-parter starting tonight at 2100.

It is "The World's Busiest Train* Stations" and the first episode includes Grand Central & Penn Stations, New York

 

*No doubt the word police will be having something to say about that:)

 

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Didn't anybody see this?

First episode was Grand Central Terminal & Pennsylvania Stations in NY

Grand Central was mainly about the "above tracks" part of the station but Penn Station included quite a bit about the operation of the Long Island Rail Road out onto Long Island.

 

We had a tour around the construction site of it's new $11bn terminal in Manhattan under Grand Central.

This is subterranean engineering on a grand scale.

 

There was a section about "leaves on the line" in fall and the damage it does to wheel treads, including showing a wheel being re-profiled after damage.

 

A scary bit was when one of the EMUs, having just been serviced, was being moved out of the maintenance depot

The EMUs are 750v side contact third rail and the shed is obviously not provided with contact rails.

A guy had a thick live cable with a long wand like bit on the end with a contact, which he held against the side contact on the shoe beam to power the train out of the shed.:excl:

 

Can't see H&E in the UK allowing that.:no:

 

All in all quite enjoyable and Chris Tarrant's commentary wasn't at all jokey.

Edited by melmerby
  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Oh hell , missed this . Probably get it on catch up or I'm sure Ch 5 will repeat it .

 

Grand Central is an experience . An Architectural masterpiece . Never caught a train from there or never actually needed to be there, but its worth it just to take in the grandeur . A nice cocktail at one of the bars allows you to sit out and look at the concourse . Not easy to actually see any of the trains.    I  left from Penn Central on a Great Railway Journey across the US . Again an experience but a bit run down when I was there. We were specifically warned about pick pockets and to be aware . We took refuge in the Amtrak lounge until the train to Washington was called .  But again fascinating .

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just seen this on channel 5 catch up,  Thanks for heads up about it, haven't been around on Monday nights for TV for a few weeks.  Worth watching, having visited Grand Central station and travelled to Washington from Penn Central.  Liked the sequence on the empty stock train approaching Manhattan and going into the tunnels under the river.

I thought Chris Tarrant's narration was straight forward enough,  I'll look out for the rest of the series. Flinders Street could be good.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Premium

Kicked into the long grass by C5

It's not on next week either. (there's a repeat of another programme at that time!)

 

There's still two episodes from a National Trust series outstanding (the rest were shown last summer)

It's not uncommon for 5 to just "forget" to show episodes.

 

Edited by melmerby
Link to post
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Kicked into the long grass by C5

It's not on next week either. (there's a repeat of another programme at that time!)

 

There's still two episodes from a National Trust series outstanding (the rest were shown last summer)

It's not uncommon for 5 to just "forget" to show episodes.

 

 

Think I will send a snotty email I know it won't make much difference but good to have a vent

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 30/04/2019 at 11:07, Andymsa said:

What happened to this weeks episode 

 

The one I wanted to see was Zurich! It was even trailed on the Flinders Street credits!

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
3 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

The one I wanted to see was Zurich! It was even trailed on the Flinders Street credits!

Not unusual for C5 to omit showing episodes and then they might show up without publicity and you miss them

 

Gotham series 3 was supposed to be on C5 following seasons 1 & 2 but they never showed it even though they had the rights.

Netflix then showed season 3 and E4 did season 4 so viewers were completely baffled as to what was going on

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Didn't see the programme but have been to both stations. Grand Central is amazing (wasn't Waterloo originally inspired by it?) but Penn  station is the one that I travelled from (Amtrak 'Maple Leaf' to Toronto). I thought Penn station was a subterranean dump hidden under Madison Square Garden and not a great station for one of the World's great cities. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, dibber25 said:

Didn't see the programme but have been to both stations. Grand Central is amazing (wasn't Waterloo originally inspired by it?) but Penn  station is the one that I travelled from (Amtrak 'Maple Leaf' to Toronto). I thought Penn station was a subterranean dump hidden under Madison Square Garden and not a great station for one of the World's great cities. 

Waterloo predates Grand Central by over two decades, dating from 1848 vice 1871.

Link to post
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, pb_devon said:

Hi. Did you contact them?

Anyone know anything?

I also would like to see the Zurich episode.

Hi,

 

yes i I did contact them and just got a ridiculous reply to watch the schedules. I would post it but have changed my browsing device since then so I got rid of a lot of emails and don't have there reply anymore.

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, dibber25 said:

Didn't see the programme but have been to both stations. Grand Central is amazing (wasn't Waterloo originally inspired by it?) but Penn  station is the one that I travelled from (Amtrak 'Maple Leaf' to Toronto). I thought Penn station was a subterranean dump hidden under Madison Square Garden and not a great station for one of the World's great cities. 

The new Penn Station should be a massive improvement once the reconstruction is finished. It's going to be in the old post office building across the road. Strangely I don't dislike the current one as much as most people as it reminds me of New Street late 1980s.

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

The busiest railway stations are actually in Tokyo with Shinjuku first then Shibuya and Ikebukuro.  On one visit I had to take the Yamanote line from Shinjuku in the morning peak and the trains seemed to be almost continuous with the departure indicator going straight to 'Train Approaching' as soon as the previous one in the platform left.  It's a few years since I've been to New York but I wouldn't have thought that there is any comparison with Tokyo.

 

Perhaps they suspended the programme to correct the title.

 

IPW 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...