Transit Tuesday: Subway Station Renovation – A Few Thoughts About Getting It Right

New York City’s subway opened in 1904. During an era of competing private lines that radiated from the heart of Manhattan into the boroughs, 468 stations were built through the completion of the Independent Subway in 1932. Time is hard … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: Grand By Design Exhibition at Grand Central

After a boozy brunch with Dr. V’s cousins, we wandered up the sunny side of the street to Grand Central Terminal, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The former waiting room space is used for exhibitions and events, and currently … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: How do you get to Annapolis without a car?

I was peeved. During my Christmas break in Maryland, a winter storm blew in on the day I’d picked to spend some time at the state archives in Annapolis. My plan had been to look at criminal cases involving runaway … Continue reading

Transportation Tuesday: Great American Stations Project

Amtrak has built some humdingers of depressing rail stations over its forty year history. Compare the current Cleveland, Ohio shed where passengers now alight, compared to the glorious Terminal Tower. Recently, I switched trains at Springfield, Massachusetts. A grim 1970s … Continue reading

On the Subject of Duck…

Duck is tasty. It was popular fare in New York’s turn-of-the-century restaurants. Havre de Grace, located just a few hours from New York on the Pennsylvania Railroad, was a ready source of the fowl for New York City. Boats known … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: The Walking City

Colleagues of mine were up from DC this week for the Alliance for Response NYC program “Community-Based Recovery After Superstorm Sandy” (see the post here). One of them exclaimed “this is New York! look at everyone walking along the streets!” … Continue reading

Transportation Tuesday: ICE from Munich to Bonn

I had a crazy scheme for last week’s trip to Germany. My last visit was to Dusseldorf and Cologne. I had work in next door Bonn this time around. I wanted to see something else of Germany besides its western … Continue reading

Transit Tuesday: Munich Train Station

Hauptbahnhof. It has to be my favorite German word. Feeling adventurous, I decided to fly directly to Munich and check out the city before going to Bonn for an appointment. This meant a five hour train ride via the ICE, … Continue reading

Wanderlust Wednesday – Worcester, Massachusetts, by way of Springfield

Pop Quiz: How did Worcester, Massachusetts make its money? Answer: Corsets. The Royal Worcester Corset Factory was the largest U.S. employer of women in 1908.         I spent all of 18 hours in Worcester last week. It … Continue reading

Museum Monday – Here Come the Trains Again: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Once again Transit Tuesday is busting in on Museum Monday. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is located in Strasburg, just outside Lancaster. It’s close to the outlet store schlock on Route 30 east of Lancaster, but once you turn off … Continue reading