Nostalgia & History > Pittsburgh Penn Station article & photos

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Click on the right for additional images from the PRR (1960s?), PC and early Amtrak. My favorite photo is the one showing a PC switcher next to Pitt Tower. Unfortunately, none of the right side images are captioned.

http://pgdigs.tumblr.com/

Stood on the station platform in Aug. 68.. Much going on back then….Just got off the St. Lousian.. waiting for a connection train to New York…..

Fortunately the building has been saved. The porte-cochere is as beautiful as ever. Peering in the doors one can get some idea of the beauty of the waiting room. Regrettably, the building is not open to the public.

Back in 2000, I took a tour of some of the great and restored stations around the northeast. Pittsburgh Penn Station was one of them.....what a beauty. I was walking around, looking in windows when an old gent in uniform (can't recall if it was security or full fledged doorman uniform) and asked if he could help me. So, I told him my mission to see these great stations, and he offers to take me inside the beautiful waiting room. The place is now a senior center, and the restoration is magnificent. He was a wealth of local history, so I asked if he was from Pittsburgh. "Heavens no", he said, "I'm from South Carolina", and explained he had only been in Pittsburgh "since '38"! Also visited DC, South Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Philly 30th St, and Harrisburg. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA