Trains.com

If ever there is a new Penn Station in NYC should it have a new name?

2245 views
18 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    August 2013
  • 131 posts
If ever there is a new Penn Station in NYC should it have a new name?
Posted by Bonaventure10 on Sunday, August 25, 2013 1:30 PM

The Pennsy been outta buisness for like 45 years and many  long distance trains there dont go to PA...anyone got any ideas for a new name.

  • Member since
    August 2012
  • 3,727 posts
Posted by John WR on Sunday, August 25, 2013 5:48 PM

How about Amtrak New York Station?  The station is owned by Amtrak so the name is accurate.  Of course the Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit also use the station all those names are impossible.  

The name "Pennsylvania" would live on in Newark Penn Station.  That is alright to me; the 1935 masterpiece is intact.  But after the Pennsylvania Railroad's act of destruction in Manhattan I would be happy to see the name forgotten there.  

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Sunday, August 25, 2013 7:37 PM

How about Union Station, since it serves three railroads?

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, August 25, 2013 8:41 PM

I'd like "Pennsylvania Station"  for traditions sake.  "You leave the Pennsylvania Station at a quarter-to-four..." as the song goes, but Bonaventure's right, the Pennsy ain't in business anymore.

"Manhattan Station"  sounds good, or "New York Union Station"

But you know what's going to happen, don't you?  If and when it's built it'll be named for some damn politician who had nothing to do with railroads. 

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • 3,231 posts
Posted by NorthWest on Sunday, August 25, 2013 9:09 PM

What about Empire Station?

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 26, 2013 6:59 AM

Put the naming rights out for bid!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    January 2001
  • From: Atlanta
  • 11,971 posts
Posted by oltmannd on Monday, August 26, 2013 7:11 AM

BaltACD

Put the naming rights out for bid!

Build it in the style of the old station, and sell the naming rights to the New York Times.  Call it Times New Roman Station.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 1,530 posts
Posted by NKP guy on Monday, August 26, 2013 7:58 AM

How many years has it been since the New York Central departed or arrived at Grand Central Terminal?  Do you think Knickerbockers are going to just stop using that name?  Why?  

As I've said here before, no one is going to call it Moynahan Station in the future.  It'll still be Penn Station.

These stations may legally be owned by railroads but they are emotionally owned by New Yorkers, who couldn't care less what non-New Yorker railfans think the stations ought to be called.

So go ahead.  Suggest any "better" or "more accurate" names you wish.  But think you can change the habits of New Yorkers?  Fuggedaboutit.

  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Monday, August 26, 2013 9:00 AM

Yes, and they still call The Avenue of the Americas Sixth Avenue.   Even the Transit Authority knows that and the signs on buses and subway cars comform to usage, not the street signs.

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, August 26, 2013 9:57 AM

As an aside, Metra calls it the Ogilvie Transportation Center but people still call it North Western Station.  The same can be said for Millenium Station, it's still Randolph Street Station.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Monday, August 26, 2013 1:58 PM

.....Yes, My opinion would be to retain the "Pennsylvania Station" name, perhaps with a prefix, or a word added to it to show it's a modern version of the original. Example:  Something like "21th Century Pennsylvania Station"  Something to show it would be "new" for this new century.

Quentin

  • Member since
    September 2007
  • From: Charlotte, NC
  • 6,099 posts
Posted by Phoebe Vet on Monday, August 26, 2013 2:12 PM

It should remain unchanged.  If it is renamed I GUARANTEE it will be named for a politician.  I am so tired of arrogant politicians being eternally memorialized on Ships, Post Offices, highways, bridges, military bases, and other government buildings. 

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

  • Member since
    August 2012
  • 3,727 posts
Posted by John WR on Monday, August 26, 2013 3:45 PM

daveklepper
Yes, and they still call The Avenue of the Americas

Well yes, Dave, but I think Park Avenue for 4th Avenue has caught on even with New Yorkers.  

John

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 1,530 posts
Posted by NKP guy on Monday, August 26, 2013 5:47 PM

To John R:

   Good point about 4th Avenue.   One of these days such people might get used to a different name for Longacre Square or find Madison Square Garden on 7th Avenue.  

   (from my typewriter on my way to Idlewild Airport)

   

 

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Monday, August 26, 2013 10:42 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH

As an aside, Metra calls it the Ogilvie Transportation Center but people still call it North Western Station.  The same can be said for Millenium Station, it's still Randolph Street Station.

When I first saw the name "Millennium," I wondered where it was, until I saw something about a Millennium railroad station, and then I deduced that that was the Randolph Street Station. What is the reasoning behind the new name? 

Johnny

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • 3,231 posts
Posted by NorthWest on Monday, August 26, 2013 10:47 PM

And people still call Los Angeles Union Station "Los Angeles Union Terminal", and almost all non-railfans refer to Grand Central Terminal as "Grand Central Station". So I see it living on as Penn Station regardless of any new name.

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 6:34 AM

Deggesty

CSSHEGEWISCH

As an aside, Metra calls it the Ogilvie Transportation Center but people still call it North Western Station.  The same can be said for Millenium Station, it's still Randolph Street Station.

When I first saw the name "Millennium," I wondered where it was, until I saw something about a Millennium railroad station, and then I deduced that that was the Randolph Street Station. What is the reasoning behind the new name? 

Because it's located underneath Millenium Park.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 7:02 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH
As an aside, Metra calls it the Ogilvie Transportation Center but people still call it North Western Station. 

I still call it North Western station, as do many others 50 and older.  But a whole generation or more have been calling it Ogilvie and [sadly] the trains have been called Metra or RTA since the late 70's.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 8:04 AM

Park Avenue was named after the electrification and the complete covering of the remaining NYCRR (OK NYC&HR at the time or NY&Harlem) in open sections south of 97th Street, with the small parks forming a neutral strip in the middle.   Quite a change from what was really more of a steam railroad right-of-way than an avenue.   Then, most of the housing that followed was new.   People did call Park Avenue South, south of 42nd St., 4th Avenue for a while, as I remember from my childhood, but the fact that the Avenue north of 42nd had been called Park Avenue since 1906 made the change fairly fast.   But the change from 6th of Ave of Americas only produced South American nations' flags on lamposts and no other physical change.   It is still the Sixth Avenue Subway!    And the station signs on the 14th Street - Canarsie "L" train read Sixth Avenue.   And it is still Pennsylvania Station, Newark, used by PATH, NJT (buses, trains, and light rail), and Amtrak.   Today, though, some New Yorkers do refer to "the Metro North Station" when referring to Grand Central Terminal, calling the subway station and/or the Post Office Grand Central Station.   It is still 4th Avenue 9th St. - 33rd St.    South of 9th Street, 3rd and 4th Avenues join to become The Bowery, which extends down to Chatham Square.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy