Not just Penn Station...The destruction of CNW station in Chicago was a crime

[Bonaventure10]

and the new station reminds me a of a bad food court in a run down mall and the escalators are too steep.

[schlimm]

I remember the Madison St. Terminal very well, as a youngster, teen and adult.  It was no great loss, IMO.

[Bonaventure10]

http://www.barrysbest.net/OminousWeather/images/ChicagoNorthWesternStation.jpg

Look at that and consider taking back your words...

[Bonaventure10]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=chicago+northwestern+station&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=735778223E15EE612C6BD2EF174A020C945E9D5B&selectedIndex=4

and here

[schlimm]

It is just a matter of personal taste.   That grand waiting room was largely an out-of-the-way, unused space by 1958 and after.  

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I first became acquainted with North Western Station in 1965 and by that time it was a shadow of any grandeur that it might have had.  The entrance from Madison Street had long since been closed and the only entrances to the concourse were by way of stairways on Clinton or Canal Street or a connecting passage from the former Daily News Building (Riverside Plaza).  The only intercity passenger trains left were short-to-medium haul 400's and other trains mostly to Milwaukee, Green Bay and northern Wisconsin and Michigan.  It had become little more than a large commuter terminal just west of the Loop.

[schlimm]

CSSHEGEWISCH

I first became acquainted with North Western Station in 1965 and by that time it was a shadow of any grandeur that it might have had.  The entrance from Madison Street had long since been closed and the only entrances to the concourse were by way of stairways on Clinton or Canal Street or a connecting passage from the former Daily News Building (Riverside Plaza).  The only intercity passenger trains left were short-to-medium haul 400's and other trains mostly to Milwaukee, Green Bay and northern Wisconsin and Michigan.  It had become little more than a large commuter terminal just west of the Loop.

And many commuters used the Suburban Entrance on Canal, near Washington, since it was convenient, though shabby and dirty.  The new station is much brighter and lively, with many retail and food outlets.   And the design looks like a train station, albeit more a contemporary European look since Helmut Jahn was the architect.

 http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/images/DowntownStationImages/ogilvie_1.jpg

But I also recall watching some of the old 400 trains for Wisconsin and even rode the Kate shelley 400 (with single-level coaches) a few times out to DeKalb.

 

[Bonaventure10]

So it was a slow death of the likes of Dayton and Buffalo Central Station....The waiting room looks a lot like Utica NY Union Station which used pieces of the old Grand Central from NYC....had this been done later the CNW waiting room might have preserved...as for my perceptive I have always considered CNW and Union to be one big station