On Tuesday, the New York City Transit Museum opened a small exhibit dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of Metro-North Railroad in its Annex at Grand Central Terminal. It features some artifacts from both the pre-MTA takeover (which created Metro-North) days to today and provides a Cliffs Notes version on how the railroad that serves the northern suburbs and Connecticut operates.
It also touches, albeit a bit too briefly, on how the railroad is like the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes of decades of neglectful private ownership into a system that serves as a model for other passenger railroads, most of whom probably envy its 97.7% on time performance and high levels of customer satisfaction. (Why can’t the rest of the MTA be so good?)
The small exhibit isn’t worth making the trip to see exclusively (unless you are a hard core foamer), but if you are waiting for a train or are in the neighborhood it is worth spending a few minutes to take a look at. And judging from the unenthusiastic kids being trudged through the exhibit, it probably isn’t good for kids. Such is the handicap of the small amount of display space there which seems more of an afterthought to the Transit Museum’s store.
One tip, if you like trains or are an infrastructure geek, wait until Metro-North’s Harmon Shops Open House in the fall. It always features a behind the scenes peek at how the railroad is run along with things for kids to do. Plus it usually features a fall foliage train trip.
Picture of third rail snow shoe by author
