Train Buildings

Why are old train station such big buildings?

It seems like old big city train stations (i.e. Grand Central) are such big and tall buildings even though the trains generally go underground.

Fine examples of grand architecture in a one-up-man-ship kind of style. But, the buildings were built for purpose as well.

In the days gone by, there was no air conditioning so the high cathedral ceilings served the purpose of allowing as much room as possible to collect the hot air, keeping it cooler nearer the floor. A lot of bodies created a lot of heat in addition to the ambient temperature. Ventilation was at a premium as well, and the cigar and pipe smoke, as well locomotive smoke and steam rose above the fray.

The curvature of the ceilings served two purposes, primarily one of being a better load bearing shape for the large expanses without supporting pillars. In additon the curvature also helped the acoustics in the huge area. Large, parallel walls, ceiling and floor are the worst environment for intelligibility. Before the days of speaker systems one had to hear the announcements of trains arriving and departing, so this was also acoustics control, even if primitive by today’s standards.

Many sported stained glass as well. Not necessarily an improvement for the structure, but it gave an even greater cathedral feel to the place, as well as letting in much needed light, and probably for giving someone waiting for an arrival or departure something pleasing to the eye to look at. In those days of busy, as well as lucrative, passenger railroading great attention was paid to detail, not only in on-board services, but in major terminals such as these.

There was always a shoeshine stand, news stand, cigar stand or tobacco shop, eatery, barber shop and postcard souvenir stands.

These days, many Amtrak “depots” (the term barely applies in the conventional sense) are nothing more than an overgrown phone booth in outlying, rural places, or a disused portion of an old company depot.

It is fortunate some of these stunning edifices have survived, unlike the famed palace cars, named trains and puffer-billys.

For my money, I was born fifty years too late; a walking, talking anachronism…

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