Station: Grand Central (IRT East Side Line)
From nycsubway.org
IRT East Side Line at Grand Central. Fisheye view. Photo by: Peter Ehrlich, October 2009.
| IRT East Side Line |
Overview
Opened: 7/17/1918
Transfer here to: IRT Flushing Line, IRT Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle
Grand Central is an express stop and the first station along the line from Brooklyn Bridge built as part of the "Dual Contracts." During its construction it was referred to as the "Diagonal Station", owing to its position on a diagonal connecting the IRT Contract I subway under Park Avenue with the new Dual Contracts subway under Lexington Avenue. (Since then, the subway south of Grand Central has come to be known as the "Lex" even though it runs under Park Avenue and various other thoroughfares.) The station is roughly positioned beginning at 41st Street & Park, running under the buildings along 42nd Street between Park & Lexington, and ending just north of 42nd Street at the west side of Lexington. A December, 1918 article published in the Public Service Record, Design of the Diagonal Station and Connection, details the construction, and a later single line diagram gives a scale representation of the track and platform layout.
The station platforms are decorated with what will be recognized as "typical Dual Contracts" name tablets, icons, and "runner" mosaics along the trackside walls. The icon in this case is a stylized steam locomotive, apropos to the station's location under Grand Central Terminal (which in its early days indeed had steam powered trains). MTA Metro-North's renovations of Grand Central Terminal included an air-conditioning project, and this was extended to the usually extremely warm IRT subway platforms. Chilled water-based air coolers are located at several points along the platforms, making Grand Central the only artificially cooled station on the New York City Subway. The platform's massive columns and beams support part of Grand Central Terminal and the office towers next to it.
The station offers transfer to the IRT Flushing, Queens line as well as the Shuttle to Times Square. The complex also included provisions for a terminal station serving a future extension of the Hudson & Manhattan (PATH) railroad's 6th Avenue line, planned in the early part of the century but never constructed. As a result the station is extremely complex, with a mezzanine above the IRT Lexington line platforms which has direct access by escalator to the Flushing line. There is also a cross-under below the Lexington line platforms offering an easier transfer path to the Flushing line. The mezzanine features as artwork a correctly-oriented compass rose inlaid on the floor.
The Grand Central complex is home of the master tower which controls the entire East Side IRT. from lower Manhattan to 125th Street. The interlocking control is quite a sight. The board board shows the status of all of the signals and switches, and roughly indicates the train locations along the East Side IRT. In the photo of the board below, the City Hall loop is on the top track diagram on the far left, and at the close right is Grand Central. The lower tracks indicate from Grand Central north to 125th Street.
After leaving Grand Central, the express tracks descend to a lower level, and the line continues north in a 2-over-2 configuration. The station lies pretty much due east and west;
Some relative depths of stations in the Grand Central complex are as follows, +/- 10 feet.
- Shuttle, 20 feet below street
- Lexington/East Side Subway Platforms, 50 feet
- Flushing/#7 Subway Platforms, 80 feet
- Metro North, Upper Level, 20 feet
- Metro North, Lower Level, 60 feet
Diagram of the "Diagonal Station". Click to enlarge.
Artwork
Title unknown, artist unknown
Photo Gallery
 Image 96 (131k, 640x480) Photo by: Richard Brome Location: Grand Central |
 Image 3065 (328k, 1044x708) Collection of: David Pirmann Location: Grand Central |
 Image 19901 (272k, 1044x707) Collection of: David Pirmann Location: Grand Central |
 Image 42023 (93k, 853x640) Photo by: Michael Pompili Location: Grand Central |
 Image 42039 (90k, 853x640) Photo by: Michael Pompili Location: Grand Central |
 Image 42040 (94k, 853x640) Photo by: Michael Pompili Location: Grand Central |
 Image 66982 (178k, 1044x701) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Grand Central |
 Image 93107 (270k, 1044x788) Photo by: Zach Summer Location: Grand Central |
 Image 105975 (227k, 930x618) Photo by: Peter Ehrlich Location: Grand Central |
 Image 105996 (204k, 930x618) Photo by: Peter Ehrlich Location: Grand Central |
 Image 106550 (179k, 1044x701) Photo by: Richard Panse Location: Grand Central |
 Image 108713 (107k, 776x1024) Photo by: Robbie Rosenfeld Location: Grand Central |
 Image 115425 (264k, 1024x687) Collection of: Collection of nycsubway.org Location: Grand Central |
 Image 115842 (232k, 1024x691) Collection of: Collection of nycsubway.org Location: Grand Central |
 Image 119400 (249k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Grand Central |