Why There’s a Hidden Station Under New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel
Description
Beneath the streets of Midtown Manhattan lies a secret rail siding few New Yorkers know about: Track 61. Originally built in the 1910s as part of Grand Central’s service yard, it once hauled coal and ash. But when the Waldorf Astoria rose above it in 1931, the track was reborn as a private platform—linked directly to the hotel by a massive freight elevator.
Over the decades, it carried generals, presidents, and celebrities into the Waldorf’s back halls. Franklin D. Roosevelt himself used it, while Andy Warhol staged a party there in the 1960s. Yet much of Track 61’s legend comes from myth, not fact. In this episode, we’ll uncover the truth behind the secret platform, its origins in New York’s golden age of rail, and why it remains one of the city’s most enduring urban mysteries.
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