Matt Lauer put on his best play clothes this morning to examine “The Mystery of Track 61″ on the Today show. Lauer went 30 feet below the Waldorf to investigate the secret train track that has intrigued urban explorers for decades.
As luck would have it, when one Googles “Track 61″–as thousands, perhaps millions did this morning, none other than Trainjotting is the first listing to pop up. The link brings readers to an Ask Engine Bob column devoted to every last detail about Track 61, which FDR used to sneak in and out of Grand Central and hide his disability (he had severe polio) from the public.
As a result of our stellar Google placement, we had nothing short of stunning traffic on ol’ Trainjotting. (A link from Gothamist helped as well.)
Lauer ended up with a nice 7-minute segment, with some commentary from colorful Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker and Brooklynite historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. He spoke about not only the phantom track, but the mysterious bulletproof freight car still located under the Waldorf that played some sneaky role in presidential security.
[photo: MSNBC.MSN.com]
So did Matt hook you up or what? Give us some stats! That’s awesome!
While I don’t know if the “Air Force 1″ name was used, Eisenhower prefered to travel by air. He only used the official US Presidential Rail Car “Ferdinand Magellan” once, for his Canadian trip. The last official use of the Ferdinand Magellan was in 1953, when the first lady went to Groton for the christening of the Nautilas submarine.
The Ferdinand Magellan has been made a national landmark, and is on public exhibition at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, FL http://www.goldcoast-railroad.org/magellan.php#pagetop