Baltimore Penn Station

Call it "the nex stop". Oh hey, I'm taking the train from the next stop to New York! Or oh, I'm getting off at the next stop.. OR! You could really screw with people's heads and call it "the station".

I'll be honest: I'm approaching my 50th birthday, and I have zero recollection of the Pennsy as an operating railroad, and the name is meaningless to me outside of a Monopoly board. The implication is that, outside of historians and railfans, the same probably applies to anyone younger than myself (which is essentially everyone who isn't a Baby Boomer or older). Even after I first heard of Penn Station (NY), it was years before I finally figured out why New York had a station named after Pennsylvania. Most other people probably wonder the same thing, and regardless of the intent (that it's named after the bankrupt railroad that built it), that's not what it says to people. If they don't sell naming rights, it makes perfect sense to me to rename it Maryland Station.

Was the Pennsylvania Railroad bankrupt? I thought the solvent Pennsylvania and New York Central merged 1968 and Penn Central went bankrupt 1970.

You are correct, Mr. Boylan. The bankruptcy occurred after the Penn Central merger.

I guess we have to call all fallen flags 'bankrupt'. It's kind of like 'ailing ruler' or 'honest politician'.

A fallen flag simply denotes a railroad that is no longer with us. It could've been merged rather than out of business.

With respect to the Pennsy, things were in very bad shape at the time of the merger. They weren't legally bankrupt, but you could make the argument that they were functionally bankrupt. The CFO was very good at obscuring losses by moving money around amongst subsidiaries and holdings to show a paper profit to the stockholders. If you read either of the books on the PC bankruptcy (No way to run a Railroad and Wreck of the PC) you'll be shocked at how crooked the CFO was.

As for the name of Baltimore Penn Station, although it no longer denotes the Pennsy, it has been in use for decades. Many of the significant stations on the NEC are named Penn Station, as is the MARC line. It gives a sense of continuity to those not familiar with the railroad, and is a reliable way of giving directions even for frequent travelers. "Where are you going tonight?" "I'm taking the train home from Penn Station".

Tadman wrote:As for the name of Baltimore Penn Station, although it no longer denotes the Pennsy, it has been in use for decades. Many of the significant stations on the NEC are named Penn Station, as is the MARC line. It gives a sense of continuity to those not familiar with the railroad, and is a reliable way of giving directions even for frequent travelers. "Where are you going tonight?" "I'm taking the train home from Penn Station".

This. Not to mention that it's an easy station name to say/remember since it only has one syllable.

Tadman wrote:"I'm taking the train home from Penn Station".

Just have to be careful when in Hoboken and you tell the cabbie to take you to New York Penn Station and he starts to take you to Newark Penn Station.
(yes, almost happened to me before I caught it.

Tadman wrote:A fallen flag simply denotes a railroad that is no longer with us. It could've been merged rather than out of business.

With respect to the Pennsy, things were in very bad shape at the time of the merger. They weren't legally bankrupt, but you could make the argument that they were functionally bankrupt. The CFO was very good at obscuring losses by moving money around amongst subsidiaries and holdings to show a paper profit to the stockholders. If you read either of the books on the PC bankruptcy (No way to run a Railroad and Wreck of the PC) you'll be shocked at how crooked the CFO was.

As for the name of Baltimore Penn Station, although it no longer denotes the Pennsy, it has been in use for decades. Many of the significant stations on the NEC are named Penn Station, as is the MARC line. It gives a sense of continuity to those not familiar with the railroad, and is a reliable way of giving directions even for frequent travelers. "Where are you going tonight?" "I'm taking the train home from Penn Station".

Not bankrupt as a legal status, but essentially insolvent.

markhb wrote: If they don't sell naming rights, it makes perfect sense to me to rename it Maryland Station.

What do we call the other 5 stations along the NEC in Maryland where Amtrak stops?

markhb wrote:I'll be honest: I'm approaching my 50th birthday, and I have zero recollection of the Pennsy as an operating railroad, and the name is meaningless to me outside of a Monopoly board. The implication is that, outside of historians and railfans, the same probably applies to anyone younger than myself (which is essentially everyone who isn't a Baby Boomer or older). Even after I first heard of Penn Station (NY), it was years before I finally figured out why New York had a station named after Pennsylvania. Most other people probably wonder the same thing, and regardless of the intent (that it's named after the bankrupt railroad that built it), that's not what it says to people. If they don't sell naming rights, it makes perfect sense to me to rename it Maryland Station.

PRR was hardly bankrupt in 1910, quite the opposite... in fact it was the only railroad with the money to attempt standard gauge full size railcar tunnels under the hudson.

I think the current name is a good one, it is on the penn line, so it makes sense.

If they are gonna start renaming Penn Stations because it's confusing they should give it a whirl with Union Station first. Union Station is Amtrak's second, fourth, fifth, tenth, eleventh and fifteenth busiest station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bu ... k_stations

..... and it's Grand Central Terminal because that's where the New York Central trains to Manhattan terminated. The New York Central has been gone for as long as the Pennsylvania.

JimBoylan wrote:The name has already been changed before. It has been Union station and Penn Central Station.

Good point: "Union" reminds us of the Western Maryland RR! And if you're Baltimore, and more proud, ultimately, of both the B&O and the Western Maryland than of the Pennsy,I think there are names that can be good for the railroad (good for wayfinding) and good for office development (good for defining a transit-optimized neighborhood).

I also happen to think that Metropark is an improvement over Iselin--which was always too close to "Isolation"

All have their drawbacks, but I can think of lots of names with a better overall "score" than "Pennsylvania" if you're trying to tie history, geography, railroading and evocative business district names:
- North Charles (a street address more evocative than 30th)
- Charles North
- North Station (supports the nearby Station North area)
- Mount Vernon
- Mount Center (ties Vernon, Royal and the State Center offices)
- Mount-Central
- Mount Royal North (or Mount Royal East)
- Jones Falls Center
- North Center
- Maryland Center (both state offices nearby and Maryland Ave)

Adirondacker wrote:If they are gonna start renaming Penn Stations because it's confusing they should give it a whirl with Union Station first. Union Station is Amtrak's second, fourth, fifth, tenth, eleventh and fifteenth busiest station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bu ... k_stations
..... and it's Grand Central Terminal because that's where the New York Central trains to Manhattan terminated. The New York Central has been gone for as long as the Pennsylvania.

Good station names seem to work on several levels. Grand Central's effectiveness, as a name, is enhanced by the fact that it has remained both grand and central (and Central Central Terminal didn't have the same ring

Union is clearly one of those words that has mostly outworn its welcome, with two notable exceptions: I think Washington DC, as capital of the Union (Federal Gov't), is happily one place where it still works really well. In Chicago, Union also still kind of works as the only station fed from all compass points--contrasted with the many other terminals in town--though Chicago Central Station would work too.

Arlington wrote:Good station names seem to work on several levels. Grand Central's effectiveness, as a name, is enhanced by the fact that it has remained both grand and central (and Central Central Terminal didn't have the same ring

Union is clearly one of those words that has mostly outworn its welcome, with two notable exceptions: I think Washington DC, as capital of the Union (Federal Gov't), is happily one place where it still works really well. In Chicago, Union also still kind of works as the only station fed from all compass points--contrasted with the many other terminals in town--though Chicago Central Station would work too.

There are many Union Stations all across America. The use of union wasn't to signify that the Union Pacific RR built and used it. It's use was to indicate many railroads used it and that it was more likely built by the local city for all the railroads to share.
Baltimore had several train stations and was served by several railroad companies. It's Penn Station was built and used by the Pennsylvania RR. That's what it's name signifies. The same holds true for New York's Penn Station. New York's Grand Central Station was built and used by NY Central RR, Central was not used to signify it was centrally located in the city.