Hidden Platform GCT

i was not sure where to put this question but since it involves GCT i put it in the MN forum
recently watched a few you tubes about the secret GCT platform used for Roosevelt to get to the Waldorf
(and pretty sure that has been discussed on the site as well)

what i did not see and am wondering about - what routing would Roosevelts train take from DC in order to get to that platform in GCT?

I don't have a TN handy but most likely PRR to New York, NHRR from Penn Station to GCT via New Rochelle and the equipment spotted by a NYC (GCT) yard crew.
Noel Weaver

Its not that hard to get a train from Penn Station to GCT. Run the train east on the Hell Gate to New Rochelle Junction then back down to GCT over the New Haven Line. Today you can also use the Empire Connection from Penn to Spuyten Duyvil and then back down to GCT.

Larry, RedbirdR33

actually most of time Roosevelt traveled via freight lines and over maybrook line between DC and Hyde park ny.
the platform in NY was used for NYC visits.

RedbirdR33 wrote:Its not that hard to get a train from Penn Station to GCT. Run the train east on the Hell Gate to New Rochelle Junction then back down to GCT over the New Haven Line. Today you can also use the Empire Connection from Penn to Spuyten Duyvil and then back down to GCT.

Larry, RedbirdR33

We did not back a train from New Rochelle to Grand Central Terminal not ever. The motor from Penn Station would either run around the train or another motor would tie on to the west end of the train, do an air test and head west. POTUS Trains were not set up for push-pull and in fact push-pull was not in general use if at all in those days.
Noel Weaver

Noel: I indulged in a bit of verbal shorthand when I wrote that. As you said there would have been a second engine on the other end or the primary engine would have done a run around. I believe that when FDR did travel between Washington and Hyde Park the train was routed up the west side of the Hudson and then over the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge.

There was no interchange of any kind between the New Haven at Highland and the West Shore. A couple of hundred verticle feet separated the two lines. The only way they could move a train between the two lines was to interchange with the New York, Ontario and Western at CN Tower in cornwall and via the O & W to Campbell Hall to interchange with the New Haven and many football specials between Army (West Point) and Yale (New Haven) used that route. Moves of this nature took place via New Rochelle and were interchanged to the New York Central at MO where an engine change probably to diesel or steam took place.
Noel Weaver

I find the use of the Maybrook via the Poughkeepsie bridge problematic as well. Provided there was some type of arrangement for Presidential trains, the only connections possible:

-The Hospital Branch, involving switchbacks, etc. Very doubtful.

-The Beacon secondary could have been used, but again, you'd change ends twice, at Hopewell and at Beacon. I don't remember who owned the Beacon secondary, or if there was a southbound connection to the Hudson.

-There was no connection at that time to the Harlem branch at Dykeman's; that's a recent addition post Penn Central, I believe.

Given FDR's Hyde Park connection, it's an interesting theory to come that direction via the Maybrook. But passenger service on that line ended very early, early 30's, predating FDR's Presidency.

The easiest routing to the Waldorf platform in the GCT cavern would have been via the Hell Gate (The New York Connecting Railroad) and New Rochelle as Noel says.

keep in mind, there was very little reason for president to visit New York , the United Nations up till 1945 was only being organized and had its meetings in Washington DC.

This is not the article I was looking for but pretty much the whole thing of it being "for FDR" has been way overplayed.
He might have used it once, but much more it just happens a track in a convenient spot that was used a couple of times, but wasn't designed for anything like what most seem to think.

Years ago I was told by a friend's grandfather- a man born in 1911 and raised in Manhattan- that when the Waldorf was planned in 1927-28 it was expected that many guests would arrive via private car, or even private train. By the time the place actually opened in 1931, though, the Depression was biting hard, so the concept was sort of mothballed. True or not, it makes sense.

When FDR was president a usable route was via Hell Gate as far as the ramp to NYNH&H's Oak Point yard, where a connection could be made to NYC's Port Morris branch.

That was not a good alternative even when the line was somewhat busy and in better shape. It would take as long to get through Oak Point and around to MO as it would to go to New Rochelle and it also required another motor on the New Haven plus something on the New York Central. I don't recall it ever happening even back when. There were also clearance issues with passenger equipment.
Noel Weaver

and security issues moving over non-signaled yard tracks, even in those days.

You know, if we're talking usable routes in 1933 or thereabouts, I honestly think a carfloat would be more likely than the Port Morris branch if for some reason they didn't want to go over the Hell Gate to New Rochelle and reverse. PRR to Greenville and a float to the NYC 60th St yards, around the horn at DV then down into GCT. Not saying it happened, just saying it's more likely than creeping through the S Bronx.