Trains Are About People

Drawing outside the new Moynihan Train Hall in NYC

The train along the Northeast corridor and I have a long history. I grew up in Washington, DC and moved to NYC right out of college, so I have taken that trip hundreds of times. I also did the sleeper car train to Atlanta, and Florida — nothing like it. And now, I repeatedly train to and from the Hudson Valley in midstate NY to NYC. I do love trains.

But I haven’t loved Penn Station, the train hub in NYC that is decidedly NOT Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central is majestic, beautiful and full of history; Penn Station is crowded, confusing and ugly, and an embarrasment of an entrance to beautiful NYC. Luckily, the city finally is finishing the plan to move the train hub to the old post office across the street, and it’s gorgeous. Moynihan Train Hall is named after the Senator Patrick Moynihan who spearheaded the plan when he was in office decades ago, and while not completely finished, it is functional. I stood outside the other day and drew two people who were sitting on the massive row of steps in front of the former post office.

Trains are about people.

Who knows if the two people in an animated conversation on the steps were boarding a train that day, but for me they symbolize what trains can be. A way for people to connect while…