GCT No. 15 - Oyster Bar Ramps

GCT No. 15 - Oyster Bar Ramps

With each new visit, my love for - and eternal fascination with - New York's Grand Central Terminal
grows, both for the many enjoyable rail journeys that have begun here and for the seemingly limitless
motifs it provides, whether through various lenses or just appreciative eyes when traversing its grand
spaces, passages or ramps between levels, a variety of elements somehow only hinted at by the grand
Beaux Arts facade (*) seen from outside along the surrounding streets.

This broad ramp - and the one on the other side of the pedestrian bridge - leads from the Main Level
down to the Oyster Bar (to the right at the transverse under the bridge) and to the Lower Level
tracks and the Dining Concourse running the length of the platform gates, to the left, which also now
connects at its western end with the remarkable many-levels-deep Long Island Railroad East Side
terminal known as Grand Central Madison.

The bridge connects Vanderbilt Hall (on the right) to the Main Concourse and Upper Level tracks.
The archway beneath the bridge is made up of Guastavino tiles which create the famous Whispering
Gallery, where no lovers' (or train-lovers') quietly murmured secrets may be considered safe from curious
ears ;-) The ramps are softly illuminated by those large chandeliers suspended from an 84 ft ceiling.

The view was captured one night last week after returning from
one of those most enjoyable autumn rail journeys.

©2024 Steve Ember
(*)