The Secret Train Platform Under the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan
Track 61 is an abandoned, once secret train platform beneath Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. It was once used by VIPs -most famously by Franklin D. Roosevelt- who wanted to make an entrance or exit the hotel without being seen or having to go through New York’s traffic. A private elevator, existing even today, was large enough to to fit Roosevelt’s armored car and lead it to the hotel’s garage.
The secret platform was first used in 1938 and in 1965 Andy Warhol threw a fittingly named ‘Underground Party’. By 1978, the platform was known as one of the many places in Grand Central Terminal where squatters lived. Today, the train car which used to carry Roosevelt is parked abandoned in the track which is not accessible to visitors. It remains however a “holy grail” for many urban explorers.
