Indiana Bruce and the Temple of Transportation

One fine September day my buddy Gene and I decided to head up to Buffalo, NY. Buffalo was not a destination most people would choose, having the reputation as the "armpit of America". This former industrial powerhouse had, by the 1980's lost all that had made it - the steel mills, the chemical plants, the manufacturing. It was at death's threshold. It still had a relatively large rail presence though, and it had Central Terminal.

Central Terminal was opened to the public in 1929, one of the last great railroad stations built in this country. Passenger traffic had peaked some years before, so the station never used the capacity it was built to serve. By the 1970s it was down to one train a day each direction, and was finally abandoned in 1979. When we visited in 1989 it had been empty for a decade.

It was quite eerie being here. I had never been in such a monumental, man made structure that was in such a state of abandonment. I  imagined my feelings while wandering through must have been similar to those of an archeologist in an Egyptian pyramid.  Walking along the weed overgrown platforms where thousands of people once trod and among the greatness of the grand concourse left us speechless. Amazingly, the structure was neither vandalized nor covered with graffiti. It was an experience I hadn't before experienced, and have not since.