The guy who did more to perpetuate the legend of "FDR's secret armored car still underneath Grand Central!!!" is finally suspended by the MTA:

http://nypost.com/2017/04/17/grand-cent ... its-tours/

I have to wonder about the fellow. There's no doubt about his enthusiasm, but taking people into places of potential risk is not a good idea.

And I don't understand why anyone would want to make up tall tales about an armored rail car still under Grand Central; hell, it's a standard baggage car! New York Central probably had hundreds of them!

The real stories, the real things that happen on the railroads, are better--and often more unbelievable--than anything you can make up.

Reading between the lines, this is about unsanctioned trips that were double-, and perhaps triple-dips. But that may just be the Post "getting" him ... they do that sometimes.

Be a shame if they boot him, even partially, over the Chastain access (even though I can hear the insurance underwriters starting now!) as that sort of freedom of access has been found in MTA personnel for some time. In the late '70s I wanted some of the framing blueprints to GCT (in case the landmarks commission did not prevail at the Supreme Court, and Breuer's awful building might move forward, I wanted to have alternatives ready) and went to 466 Lex to ask about them. They told me then that they'd be happy to run off any copies free if I gave them a request on some sort of letterhead to show legitimacy (or at least give them plausible denial later). I suspect I would not only be given the same access now, but would hear at least once from Homeland Security...

Tall-Tale Weaver - probably a cousin ...

I spent some time wondering why the MTA still employed a telltale weaver, and how many woven-rope telltales were still out there warning the trainsurfers to duck.

There is an element of truth in the legend. FDR's Packard apparently did ride the freight elevator occasionally. The credibility issues are with the claims that the baggage car which is there now carried it and the idea that the Waldorf's private track was a secret. My grandfather took me down there as a treat some time in 1943 or '44.

The Packard, incidentally, has been preserved.
http://nyc.streetsblog.org/2017/04/28/cuomo-drives-old-timey-car-across-brand-new-bridge-while-sticking-nyers-with-old-timey-transit-system/
GME

One good reason to tell tall tails is "butts in seats". People love being let in on secrets and hidden knowledge. Al Capon's vault is a lot more interesting than a forgotten storage room. My mom used to say of my great uncle Howard: "He knew he was lying, you knew he was lying, he knew you knew he was lying but it was such a great story nobody cared.