Report and PHOTOS by Robert Manning, Executive VP, RailPAC
The combination National Train Day and 75th anniversary for LAUS was a success even though the temperature hit 91, which made for a very hot day. In spite of this thousands attended making it very hard to move about. The photo below shows the main waiting room, with its new video arrival/departure screens on the far wall.
LA Metro which owns LAUS did a wonderful job in refurbishing the station. It was painted inside and out, all the brass and wood work was refurbished and new signage was added throughout the station, keeping with the art deco theme. The tunnel inside the station was repainted white with lights added making all of the connecting tunnels much brighter and safer.
The outside gardens looked great, and I must credit LA Metro for doing an overall fantastic job.
The old ticket area (above) was turned into a seated area so people could listen to a live band with a singer performing music from the 1930’s with most everyone dressing from the same era.
The Fred Harvey Restaurant, (above) was where my wife and I spent most of the time because it was air conditioned, and they also had music and dancing from the 1930’s. And again many folks were dressed from the same period.
The equipment display included an Amtrak sleeping car, Lounge car, coach and Parlour car. There were also several private cars on display. The very long lines to visit this equipment took almost two hours.
LA Metro provided free Metrolink travel to Glendale and back and the same on the Gold line to Little Tokyo. If you showed your “tap card” (this is the card used to travel the LA Subway system) you received a 10% discount offered by restaurants in the greater LA area including Glendale, and at the retailers located inside LAUS.
