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The
photo on your left depicts the pump house. The pump house is located
between and at the lowest elevation of the Metro Rail Subway tunnels, somewhere
in-between the Utica and Delevan-College Stations. The purpose of the pump
house is to pump out all of that sparkling clean spring water that seeps
through the walls of the subway tunnels. Where that sparkling clean spring
water goes is anybody's guess. I'm assuming it goes to a bottling plant
and is distributed to your local grocery stores. Maybe the NFTA makes a
little scratch off of it to subsidize the running of the Metro Rail? In fact, it goes to
the water supply of Forest Lawn Cemetary. The old Cold Spring water had been feeding the
ponds & lakes at Forest Lawn, and when the NFTA drilled through the spring, most of
that water flooded into the new tunnels instead of the cemetery. Forest Lawn
was not amused. So, the NFTA now pumps all that water into the cemetery and
Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park. A special thanks to Dan Kjeldgaard for that bit of information.
The pump house was a special place for me and I'm sure others who have worked in the tunnels also. You see, the pump house makes for a great place to take a leak, excuse me, I meant make more sparkling clean spring water, which is what I found myself doing almost every chance I had after downing so much coffee before work every night.
When walking in the tunnels after hours, something I did quite often
during the course of my duties there, the dripping of the water from the
pump house along with the echo of the concrete tunnel walls, will play
some strange tricks on your mind. The sound it makes from a distance resembles
the sound of people talking to one another. It is because of this strange
phenomenon that the pump house is off limits to small children and the
faint of heart. It's just too spooky down there. If you are afraid of such
things as ghosts and horror movies, it would be wise for you to take this
advice and stay out of the pump house.
