The secret railway under the Waldorf Astoria was used by Roosevelt

These rusted and decaying railway tracks may seem like any of the thousands of feet of disused track that snake under midtown Manhattan.

But this discreet siding, Grand Central Terminal’s ‘Track 61’ – was once a vital tool in the arsenal of wartime President Franklin D Roosevelt – and could yet spring into action again. Hidden underneath the opulent Waldorf Astoria hotel, the secluded platform was one of many ways Roosevelt, stricken by polio and paralyzed from the waist down since 1921, would hide his affliction.