(Bill Wippert / Buffalo News)
(By Danny Yadron NEWS STAFF REPORTER) When John Hajduk’s family picked up his grandma from the train station in the 1960s, they met her at the clock.
And when Ben Hiltz left for Army boot camp in 1964, he met the “guy with the tickets” at the clock.
It was the common phrase at Buffalo’s Central Terminal during the station’s heyday.
“Meet me at the clock,” said Hiltz, 67, a Town of Tonawanda resident who has spent the past five years cleaning up the dilapidated building. “It’s something that everyone remembers.”
Central Terminal curators last week returned the original four-sided timepiece to the main concourse for the building’s 80th birthday party, scheduled Saturday. Fifteen feet tall under a nearly 60-foot ceiling, the chipped and repainted relic doesn’t change much, those involved admit. But supporters of renovating Buffalo’s once-stately train station said they hope the addition will help the city reclaim its past.
Great job Mike & Mark!