Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - How long has it been since a train delivered passengers into historic DL&W Terminal?
Put it this way: John Kennedy was alive and still president, the Ford Mustang had yet to see the light of day, and the Beatles were just another English band playing in Liverpool and London.
The last passenger train to pull into the South Park Avenue landmark was in 1962, but that is all changing shortly after 2 p.m. on Monday when a Metro Rail train pulls into the just-christened NFTA station inside the DL&W Terminal.
"It is a moment we have been waiting for," said Kelly Khatib, NFTA spokesperson.
The station is the first phase of a multi-phased development planned for bringing the public back into the DL&W Terminal for the first time in more than six decades.
The DL&W Terminal station is new one for the NFTA. The Canalside/Special Events Station remains open.
After years of planning, and more than a few false starts, the rebirth of the DL&W Terminal is moving forward.
Next summer, an elevated walkway between the terminal and its South Park Avenue neighbor, KeyBank Center, will open.
Buffalo Electric Glass will open a 15,000-square-foot center on the terminal's second floor.
Other second floor development remains at the center of a dispute between the NFTA and developer Sam Savarino.
The DL&W Terminal opened in 1917 and for decades it saw both commercial and passenger trains pass through. Coal carrying trains from Pennsylvania used the terminal as did luxury passenger rail service between Buffalo and New York City - among other places.
The terminal's signature grand staircase and headhouse were demolished in 1979 to make way for the Metro Rail cars. The NFTA has used - and still uses - the first floor of its Metro Rail cars.
"What is happening today is a milestone," Khatib said.