At :30 I used to work in that building … the NYCRR Grand Terminal. During the WW2 years there were 60 troop trains a day through there. By the time I got there, it was an echo chamber with one ticket agent, a sleepy news and snack stand and a few huge benches. Marble floor and staircases, huge chandelier, and, in the main room, it still had nearly all of its glass. I was there for training as a brakeman and, later, to test for conductor.
Police protection in the city of Detroit was so shitty that Conrail no longer starts any of its jobs inside city limits. They start outside, giving the employment taxes to surrounding cities. I, personally, was shot at several times while working there … once at a range of less than 3'. The Hump, a gravity yard feeding trainyard and departure yard, used to be busy 24/7. My Dad was the yardmaster at Tower A when I was being checked for balls by having us climb up to the hand brake on a boxcar and releasing the boxcar all by itself through the chicane of switches into Trainyard. We lost three trainees that day. Two of 'em said "effew" and walked the couple miles back to the depot without ever climbing up. A third took the ride down, got off the box car and kept walking. I was there just about 11 years when congress gave my job away by reducing the manpower per train.