The relics of the old Pittsburgh International Airport terminal: A T. Rex and the trains
Here in Pittsburgh, we hometowners love our traditions, and the Heinz History Center is full of those traditions we love so much.
That's why it should come as no surprise that since the new Pittsburgh International Airport terminal opened, a lot of Pittsburgh passengers were wondering what happened to the T. rex and what the future holds for the train.
Where's the airport dinosaur now?
Nestled in his new temporary home in baggage claim, Franco Harris has found a place in the new terminal, but ask him where his friend the T. rex has gone, and it almost looks as if he's wondering that, too.
It turns out the massive feet, bony hands, spiny tail, and frightening teeth have simply relocated to a place that many of its ancestors have gone.
When you walk through the tunnel into the airside terminal, it's just below your feet, in a case, a couple of floors down, right where it's always been. Sadly, no longer do riders come off the train only to be met face-to-face with the massive frame.
Gone are the selfies taken before or after an escalator ride, gone is the spotlight that prompted travelers to toss in coins or dollars at its feet for good luck, or to ward off our own extinction.
This begs the question, however, why? The massive new terminal seems like a natural expanse for the roamings of the iconic symbol of the airport.
Well, it turns out, it's not quite slated for an extinction 2.0 just yet.
As the world passed by into the new era of flight in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the airport have not forgotten about the T.rex.
Right now, the museum said they are talking about "reimagining the exhibit," but didn't get into specific details on what that means.
What is going to happen to the trains at the airport?
Meanwhile, the gaze of the T.rex is watching another extinction. The empty train station and tunnels that brought millions of riders to their flights for 33 years.
The trains are now in their maintenance stations at the landside terminal, relegated to Pittsburgh memory status. During their run, they logged more than six million miles on tires, not rails, and now they await removal, eventually by crane.
Four of those cars rolled on that first day in 1992 until the last day last month. One of those trains may be trolley museum-bound.
As for the tunnels and the half-mile walking tunnel between them, they will remain. But they remain as an underground pathway to nowhere.
The trains are set to be removed sometime next year, and while there is no rush, they have been decommissioned and will not roll again.
As for our friend the T. rex, there isn't a timeline or solid plan of what comes next. It's also important to note that they aren't real dinosaur bones; they're a replica of the original fossil on view at the Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs at the museum.