Claremont Park | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | Park Avenue and Claremont Parkway Crotona Park East, The Bronx, New York | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°50′23″N73°54′15″W / 40.8396°N 73.9041°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | New York Central Railroad | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Harlem Line | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 4 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | Late-1860s | ||||||||||
Closed | June 1, 1960 | ||||||||||
Rebuilt | 1889 | ||||||||||
Electrified | 700V (DC) third rail | ||||||||||
Previous names | Central Morrisania Claremont | ||||||||||
Former services | |||||||||||
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The Claremont Park station was a station on the New York Central Railroad's Harlem Line in the East Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad also ran through this station but did not stop here.
Rail service along the New York and Harlem Railroad passed through Morrisania as far back as 1841, and a station was known to exist as far back as 1847, but this wasn't the station. Instead an additional station was built by New York Central and Hudson River Railroad within the vicinity of 172nd Street/Wendover Avenue as far back as the late-1860s. [1] Originally named Central Morrisania station, it was built at surface level along with the rest of the tracks.
Realizing the railroad was causing suburban sprawl within what was then southern Westchester County, the New York City Parks Department acquired the site of the former Claremont Mansion one block to the west in 1888, and converted it into a park. [2] [3]
The station was renamed for that park roughly around the time Claremont Park station was rebuilt by New York Central in April 1891, as part of a grade elimination project within the Bronx. [4] It contained a station house as a bridge on the north side of Claremont Parkway over all four tracks, with two side platforms. Similar structures were built for the former Morrisania Station, as well as the still operating Melrose and Tremont Stations. [5] [6] A small freight yard also used to exist north of the station between the Claremont Parkway and 173rd Street bridges, the remnants of which can still be seen to this day. Three blocks east, the Suburban Rapid Transit Company built the Third Avenue Elevated Line and installed a station along the same street in 1888. [7] No streetcar or bus lines connected the two stations to one another, however.
Declining ridership following World War II, along with the decline of the South Bronx lead to the downfall of various stations within the Bronx, along with competition with the subway, the el, and the automobile. Local politicians also demanded that New York Central take better care of the stations in the Bronx, which they weren't always able to do at the time. On September 14, 1950, the Public Service Commission ended hearings about the New York Central's petition to discontinue service at this station and the 183rd Street station. The Central wanted to close the station to cut travel times on trains to Westchester. [8] [9] The Claremont Park station was closed in 1960. As a result of the closure, commuters were forced to take either the Morrisania station, the Tremont station, or the nearby Claremont Parkway elevated station. Of the three mentioned, only Tremont survives today.
The Bronx River Parkway is a 19.12-mile (30.77 km) limited-access parkway in downstate New York in the United States. It is named for the nearby Bronx River, which it parallels. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Story Avenue near the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx neighborhood of Soundview. The northern terminus is at Kensico Circle in North Castle, Westchester County, where the parkway connects to the Taconic State Parkway and via a short connector, New York State Route 22 (NY 22). Within the Bronx, the parkway is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation and is designated New York State Route 907H (NY 907H), an unsigned reference route. In Westchester County, the parkway is maintained by the Westchester County Department of Public Works and is designated unsigned County Route 9987 (CR 9987).
Morrisania is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 163rd Street to the south, and Webster Avenue to the west. Third Avenue is the primary thoroughfare through Morrisania.
Fordham station, also known as Fordham–East 190th Street station, is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem and New Haven Lines, serving Fordham Plaza in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The platforms are situated just below street level and feature two expanded side platforms that serve eight cars each, on the outer tracks. The station building sits above the tracks on the Fordham Road overpass, and still bears the name New York Central Railroad on its facade. The station is among the busiest rail stations in the Bronx.
The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railway company, it was acquired by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually became part of the New York City Subway system.
The Harlem Line is an 82-mile (132 km) commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower 53 miles (85 km) from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast, in Putnam County, is electrified with a third rail and has at least two tracks. The section north of Southeast is a non-electrified single-track line served by diesel locomotives. Before the renaming of the line in 1983, it eventually became the Harlem Division of the New York Central Railroad. The diesel trains usually run as a shuttle on the northern end of the line, except for rush-hour express trains in the peak direction.
The New York and Putnam Railroad, nicknamed the Old Put, was a railroad line that operated between the Bronx and Brewster in New York State. It was in close proximity to the Hudson River Railroad and New York and Harlem Railroad. All three came under ownership of the New York Central system in 1894. The railroad was abandoned starting in 1958, and most of the former roadbed has been converted to rail trail use.
The IRT Pelham Line is a rapid transit line on the New York City Subway, operated as part of the A Division and served by the 6 and <6> trains. It was built as part of the Dual Contracts expansion and opened between 1918 and 1920. It is both elevated and underground with Whitlock Avenue being the southernmost elevated station. It has three tracks from the beginning to just south of the Pelham Bay Park terminal. The Pelham Line also has a connection to Westchester Yard, where 6 trains are stored, just north of Westchester Square–East Tremont Avenue.
Melrose station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is located in an open cut beneath Park Avenue at its intersection with East 162nd Street. Service at Melrose is limited; trains stop approximately every half-hour during rush hours and every hour all other times.
Tremont station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the Tremont section of the Bronx, New York City. The station is in an open cut at the intersection of Park Avenue and East Tremont Avenue. Service at Tremont is limited; trains stop every 30 minutes during rush hours, every hour otherwise. The station has two high-level side platforms, each two cars long, serving the outer tracks of the four-track line.
Woodlawn station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the Woodlawn section of the Bronx, New York City. It is located on East 233rd Street near Webster Avenue. Just north of the station is Woodlawn Junction, where the New Haven Line splits from the Harlem Line to join the Northeast Corridor.
Crotona Park East, also known as Crotona or East Morrisania, is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the southwest Bronx in New York City. Crotona Park East is considered part of the South Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, the Bronx River to the east, East 167th Street to the south, and Crotona/Prospect Avenues to the west. Southern Boulevard is the primary thoroughfare through the area. The neighborhood is adjacent to, but distinct from, the nearby park named Crotona Park.
The West Bronx is a region in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The region lies west of the Bronx River and roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough.
Webster Avenue is a major north–south thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, United States. It stretches for 5.8 miles (9.3 km) from Melrose to Woodlawn. The road starts at the intersection of Melrose Avenue, East 165th Street, Brook Avenue, and Park Avenue in the neighborhood of Melrose, ending at Nereid Avenue in the neighborhood of Woodlawn. There are no subway lines along this thoroughfare, unlike the streets it parallels—Jerome Avenue, The Grand Concourse, and White Plains Road, which all have subway lines —but until 1973, Webster Avenue north of Fordham Road was served by the Third Avenue Elevated, served by the 8 train.
The 129th Street station was a transfer station on the IRT Third Avenue Line in Manhattan, New York City, shared by elevated trains of both the Third Avenue Line and IRT Second Avenue Line. The next stop to the north was 133rd Street for the main line and Willis Avenue for the Willis Avenue spur, both of which were across a swing bridge above the Harlem River in the Bronx. The next stop to the south was 125th Street−Third Avenue for Third Avenue Line trains and 125th Street−Second Avenue for Second Avenue Line trains.
The Claremont Parkway station, signed as "Claremont Parkway − Between 171st St. & 172nd St." was a local station on the demolished IRT Third Avenue Line in the Bronx, New York City. It originally opened on September 19, 1888, by the Suburban Rapid Transit Company as Wendover Avenue Station, and had three tracks and two side platforms. It was the northern terminus of the Third Avenue elevated until 1891. It was also two blocks east of the former Claremont Park New York Central Railroad station along the Harlem Line that was closed in 1960. The next stop to the north was 174th Street. The next stop to the south was 169th Street. The station closed on April 29, 1973. Claremont Parkway station burned down on April 30, 1973, in a huge arson fire.
The Union Railway Company of New York City was chartered in 1892, and consolidated several streetcar transit franchises across Manhattan and The Bronx in New York City in the late 19th century. The Harlem Bridge, Morrisania and Fordham Railway combined with the North Third Avenue and Fleetwood Park Railway and the Melrose and West Morrisania Railroad to form the nucleus of the Union Railway in 1892. All lines were electrified the same year. Union Railway was acquired by Third Avenue Railroad Company in 1898, which was later reorganized as the Third Avenue Railway.
The 138th Street station was a station on the Harlem and Hudson Lines of the New York Central Railroad, serving the community of Mott Haven in the Bronx, New York City. It was the southernmost station along both branches until 1973. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad also ran through this station but did not stop here.
The 183rd Street station was a station on the New York Central Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the neighborhoods of Fordham, Tremont and Belmont in the Bronx, New York City. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad also ran through this station but did not stop here.