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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Operational | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Norfolk Southern Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Orange County | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | Norfolk Southern Railway Metro-North Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | Port Jervis Line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | Metro-North Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commenced | 1904 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | January 1909 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Graham Line (also known as the Guymard Cutoff) is the portion of the former Erie Railroad in New York State from Highland Mills (at about 41°20′35″N74°07′12″W / 41.343°N 74.120°W ) to Guymard (at about 41°25′44″N74°35′42″W / 41.429°N 74.595°W ), constructed from 1906 to 1909 as a high-speed freight line. The Graham Line bypasses the original Erie Main Line through Monroe, Chester, Goshen and Middletown. Grade on the Graham Line was not to exceed 0.2% eastward or 0.6% westward, while the original Main Line built in the 1840s had grades up to 1.25%. There were three places where freight trains needed a helper on the old line and none on the new, but just west of the cutoff the grade up from Port Jervis to Guymard could not be improved, and remained unchanged as the only place in the area needing a helper. The sharpest curve on the old line was 7 degrees and on the new was 1 deg 30 min. The Graham Line has no grade crossings: a rarity on the Erie. The downside of the improved grade and curvature is that the Graham Line is seven miles longer than the original mainline. Maintaining the desired grade required two notable engineering features: the Moodna Viaduct and the Otisville Tunnel.
The line was originally called the Guymard Cutoff. The Erie's chief engineer, James Graham, died in February 1909, a month after the line was fully opened to traffic. By 1911, the Guymard station was renamed Graham and the cutoff became the Graham Line. In both cases, the cutoff was named for the little-known station at its west end, where it joins the original Main Line on the grade down to Port Jervis. In a lawsuit of this same period, the owners of the Guymard Lead and Zinc Mine, inactive since 1876, sued the Erie for building a "spur" line that blocked their access, which may have influenced the Erie to change the name.
The short section from Newburgh Junction (on the Main Line at Harriman) to Highland Mills was part of the Erie's original Newburgh Branch, opened in 1869, but it was considered part of the Graham Line after that branch closed to passenger service in 1935. [1] [2] The old Main Line was abandoned in 1954 west of Howells, where the two lines came side by side, and after that date the Graham Line was considered to end at Howells Junction.
Effective April 18, 1983, Metro-North Railroad shifted its Port Jervis Line service to run on the Graham Line, marking the first time it had hosted scheduled passenger service. The line also got its first passenger stations, at Salisbury Mills-Cornwall, Campbell Hall, and Middletown (which is not actually in Middletown but nearby). Following the Metro-North change and discontinuance of its own local freight service, Conrail, owner of the railroad, was able to abandon the original Main Line the following year. Using the Graham Line avoided the many grade crossings in the old town centers, improving safety and train speed. But the Graham Line, designed entirely for freight trains, has the disadvantage for passenger services of running through much less-populated areas. Commuters arrive at the Graham Line stations almost entirely by automobile.
Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area.
Middletown is the largest city in Orange County, New York, United States. It lies in New York's Hudson Valley region, near the Wallkill River and the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. Middletown is situated between Port Jervis and Newburgh, New York. At the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 30,345, reflecting an increase of 2,259 from the 28,086 counted in the 2010 census. The zip code is 10940. Middletown falls within the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area, which belongs to the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.
The Moodna Viaduct is a steel railroad trestle spanning Moodna Creek and its valley at the north end of Schunemunk Mountain in Cornwall, New York, near the hamlet of Salisbury Mills.
The Main Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by New Jersey Transit running from Suffern, New York to Hoboken, New Jersey, in the United States. It runs daily commuter service and was once the north–south main line of the Erie Railroad. It is colored yellow on NJ Transit system maps, and its symbol is a water wheel.
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six railroads that were merged into Conrail in 1976. It was a bridge line running northeast–southwest across northwestern New Jersey, connecting the line to the Poughkeepsie Bridge at Maybrook, New York with Easton, Pennsylvania, where it interchanged with various other companies.
The Port Jervis Line is a predominantly single-track commuter rail line running between Suffern and Port Jervis, in the U.S. state of New York. At Suffern, the line continues south into New Jersey on NJ Transit's Main Line. The line is operated by NJ Transit Rail Operations under a contract with Metro-North Railroad (MNRR).
Salisbury Mills–Cornwall station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line, located in the Beaver Dam Lake section of the town of Cornwall, New York. The station is located at the northern end of the Moodna Viaduct, accessible from NY 94. Parking fees are charged on weekdays, with both permit and metered spaces available. Salisbury Mills–Cornwall station contains a large parking lot, lighting, elongated canopy and a mini high-level platform for wheelchair access to trains.
Suffern station is a railroad station in the village of Suffern. The station, located on Ramapo Avenue in Suffern, services trains of New Jersey Transit's Main Line and Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line. Suffern station serves as the terminal for Main Line trains, as trains continue north into Hillburn Yard. The next Main Line station, located in New Jersey, is Mahwah. The next Port Jervis Line station to the north is Sloatsburg. The station consists of two low-level side platforms for trains in both directions, neither of which are handicap accessible for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Campbell Hall station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line, located just south of the hamlet of Campbell Hall, New York in the town of Hamptonburgh. The station is located at the end of Watkins Road, off Egbertson Road. The station contains decorative lights, a long platform roof and an elevated mini-high platform at the east end of the station for access by riders in wheelchairs. Parking is on a permit/meter system.
Middletown–Town of Walkill station, often just referred to as the Middletown station, is a stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line in the town of Wallkill, New York. The station is located in the latter municipality along the former Erie Railroad Graham Line. Two trains end at the station on weekdays, with one of them turning back for service to Hoboken. The station contains a mini-high platform for access by passengers in wheelchairs, and expanded paid parking. In a switch from the other stations to receive these amenities, the platform roof at Middletown is green rather than red, platform light poles are brown instead of green and the wheelchair platform is not under the roof. While other Metro-North stations such as Cortlandt and Southeast are named after the towns in which they are located, the station is the only one to include "Town of ..." in its official name, to avoid longstanding confusion with the nearby hamlet in Ulster County.
Otisville station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line, serving the village of Otisville, New York along with the town of Mount Hope. It is located a short distance off New York State Route 211 near the eastern village line. The station has long been among the least developed on the Metro-North system, with a shelter on the bare concrete low-level platform but no roof, and a 104-space parking lot across the street. A short distance west of the station, trains enter the 5,314-foot (1,620 m) long Otisville Tunnel under the Shawangunk Ridge, the longest in the Metro-North system and one of only two outside of the city. There is a long siding beginning just west of the station that allows trains to wait if one is coming through the tunnel. As a result, Otisville is technically a double-tracked station. When trains coming from the other direction are approaching, passengers board on the siding via a wooden platform on the tracks.
Port Jervis station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line, located in Port Jervis, New York. It is the western terminus of the Port Jervis Line.
Paterson is a New Jersey Transit commuter railway station located on an elevated viaduct above Market Street in downtown Paterson, New Jersey. The railway through the station is double tracked, for north and south traffic on the NJT Main Line.
The Otisville Tunnel is the longest tunnel on New York's Metro-North commuter railroad, at 5,314 feet (1,620 m) in length. Although the track curves at the western opening, underground the tunnel is a straight line, allowing the observer to see all the way through.
The Orange Heritage Trailway is a 19.5-mile (31.4 km) rail trail in Orange County, New York, that runs along the roadbed of the Erie Railroad's Main Line from Monroe, NY to nearby Middletown.
Harriman Station, formerly known as Turner Station until 1910, was the first station on the Erie Railroad Main Line west of Newburgh Junction in Harriman, New York. Built adjacent to Grove Street in Harriman, one of the earlier structures built here in 1838 was a three-story hotel-train station combination. This station caught fire in 1873 and was replaced by a one-story wooden structure. That structure remained in use for decades before it began decaying and was replaced in 1911 with a new station on land donated by the widow of Edward Henry Harriman. A new one-story structure was built on the land. The station was maintained as a one-story depot with an adjacent monument dedicated to the work of Charles Minot. Minot was a director of the Erie Railroad who, in 1851, while his train was stopped at Turner, made the first railroad call by telegraph.
George Edward Archer was an American architect. He became Chief Architect of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, later the Erie Railroad, in 1886, where he was responsible for planning and supervising the construction of stations, docks, piers and other structures for the railroad between New York and Chicago. Several stations built in the late 19th century in New Jersey and Upstate New York are attributed to him.
Middletown was the main station along the Erie Railroad mainline in the city of Middletown, New York. Located on Depot Street, the station was first opened in 1843 with the construction of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which had originally terminated at Goshen. The station was located along the New York Division, which stretched from Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, to the Sparrowbush station just north of Port Jervis.
The Erie Railroad Newburgh Branch is a mostly abandoned branch line that travels across the center of Orange County, New York. It survives as the CSX Vails Gate Spur between Newburgh and Vails Gate, but is abandoned between Vails Gate and the end of the line in Greycourt. When it opened in 1850, it was Newburgh's first railroad and remained the only line serving the city for over three decades until the first train operated from Newburgh along the West Shore Railroad in 1883.