Thornwood station

Thornwood
General information
Location	Commerce Street and Franklin Avenue Thornwood, New York
Coordinates	41°07′16″N73°46′56″W / 41.1211°N 73.7822°W / 41.1211; -73.7822
Owned by	Thornwood-Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce
Line(s)	Harlem Line
Platforms	1 side
Tracks	2
History
Opened	c.1891
Closed	March 5, 1984 [1]
Previous names	Sherman Park (c. 1891–1914) [2]
Former services
Preceding station Metro-North Railroad Following station Hawthorne toward Grand Central Harlem Line Pleasantville toward Wassaic Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station Hawthorne toward New York Harlem Division Pleasantville toward Chatham
Location

Thornwood station was a stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the hamlet of Mount Pleasant, New York until its closure in 1984. ^[3] During its existence, the station was one of the least used on the Harlem Line. Prior to its closure, it had only half the weekday service of the neighboring Hawthorne and Pleasantville stations, and was merely a flag stop for four trains on weekends. ^[4]

History

The New York and Harlem Railroad laid tracks through what would later become the Village of Sherman Park during the 1840s. The community of Sherman Park was built around the tracks in 1891, and the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad station was soon established there. The village was dissolved in 1914 and renamed "Thornwood," and the station was renamed as such. ^[5] Sometime during the late-1950s^{[ when? ]} the former Richardson Romanesque depot was replaced with a simple brick structure.

As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 transformed the station into a Penn Central Railroad station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which made it part of Metro-North in 1983. When the Harlem Line was electrified between North White Plains and Brewster North in 1984, Thornwood was not upgraded due to sharp track curvature and low ridership precluding such upgrades, and as such was closed on March 4, 1984. At the time of closing, what few customers the station had were directed to use Pleasantville (1 mile north) as a replacement. The former station house, which is located where New York State Route 141 moves from Commerce Street to Franklin Avenue is now occupied by the Thornwood-Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce, which was established the year after the station was closed. ^[6]

References

1. Walzer, E.B. (March 5, 1984). "The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore". The Herald-Statesman. p. A12. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
2. New York State Railroads: Passenger Stations and Stops
3. Shown on timetable effective 1 January 1984 but not on timetable effective 28 October 1984
4. Harlem Line Timetables effective 1 January 1984 and 30 October 1977
5. Grogan, Louis V. (1989). The Coming of the New York and Harlem Railroad. Self-Published. pp. 104–105. ISBN   0-962120-65-0.
6. Thornwood-Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce (Established in 1985, according to the seal)

External links

• Harlem Line Tour - Photos of Thornwood