Wassaic station

Wassaic
Wassaic
	Train departing the station, seen from its entrance road to the south
General information
Location	Wassaic, New York
Coordinates	41°48′53″N73°33′44″W / 41.8147°N 73.5623°W
Line(s)	Harlem Line
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	Harlem Valley Rail Trail
Construction
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	10
History
Opened	1857;167 years ago
Closed	March 20, 1972;52 years ago
Rebuilt	July 9, 2000;23 years ago
Passengers
2018	241(Metro-North)
Rank	87 of 109
Services
Former services
Location
Location

Last updated June 12, 2024

Wassaic station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the town of Amenia, New York. It is the northern terminal of the Harlem Line.

History

The first Wassaic train station was about a half-mile south of its current location and was situated in the actual town section of Wassaic. The station operated by New York and Harlem Railroad, and later New York Central Railroad served the surrounding village area, as well as towns even as far as Connecticut. Following the line's construction, a hotel was built in the area, and freight service served three nearby industries that came to the town. In 1968, the railroad merged with longtime rival Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn Central Railroad, and thus the station and line became property of the newly merged railroad. On March 20, 1972 Penn Central abandoned service north of Dover,^[1] and in 1990, rails were removed from Millerton south to milepost 81.33 which became the northernmost point of the freight operation by Penn Central on the Harlem Line.

The physical end of the track is located just north of the current Wassaic yard, at mile post 83.68, there is no track or railroad past that point, but the roadbed, which is still visible, is slowly being reclaimed by nature. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail now operates a paved trail over the existing road bed. Some 45.8 miles (35.9%) of track have been removed in two stages following some bitter court battles.

Before the station reopened on July 9, 2000,^[3] Metro-North Railroad rehabilitated the tracks and grade crossings that existed north of Dover Plains and moved the physical location of the Wassaic train station to approximately one half mile north of the old station and constructed a new rail yard facility. The moving of the station to the new location resulted in the re-laying of tracks over the existing rail bed approximately three quarters of a mile where the tracks end.

Station layout

The station has one four-car-long high-level side platform to the east of the track.^[4]^: 17 A small storage yard exists to the north of the station platform.

Related Research Articles

Metro-North Railroad, trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York. Metro-North serves the New York Metropolitan Area, running service between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, including Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Southeast and Wassaic in New York and Stamford, New Canaan, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven in Connecticut. Service in Connecticut is operated under contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Metro-North also provides local rail service within the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx.

Tenmile River station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Amenia, New York.

Dover Plains station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Dover, New York.

Harlem Valley–Wingdale station on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the Wingdale section of Dover, New York. It is adjacent to the site of the former Harlem Valley State Hospital.

Patterson station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Patterson, New York.

Southeast station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Southeast, New York. It is the terminus of the Harlem Line electrified service, and with the exception of rush hour service, passengers heading to stations further north to Wassaic have to transfer here to diesel powered service.

Brewster station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Brewster, New York.

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 Hudson Line is a 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 along the east shore of the Hudson River, terminating at Poughkeepsie. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad, and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago.

Croton Falls station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in North Salem, New York.

Mount Kisco station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Mount Kisco, New York, United States.

Pleasantville station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Pleasantville, New York. There is also bus service to the station from Pace University.

Hawthorne station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Mount Pleasant, New York.

Botanical Garden station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, New York City. The station is located just north of the intersection of Southern Boulevard and Bedford Park Boulevard adjacent to northern Bronx Park and the New York Botanical Garden. The station has two high-level side platforms, each eight cars long, that serve the outer tracks of the four-track Harlem Line.

Tuckahoe station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the village of Tuckahoe, New York.

Bronxville station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the village of Bronxville, New York, in Westchester County.

The Metro-North Railroad's Beacon Line is a non-revenue line connecting the railroad's three revenue lines east of the Hudson River. From west to east, the lines that connect are Hudson Line, Harlem Line, and the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. It was purchased by Metro-North in 1995 for $4.2 million from Maybrook Properties, a subsidiary of the Housatonic Railroad, to preserve it for future use, training, and equipment moves. Maybrook Properties purchased the line from Conrail after Conrail withdrew from the Danbury, Connecticut, freight market in 1992.

The Harlem Valley Rail Trail is a paved rail trail on an abandoned portion of the New York and Harlem Railroad, north of the hamlet of Wassaic and accessible by train, one mile north of the start at the Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line terminus in Wassaic. It is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). It is maintained through an agreement between OPRHP, Dutchess County and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association, a private not-for-profit organization.

Union Station served the residents of Chatham, New York, from 1887 to 1972 as a passenger station and until 1976 as a freight station. It was the final stop for Harlem Line trains. It had originally served trains of the Boston and Albany Railroad, then the New York Central Railroad and the Rutland Railway. It served as a junction for service that radiated to Rensselaer, New York, to the northwest; Hudson, New York, to the southwest; Vermont, to the northeast, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts to the east and New York City, to the south.

The Millerton station is a former New York Central Railroad (NYC) station on the NYC's Harlem Division that served the residents of Millerton, New York.

References

1 2 Layton, Preston; Oliver, Richard (March 21, 1972). "PC Ends Run, Strands Riders". New York Daily News . p. 22. Retrieved December 5, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
1 2 METRO-NORTH 2018 WEEKDAY STATION BOARDINGS. Market Analysis/Fare Policy Group:OPERATIONS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT:Metro-North Railroad. April 2019. p. 6.
↑ Rowe, Claudia (July 9, 2000). "6 Miles for $6 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
↑ "Metro-North Railroad Track & Structures Department Track Charts Maintenance Program Interlocking Diagrams & Yard Diagrams 2015" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2019.

External links

Media related to Wassaic (Metro-North station) at Wikimedia Commons
Metro-North station page for Wassaic

List of upcoming Metro-North train departure times and track assignments from MTA
Rail Nice Views in Dutchess County (1999) and Extending The Harlem Line (2000)
Station from Google Maps Street View

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[1972end-1] 1 2 Layton, Preston; Oliver, Richard (March 21, 1972). "PC Ends Run, Strands Riders". New York Daily News . p. 22. Retrieved December 5, 2019– via Newspapers.com.

[mta2018-2] 1 2 METRO-NORTH 2018 WEEKDAY STATION BOARDINGS. Market Analysis/Fare Policy Group:OPERATIONS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT:Metro-North Railroad. April 2019. p. 6.

[3] Rowe, Claudia (July 9, 2000). "6 Miles for $6 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2009.

[4] "Metro-North Railroad Track & Structures Department Track Charts Maintenance Program Interlocking Diagrams & Yard Diagrams 2015" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2019.

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