Riding the subway on Halloween is always interesting. Crazy people running around with fake blood pouring down their faces, and females wearing costumes that are more skin than clothes. Bert and Ernie were sighted in Grand Central, as well as many child train conductors, princesses, power rangers and firefighters. And even a rather cute Teletubby.

Anyways, have a Happy Halloween everyone, and enjoy some pictures from the Christmas Carol Train Tour in Grand Central. Remember, tomorrow is your last chance to see the train. Grand Central is the final stop in this tour across the country.

This weekend in Grand Central is the final stop for the Christmas Carol Train tour! This event is free, and will be held at track 37, as well as Vanderbilt Hall. Dates and times are as follows:
Friday, October 30 9AM-7PM
Saturday, October 31 9AM-6PM
Sunday, November 1 9AM-4PM

Enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime attraction where guests of all ages will get a behind the scenes look at the magic, the spectacle and cutting edge technology of the all-new motion picture “Disney’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL” directed by Robert Zemeckis.

See a sneak peak of the film in our state of the art Digital 3-D Theater!

Experience a Behind the Scenes look at the making of the movie!

See original artifacts from the Charles Dickens Museum in London, England.

Morph your face into characters from the movie using HP TouchSmart PC’s!

See concept art, models, costumes, and maquettes!

Plus Carolers, Snow and Much More!

Train stations are packed this week full of various politicians making their rounds, passing out flyers, and trying to earn your vote on November 3. I was sitting upstairs in the waiting room in White Plains today, and it was just a hilarious procession… Step one: Politician hands you a flyer, Step two: walk down the hallway, Step three: throw flyer into the trash bin, Step four: continue on your way.

Why is it that so many people don’t refuse the flyers? Even if they don’t want them. The majority of folks take it and throw it out. I on the other hand, hold onto them and do different things… Let’s just say I don’t think that Tony Castro and Bill Ryan are my biggest fans.

That was about all that was interesting at the train station this morning… though we did have a guy who was begging for coins, he claimed that he missed his train and he needed fifty cents to call his boss to say he was going to be late to work. One of the folks I ride the shuttle bus with gave him the money, then he walked away. Right past the phone booths. So I shouted out to him, “Hey, the phones are over there!” With everyone staring at him now, he pretended to make a call. Quite terribly though, because he didn’t put that money in the phone. What a surprise.

Honestly I don’t think I ever really thought about folding bikes before. I mean, I knew they existed, but I had never seen them before. That was until this guy started riding on my train. He always is wearing his bike helmet (though of course he could take that off on the train) and has with him a red folding bike. I always thought it was really cool. A folding bike actually comes quite in handy if you want to bike and ride the train. You are not required to have a bike permit on Metro North or the Long Island Rail Road if your bike folds up.

A few weeks ago when I had gone into the city I stopped at the annex of the Transit Museum in Grand Central, and I noticed that in the window they had two folding bikes as well, the Metro Bike. I snapped some photos, and only happened to come across them today as I was going through my old photos. So even though I know this may be old news for some people, I decided I’d post some of the pictures I took, and some from the web.

The bike isn’t too bad looking, though for me, a non-bike rider, the pricetag is a bit high at $299. But of course, folding bikes cost a bit more to begin with. Anyways, if you are interested in the Metro Bike, you can order it here.

For amusement, here is another Metro Bike. Or should I say, Metro Card Bike. Pretty cool, but I don’t think that folds up. :P

The Japanese-designed M8 cars for the New Haven Line are coming… for real! The first pair will be shipped on a freighter from Kobe, Japan on Wednesday. After a month at sea, the cars will arrive in Baltimore, and from there will be shipped to New Haven. By March, another three pairs will be arriving, enough for a full eight car train. If all goes well, New Haven Line riders should be seeing M8′s by late next year. All of the cars can run on both third rail power, and from catenary wires. And of course, they are all decked out in a red color scheme: the color of the New Haven Line.

Here are some delightful pictures of the M8. There is even one of the M8′s bathroom. Because admit it, that is really what you wanted to know about.

You can read more about the M8′s in the Hartford Courant.

In other news, nobody got any free rides today on the train. I did happen to catch a glimpse of the other conductor at the back of the train, and I couldn’t help but think that with his big mustache he looked a lot like Wilford Brimley. The Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical guy. And just for good measure, here is a cat that looks like Wilford Brimley, that looks like the train conductor on my train.

I got my DIABEEEEETUS testing supplies from Liberty Medical!

So my morning train so far this week has been conductorless. Not to say he isn’t there, but I just haven’t seen him. Guy got switched to another job, and whoever took his place, well, I don’t know if this guy actually collects tickets. Considering this is a morning peak train going to Grand Central, I would think that tickets would sort of be, I don’t know, important? Really it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other, I have a monthly anyways. But there are a bunch of people that I know don’t, who just happened to get two free rides so far.

Even the school kids that ride the train were like, “Where’s Guy?” I guess he never told them he was leaving. They always liked him though. One morning they had an amusing conversation
Kid: Is your name really Guy?
Guy: Yeah…
Kid: Wow…
Guy: When I was first born, my parents didn’t know what to name me. So back then they called me Boy. Now they call me Guy. And after fifty they’ll be calling me Man.

Oh well. Tomorrow I have to go to the city for a meeting, so I’ll be taking a different train than normal. I won’t see if we go a third day in a row conductorless.

I suppose it is getting rather close to elections, and because politicians apparently adore White Plains, they’ve frequently been hanging around the station. And everybody knows how much I love politicians. Or rather, how I love to draw on their brochures. Last week folks were passing out stuff for Andy Spano. I couldn’t do anything too terrible to his face, because he looks a lot like my now deceased grandfather. I was amused by the fact that along with the brochure, they gave out antibacterial hand gel. What kind of political message does that get across? That we are dirty, dirty people? They totally missed the chance at cheesy marketing: Andy Spano, cleaning up Westchester one person at a time!


I left this on the ground at White Plains, in case one of the crazy people needed it.

In other news, the Cat Girl has returned. There are many people that ride the trains, passengers as well as conductors, that know me merely by the name Cat Girl. All because of my cat hat.

Since the temperature has begun to get colder, I’ve taken out the hat and have been wearing it for the past week or so. I always say that the cat hat spreads joy wherever it goes. Something quite so silly and minor, does in fact make people smile. An elderly disabled war veteran in White Plains. A woman whom I’ve nicknamed Ginger, who told me that every morning she sees me wearing the hat, it makes her smile. A rather effeminate young man was curious to know where one could purchase a hat similar. And you, passenger, I saw that little tug at the side of your lips, a barely-there smile, when I got on the train.

Since I’ve been asked far too many times, the hat was made by the wonderful Susan over at Boshi-Basiik. They make some incredibly cute hand made hats there, so do take a look.

Oh, and if you do happen to see a Cat Girl on the train, be sure to say hello :D

So on Friday the New York Times posted an article (which I believe was in the print version Saturday) talking about how Metro North trains leave Grand Central one minute late. There is an extra minute built into the schedule, so if a train is supposed to leave Grand Central at 5:59 on the public schedule, the conductor schedule actually reads 6:00. It may have actually been a helpful thing, but now that everyone knows? Probably not so much.

The article is getting posted on various different websites, but in the process they’ve lost the picture that was posted with the original article. In fact I do believe this is my favorite part of the article, this little running man.

Run little man, run!

That, and some of the comments…

Basically, you are destroying a helpful deception in order to make points for yourself as a journalist. SHAME ON YOU!

Now that the word is out, my husband and countless others will be missing more trains. Thanks alot, you just ruined my family’s dinner!

Do you have any idea what you have done!!! Shame on you. Just to score a few “journalistic” points.

This is like those placebo buttons at pedestrian crosswalks and in elevators that give us the illusion of control. Fun to know.

And my personal favorite:

Woo Hoo. What a scoop!! The train people were trying to do their customers a favor and the Times decides to blow their cover.

Next you’ll announce to all six year olds that there’s no Santa Claus.

Why is this on the front page of the New YorkTimes? I thought it was “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” not “All the News That Fits We’ll Print.”

I guess now you can at least take your time walking to your train in Grand Central (note that this extra minute only applies to trains leaving Grand Central)… I mean the last place you want to trip and fall (and hit your head and die) is on a dirty train platform, running to catch your train that was going to be there an extra minute anyways.

So I happened to encounter an article that was in Danbury’s News-Times this morning, regarding an event happening tomorrow (Thursday) at the Brewster train station. The event is a Prayer Vigil and Walk for Peace, concerning immigration reform in the United States. I’m seriously one of the last people to be advertising anything that contains the word “prayer” in it, but I must admit I found the article interesting.

If you’ve taken the train from Brewster, you know there are many immigrants, and probably also many illegal immigrants in the area. I mentioned in a previous post of a past incident where I took the train from Brewster, and while standing in the crosswalk waiting to go to the station, a man stopped for me and shouted out his window, “’ll only stop for you because you’re a white girl!” It was obvious what he was referencing… I was not one of “those immigrant people” that frequent the area around the station.

I certainly thought that the people of Brewster will remember the incident that happened in June, where a mother and her eight-year-old daughter were killed outside a dance studio in Brewster. A drunken, unlicensed and illegal Guatemalan immigrant driving a truck plowed into the two, killing them. Just searching for a link to this story, I find so much hatred, like this gem:

I volunteer to feed this piece of garbage into a wood chipper alive with his hands taped to his ankles

These animals must be dealt with. If the government does not do something, someone will.

But as the article states, think of Diane Schuler, the driver in a deadly incident on the Taconic Parkway. Investigators found this American citizen to be both drunk and high, and driving on the wrong side of the road. Eight people lost their lives in that crash, several of them young children. In incidents like these, maybe one should not be blaming illegal immigrants, but drunken drivers.

And with all this hate, maybe a place like Brewster does need an event like this.

Prayer Vigil and Walk for Peace in our Community
Thursday, October 15, 2009, 7PM
Metro North Railroad Station, Brewster, NY
For more information call 845-225-4698
or e-mail Charlieg424@comcast.net

Whenever there are delays, MTA never really says all that much. Trains last night were delayed on the Hudson Line, due to “police activity” near Peekskill. Apparently the “police activity” was due to a man getting hit and killed by a passing Penn Station-bound Amtrak train at around 5:56 PM. The man was identified as 71-year-old Steven Paige.

Peekskill Fire Chief John Pappas, apparently a very astute man, had this to say:
“You get hit by a train, it’s never good.”
Somehow I think we were all aware of that.

Pappas goes on to say that they were not aware whether the man was a commuter, but he was not wearing a suit or tie. He was clearly not a Metro North rider, as we all know suits and ties are required for all commuters that ride the train.

You can find more information about that incident here and here.

I’m not subscribed to MTA Alerts for the Hudson Line, but anyone who is, was an alert sent out about this last night? Because this is what I imagine the alerts were made for… reporting delays in service that might be… well, important to commuters. Instead all I find that I am getting are “alerts” informing me that I can take the train to see the Yankees game. I just looked at my old text messages, of the 8 I still have in my inbox, 7 of them were related to taking the train to the game. No offense MTA, but I’d like to know about train delays… and taking trains to the game? I get bombarded with signs for it every day at the train station. I’m well aware of it… and I’m sure all of your other regular commuters, the ones that are probably signed up for these alerts, probably are as well.

A possible alternate service for commuters, Rail Bandit actually announced yesterday that they have added Metro North to their list of Rail lines. Rail Bandit has real-time service and delay alerts, in addition to schedules, all on your cell phone. I’ve not used it, but Rail Bandit looks like it could be quite useful for people in the New York area, as there are also live updates for the Long Island Rail Road, PATH, New Jersey Transit, and other railroads across the country.

When I started out this blog, it was sort of just a portion of my own personal website. It had the same layout as my site, and was fairly integrated. I have been thinking for quite a while now though, this blog has really taken off in another direction, and is pretty much standing well on it’s own. So I felt that in order to reflect that new identity, the site needed a little bit of change in the aesthetics department. Enjoy the new layout that I’ve made, which I’ll probably be tweaking for a little while now that it is up. I’m not much of an illustrator, but I did want to try doing a little sketch for the title, with the Sky Ceiling in Grand Central in the background.

So what else is changing? Next week brings new schedules to the MTA, and conductors will be changing around their jobs… so you may see some new faces on your trains. I’m quite bummed that all the conductors on my train all got bumped off and had to take jobs on other trains.

Conductor winter wear will also make it’s comeback… though my proposed new hat for MTA conductors was denied.

If you do like changes though, especially changes in the leaves, you must check out the Fall Foliage Rail Excursion, over on the Hudson Line, which will be happening on the 24th. You can find more information about that tour here.

Lastly, if you missed October’s Mileposts, you may have missed some nice deals. When buying tickets for Cirque Du Soleil’s Wintuk, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, you can save ten dollars, and get a free round trip train ticket. Just be sure to use the promo code METRO.