Perhaps you have a pair of shoes you’ve never worn collecting dust in your closet. Or a pair that you’ve worn only once, but don’t really like anymore. Or maybe you’d just like to purchase a pair of shoes for a good cause… Either way, be sure to bring a pair of shoes to Grand Central this Tuesday! There will be a collection of shoes in Grand Central on Tuesday in Vanderbilt Hall to benefit Soles4Souls. Soles4Souls is a charity based in Tennessee, and distributes shoes to the needy. The charity has donated more than ten million pairs of shoes to people in more than 125 different countries. So if you have an extra pair of unwanted shoes, take them with you to Grand Central Tuesday – the collection will run from 7am to 5pm. The first 500 people to donate will also get a gift bag, sponsored by various Grand Central retailers. If you’re a fan of Dancing With the Stars, you may enjoy this event even more – professional dancer and two time champion of the show Cheryl Burke will be making appearances throughout the day.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can still donate shoes at other locations. Check out the Soles4Souls website for more information.

For Metro-North commuters, we have survived the service changes that were enacted three weeks ago. June 21st marked the cancellations of a few trains, and most, if not all, ten car trains were reduced to eight cars. Both of my trains, in the morning and evening, were ten car trains. According to Metro-North, the trains had enough seats for all of the passengers, it was just a matter of whether the passengers wanted to use them. And you know I am referring to that hated middle seat. For the first few days I witnessed many people choose to stand in the aisle, preferring standing than sitting in the middle. Although many have begun to suck it up, there are still those that complain to the conductors, or make it difficult for people entering and exiting the train by standing in front of the doors.

In my opinion, it is about time to get used to it. Complaining to the conductors accomplishes nothing. But for those of us riding on the Harlem Line (and probably the Hudson), we have it pretty good. We’re not the transit system, we didn’t have any lines or routes cancelled. I’ve been on trains where every seat was taken, and the entire aisle was filled with people. Literally packed in like sardines in a can. But that incident was a fluke, caused by a broken down and ultimately cancelled train. These are not our normal trains.

I am probably going to get shit for this comment, but we also aren’t the New Haven Line. The New Haven Line has been plagued with issues and delays recently, from a minor derailment in Stamford, to yesterday’s debacle where all four tracks were shut down outside of Greenwich. The possible cause of the issue was the recent heat wave – causing the catenary wires to sag. In many of these situations riders are suggested to attempt to get to the Harlem Line. Riders with New Haven Line monthly passes have been showing up on Harlem Line trains, hoping to at least get to White Plains to transfer to a BeeLine bus, or get picked up. The changes three weeks ago were not that bad. We still have it pretty good…

But then again, the talk has already begun about what will happen in 2011. Changes that could bring around a 7.5% fare hike. While again, most of this affects the subway: a $1 service change for Metro Cards, and a cap on unlimited tickets. But the major concern for Metro-North riders will be the considered elimination of off-peak fares. Although commuters that buy monthly or weekly tickets would not be affected, one-way, round-trip and ten trip tickets may cost more. Metro-North has been trying hard to encourage ridership for reasons other than going to work, most especially with their Train to the Game service. It is these riders, and weekend riders, that will be most effected by the change. If you’re riding from the terminus of the Harlem Line, Wassaic, the elimination of off-peak service would cost you $10.50 for a round trip ticket, for a total price of $40.50. Riders from Southeast will end up paying $7.50 more, for a total of $30 dollars on a round trip ticket. And of course, this is if fares stay the same. If they are increased by the estimated 7.5%, that means round trip from Wassaic would cost $43.50, and from Southeast $32.25.

I effing love the Winnebago Man. I have loved that video on YouTube forever. And I clearly remember laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. At my work we happen to get a lot of freelancers coming in and out, and we have a bonding ritual here in our little studio (nicknamed “The Cave”), out of view of the other suit-and-tie employees… we must watch Winnebago Man (and the Alabama Leprechaun video). The origins of the video clip are a little bit interesting for a web-designer working for a marketing team. Viral videos, and viral marketing, more specifically, are the buzzwords of the day. But it is certainly not a term I’ve heard used before the internet was widespread. But yet, Winnebago Man’s origins are from the days of VHS tape (originally filmed in 1988), passed around amongst friends, and beyond, which could arguably classify it as a pre-YouTube viral video.

So when I heard that there would be a documentary based on the Winnebago Man, I was ecstatic. I followed the updates on Twitter… and when I heard they were looking for people to help promote on the street team, I signed up along with my friend. Last night we took the train to the city after passing out some cards in the White Plains area to promote the film. Although we were focused on leaving them at restaurants and the like, people seemed to be really curious what we were doing. Which is totally opposite to what I would have imagined. Those people standing on the street corners attempting to hand you papers, they are damn obnoxious. And most people won’t take them… the ones that do often throw them away not far down the street. So when people off the street walk up to you and want to see what you’ve got, that surprised me. Any extra flyers we had were posted on poles or other places around for people to see.

And best of all, we met some interesting people on this little adventure. A restaurant host that wanted extra flyers to hand out to friends. Some great artists in the Union Square area (whom I gave my little IRideTheHarlemLine card, I hope they email me, I’d love to post some of their subway related art/photography on here). And even people that saw the flyer and recognized Jack Rebney, having seen the video.

It was a great little adventure last night… except for the nasty lady who took off her shoes and socks on the train, but I’m trying to forget that part. If you happen to be in the city though, you should definitely check out Winnebago Man. It comes out tomorrow.

Another Tuesday, and another visit to a Harlem Line station… this time I’ve got photos from Harlem Valley-Wingdale. Remember how I said Mount Pleasant was a bit of a creepy station? It is, after all, in the middle of a bunch of cemeteries. Lots of buried dead people. Harlem Valley-Wingdale is a little creepy too… the platform is shadowed a large building, part of the former Harlem Valley State Hospital. According to my coworker (yep, the one that says crazy stuff I always tweet about), the building closest to the platform handled all the laundry for the hospital. This delightful psychiatric hospital was open from 1924 until 1994. Although much of the complex is abandoned, apparently portions are still in use as a juvenile detention center, with housing available for employees. I don’t live in the area, but my assumption would be that the local teens find the former hospital grounds an amusing spot to visit on late nights.

Originally there were two stops here for the New York Central: State Hospital and Wingdale, a half mile north. The two stops were later combined to form the current Harlem Valley-Wingdale. The station is situated in diesel territory of the upper Harlem Line, in between Appalachian Trail and Dover Plains, 69 miles from Grand Central.

After neglecting to post the usual bit of history the past two weeks, I am back with something new! Or should I say, something old. At some point within the past year I started collecting cool Harlem Line timetables… and one of my favorites is this Independence Day Metro-North timetable from 1986. It is a bit newer than some of the previous things I’ve posted. At least I was alive in 1986… though I still hadn’t reached my second birthday yet.

Really I don’t think they make them this nice anymore. But then again, Metro-North is probably worrying more about the budget than having pretty timetables (at least one would hope… but really, Metro-North, I could design some nice things for you). The timetable is a joint schedule for Harlem Line and Hudson Line trains for the holiday weekend. Instead of the normal blue and green for those respective lines, the timetable uses magenta and cyan. The Statue of Liberty graces the front, and a poem by Emma Lazarus on the back.

Even if you don’t recognize the name Emma Lazarus, or the title The New Colossus, you should at least recognize some of the words…

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…

The poem was written in 1883, and was put on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty in 1903… and probably a million other things since then. It refers to the immigrants coming to the United States, many of which saw the Statue as they arrived at Ellis Island. Immigration is a bit of a taboo subject to discuss nowadays, but it is true that historically immigrants had a significant impact on the growth of the United States. And even on the railroad… Chinese immigrants provided much of the labor for the first transcontinental railroad in this country. So in a little way, this railroad timetable is perfect in its symbolism. But that is just me overanalyzing things… have a happy holiday weekend everyone. If you’ll be taking the train, be sure to check out the holiday schedule here.