Over the two and a half years I’ve maintained this blog, I’ve featured quite a few old railroad stations that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today is a little different, as not only do I have photos of another station that makes the list, but also of a bridge. I have mentioned Bridge L-158 before, and I’ve always thought it had a terrible name – though the Mianus River Railroad Bridge may be even worse. All you pretty much need to do is a google image search for Mianus – you’ll see plenty of fratboys (and the folks from the show Jackass) posing in front of various town signs. As much as they’d love to believe the name refers to a particular area on the body, it apparently derives from the name of a Native American chief.

Photos of the Mianus River Railroad Bridge taken in 1977 from the Library of Congress

The Mianus River Railroad Bridge (Sometimes referred to as the Cos Cob Bridge. Not to be confused with the Mianus River Bridge which carries I-95 over the river and famously collapsed in 1983) was built in 1904 by the American
Bridge Company. A previous two-track bridge existed in the same spot, but was deemed unsafe. However, not all parts of the previous bridge were dismantled, some portions were reused in the construction of the current four-track replacement bridge. Historically, this bridge was the final constructed portion of the railroad line linking New Haven and New York – completed on Christmas day, 1848.

Photos of Cos Cob station, first photograph is from 1946, and the second from 1954. Both are from the Dodd Research Center’s Railroad History Archive.

Located just west of the bridge is the Cos Cob train station. This building is also on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built around 1894. The wood-framed station is on the west-bound side of the tracks, and measures 50 feet by 20 feet. The station was constructed during a time when the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was working on a complete overhaul of the line. Curves were straightened, tracks were elevated to remove grade crossings where possible, and two tracks additional tracks were added for a total of four. The relatively simple station design was reused for other stops along the line as a cost-saving measure – the Old Greenwich station is an extant example.

Similar to many stations I’ve featured here, the railroad played an important part in the growth of the area. Greenwich became an upper-class suburb, and its citizens could easily commute by rail into the city. Looking out the window from the train, it is highly likely you’ll spot many boats and yacht clubs – and in the few photos I took of the Mianus River Railroad Bridge it is fairly difficult to even spot the bridge as there were so many boats.

Cos Cob is roughly 30 miles to Grand Central, and during off-peak times takes about an hour to get to the city. However, some express trains during peak hours make the journey in as little as 45 minutes. The station is one of four along the New Haven Line in the town of Greenwich, and the neighborhood of Cos Cob is one of fifteen that make up the town.

On this Tuesday’s tour we’re taking a quick look at the New Haven Line station East Norwalk. It is far smaller, and much less interesting than its neighbor South Norwalk, which we’ve already featured on the site. East Norwalk is 42 miles from Grand Central, and has a travel time of a little over an hour to the city.

From visiting Harlem Line stations, I’m very familiar with the “normal” station layout where the east and westbound platforms are across from one another. Usually these stations also have a relatively easy way of passing from one side to the other – either a passageway under the tracks, or a stairwell that links the two above the tracks. East Norwalk, however, is a deviation from the norm. Quite a few of the New Haven Line stations do not have east and west platforms directly across from one another, and this is true here. Also, passing to the opposite platform is not easy at all – it requires you to descend a stairwell, walk around, cross a busy street, and then reascend on the other side.

Photos of the East Norwalk station, taken in 1955. Note the low-level platforms, and the fences protecting the inner two express tracks.

As I said, our tour of East Norwalk will be rather quick – I didn’t take too many photographs while I was there. But there are photos of both sides of the platform, and in a few you can see how far the other side of the platform is. The station building visible in a few of the photos is on the westbound side.

When I first started out doing a little bit of research on the railroad station in Rye, I was rather disappointed. I was coming up dry in a lot of areas – I couldn’t really find anything tremendously noteworthy about the station to write about. Apparently, I hadn’t looked hard enough, as the information I eventually found turned out to be an absolute gem. In fact, it is downright crazy, and I’m warning you in advance. This may have been the most amusing research investigation I have, or will ever go on.

Enter artist Matt Mullican. Mullican is the artist behind the recently installed Arts for Transit mosaic in the Rye station. I’ve already gone on record with my opinion of art being installed in frequently closed train stations, so I wont get into that again. Thankfully, there are plenty of windows in the Rye station, and I was able to get a few shots of the work inside through them. Apparently the mosaic is based upon the works of designer and architect Marcel Breuer. If you’ve ever been to IKEA in New Haven, you probably remember some odd looking building right next to it – it is the last remaining portion of the Breuer designed Pirelli Tire Building. Breuer also designed pieces of furniture that look like they could be sold in an IKEA, and he almost gave us this abomination:

So why exactly did Mullican pay homage to Breuer in his mosaic? Apparently Breuer was the architect for the (original) Rye train station. Arts for Transit has used the talents of countless artists, many of which have a rather diverse body of work. I’d be willing to go out on a limb here and say that Mullican definitely deserves a spot on the list of most interesting artists the program has employed. In his artist statement regarding the piece, it is said that “Mullican is concerned with the relationship between perception and reality.” And although not completely relevant to this post, the following YouTube video was too good for me to not post.

How does one perceive reality while under hypnosis? Oh my, what is he doing to the floor?

Back on the subject of railroads, Rye is one of the handful of New Haven Line stations in New York state. It is 24 miles from Grand Central, and during off-peak hours takes about 50 minutes to get to the city. However, during peak hours some trains make the journey in as little as 35 minutes. During the summer months many take the train to Rye station, enroute to the Playland amusement park. Besides that, Rye is pretty much a station like any other. Below you’ll find some old video clips I found on YouTube, and of course, the photos I took on my recent exploration of Rye.

Old footage I found on YouTube of Rye and other New Haven Line stations.

ConnDOT aerial view of the State Street station

Although the city of New Haven may be known for its attractive Union Station (completed in 1920, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, and most likely the second most beautiful station used by Metro-North), it does have another smaller train station that serves both Shore Line East and Metro-North. State Street station is located 74 miles from Grand Central, and is, as one would expect, located on State Street, in between Chapel and Court Streets. The station is closer to the downtown area – both Yale and the New Haven green are a short walk away.

ConnDOT renderings of the area before the State Street station was constructed.

Although not nearly as grand as Union Station, which is located down the street and less than a mile away, State Street station is a relatively new (completed in 2002) and attractive facility. It is the geographical terminus for Metro-North’s New Haven Line service, though it has less frequent service compared to Union Station (many trains terminate at the larger station, and do not continue to State Street). Because the trains are less frequent, there is some bus service in between Union and State Street stations. The station itself does not have any parking, however a parking facility is very close and provides ample parking for commuters. The station contains a Metro-North ticket vending machine, however Shore Line East tickets must be purchased on the train, like at most SLE stations.

Rendering of what State Street station would look like with an additional platform for the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line

State Street station is just one part of Connecticut’s I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Project. The station was designed to alleviate traffic on the highway as the Pearl Harbor Memorial bridge (more commonly known as the “Q bridge”) is replaced. Although former governor John Rowland didn’t do much for the state’s railroads, he did say the following about the station:

The opening of State Street Station is the first step in a comprehensive plan to make rail transportation an attractive alternative for I-95 motorists…

Perhaps when we get more M8′s, that will become a reality. Anyways, on to the real reason why you’re here, you want to see the station photos…

If it isn’t obvious, I’ve been to a lot of train stations. My current count of Metro-North stations that I’ve photographed stands at 83. I’ve chronicled my various issues here – cops in Melrose, a rent-a-cop in Bridgeport, and I’ve even had people yell at me that they didn’t want me pointing a camera in their direction (sorry, honey, but I’m trying to take a picture of that train, not you). However, this past weekend when I visited New Canaan I had a little bit of a different experience. I think this is the first time that I’ve ever seen a person excited that I was taking a photos of their station. I saw an older man, and when he saw me with the camera, he said, “it is a nice day for it, it is a very iconic station.” I think he was actually proud of his station, and that I was taking photos there. That is a first.

Though when it comes to train stations, the citizens of New Canaan do have a lot to be proud of. Their station, originally built in 1868, is one of the oldest surviving (and currently in-use) stations in the state of Connecticut. There has been plenty of work on it since – and it has even been jacked up and moved in order to accommodate a high-level train platform. The platform itself is a bit deceiving, as entering from the parking lot it appears to be low-level. However, the station and parking lot is raised above the tracks, which is why the station had to be jacked up during its restoration. Most recently, there was an expansion of the tracks, so the new M8 trains could run on the branch line.

  
  
Undated photos of New Canaan station from the Library of Congress. They were most likely taken in the late 1970′s or early 1980′s, and before the station was raised.

Somewhere along the way, New Canaan station, terminus of Metro-North’s New Canaan branch, and 41 miles from Grand Central Terminal, became a haven wealthy commuters to the city. Not surprisingly, the railroad played a significant part in the growth of New Canaan, as it made New York City easily accessible – in a little bit over an hour. Today’s New Canaan Branch started out as the New Canaan Railroad, which ran its first train on July 4th, 1868, from Stamford to New Canaan. In the 1880′s the line was leased to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and by 1890 had merged with them.

1913 view of the station

1945 view of New Canaan station

I will not lie – I very much enjoyed visiting New Canaan station, and New Canaan itself. I had been told that the area was quite wealthy, and en route to the station saw houses (mansions?!) with six car garages. But despite the station being one of the oldest around, it certainly didn’t look ancient. On the contrary, it was beautiful and well taken care of. And to my delight, it is even open on weekends (as you’ve seen from my many tour stops, this is usually not the case, and I’m trying to get photos through the windows). Though the ticket windows may no longer be in use, it is lovely to see how they once looked in a station many, many times older than I am (I’m even younger than Metro-North – and @MetroNorthTweet has worked for Metro-North longer than I’ve been alive!).

If you haven’t heard me say it before, I love Arts for Transit. The artworks scattered around the various Metro-North stations are a cheerful addition to an often-repetitive morning and evening commute (possibly with the exception of North White Plains. Anyone who has seen it probably agrees with me). Several of the New York state New Haven Line stations have Arts for Transit works, and one of my new favorites is Mount Vernon East, which I posted about several weeks ago. Unfortunately, after viewing a few more NH Line stations, I have a beef with Arts for Transit. Why did we put public art in the station buildings, buildings that are closed more than they are open? Larchmont’s mosaic is completely inaccessible when the station is closed. And the best view of Harrison’s faceted glass is from the inside of the station building, though at least it can be somewhat enjoyed from the outside. Despite that, Harrison’s faceted glass does make my list of favorite Arts for Transit works. Unfortunately, the best views I got of the piece were on the artist’s website, and not in real life.

Above images are from artist Tova Snyder’s website. The original acrylic on canvas paintings are shown on top, and their faceted glass counterparts (which are installed at the station) on the bottom.

In addition to lovely art, Harrison has an old station building, though it is no longer used by Metro-North. Which is a shame, as it has much more character than the more modern station. I can’t seem to find too much information about the station building, but as far as I am aware it is owned by the town. Perhaps one day it will be occupied more than just having Metro-North notes stuck to the door. Besides the lonely station building, the area surrounding the station is quite nice and has various shops. In fact, after taking photos at the station I purchased some ice-cream to eat on the platform, while waiting for my train to arrive and carry me the 22 miles back to Grand Central.

Hello, and welcome to planet Earth. The Earth is a planetary body that revolves around the sun… unless you are one of the many Metro-North riders that have the erroneous belief that the world actually revolves around them. Those special people are known to cause scenes on the morning train (like the woman I saw last week yelling, “for every minute we’re late I’m docked pay!”), and somehow have the strange belief that Metro-North has one train running on each line: their train. The remainder of us, however, are well aware that the busiest commuter railroad in the country certainly has more than 3 trains running at a time. But how many? And where are they?

I had a kind of silly idea – I would create a map that showed the location of every Metro-North train at an arbitrary time during the morning rush. That way people would be able to really visualize how many trains there are, and to understand that they aren’t alone on the rails – not by a long shot. The map would provide a quick snapshot of what exactly is happening on every weekday morning. Somehow along the way the map turned into a little bit more interactive of a piece – using Google maps, one can zoom in and out, pan, and click on each train placemark for more information. Then I got a little bit more crazy – I added in the Shore Line East and Amtrak trains passing over Metro-North territory, as well as the deadheads I was aware of. If anything, there could be more trains than what are currently shown, but for the most part it is fairly exact.

If you click the above image, the interactive map should open in a new window. You can click any train placemark for more information. Any train deadheading (moving from one place to another, but not carrying passengers) will be labeled “not in revenue service.” You can also toggle on and off the various lines to, for example, show only Harlem Line trains. By default all trains are turned on – and there are quite a lot of them. Did you realize there were quite that many? Perhaps the subtitle of this map should be “RTC’s are awesome and I salute them.”

I must thank Eric (@kc2hmv) for doing quite a bit to help me get this map looking awesome, as my programming skills are nonexistent (the toggle feature was all him!). Secondary thanks goes to this site, as I based the design of my map off of the clean and nicely done commuter map found there.

If there is one thing I like about the New Haven Line, it is that there are always trains passing by. The stretch of track that is the New Haven main line is filled with packed Metro-North trains and intercity Amtrak trains, frequently passing in both directions. Many of the stations I visited on the Harlem Line were far more quiet than here, and I got few photos of trains passing by. Lots of trains always look nice in station panorama photos – so at least the line has that going for it. On the other hand, some of the people that occupy these trains are a bit interesting. I was slightly amused by a man that had a half-done hairdo, as it totally reminded me of this mug shot I saw on the internet (amusingly, this has happened more than once. And one of the instances was in Connecticut). I also witnessed a woman running through the train, dragging along her three children – she was running away from the conductor, as she did not want to pay. Two conductors managed to catch her in the train car behind me, so I’m not exactly sure what happened. Most unfortunately, I did not see any wallabies. I know I’ve mentioned that my favorite question to ask conductors is “what is the craziest thing you’ve seen anyone bring on a train?” The current reigning champion for the craziest thing brought on a Metro-North train is a wallaby, witnessed by blogging New Haven Line conductor Bobby.

Postcard view of Pelham station

Back on topic, today’s panoramic stop on the New Haven Line is Pelham – the second New York state station on the line to be featured here. Pelham is located fifteen miles from Grand Central, and it takes around a half hour to arrive in the city by train. The station is in fact quite charming – surrounded by trees and other greenery. Various shops, including a deli and a few restaurants are all within walking distance. The old station building, built in 1893, still remains, though it is mostly occupied by a real estate office. I was able to see the old ticket windows inside (through the window – I hate how most stations are closed on the weekends!), though Pelham no longer has a ticket agent and all tickets are sold through the TVMs. That’s about all I have for you this morning – enjoy the photographic tour of Pelham:

Once upon a time (1910), trains to Seymour were this cool.

Other than the aforementioned details, Seymour is a relatively unremarkable station, and not extremely noteworthy for any reason – unless you count homeless people pushing shopping carts. But there is nobody that can tell the story better than Bobby in his post Life on the Waterbury Branch.