Last week I finished up posting the stations on the Waterbury Branch – today we’ll visit Stratford, which one can call an “honorary” station on the branch. Stratford is actually considered part of the New Haven main line, but during peak hours one Waterbury Branch train stops in either direction. Unlike most of the Waterbury Branch stations, however, Stratford is actually pretty nice. There are original station buildings on both sides of the tracks, one which houses a coffee shop and restaurant, the other is a museum. I admit it is a little bit strange for a helicopter museum to be housed in a former train station. But remember, we’re in Stratford – the home of Sikorsky Aircraft. Igor Sikorsky‘s helicopter design was the first “practical” helicopter, and the first to be manufactured in a large scale. The National Helicopter Museum celebrates the career of Sikorsky, as well as other historical milestones related to the helicopter.

Back on the subject of trains, Stratford is located 59 miles from Grand Central. The estimated travel time into the city is around an hour and a half. The next station to the west is Bridgeport, and just to the east the Waterbury branch splits from the main line. The next station to the east, located on the main line, is Milford. Although the bulk of the train traffic is Metro-North, some Shore Line East trains do stop. Amtrak trains are visible passing by, but do not make stops at Stratford.

Did I mention that the old station buildings are adorable, and I want them? Unfortunately for me, they are all well used in Stratford, so if I tried to steal one in the middle of the night, somebody would notice.

It is that time again… time for some Monday morning old photos. Today’s set is back to the 1980′s, and early 1990′s. Though there are a few on the Harlem, several of them are from the New Haven Line. I figured it would be cool to check out some photos not just from the Harlem Line, but from Metro-North in general.

Morning, folks. Happy Labor Day. Hopefully you don’t have to work today – I may not have to work my “real job” today, but my second job, this site, never really sleeps. This Monday we’ve got some more great photos from “back in the day.” Today’s collection of photos were taken a few decades earlier than the ones posted in Part 1 and 2. I don’t know the photographers either – these are all from slides I’ve acquired and purchased (did I ever mention I was an eBay addict?). I was at Costco the other day getting these slides processed, and I was definitely wondering how many other idiots other than me actually print from slides!

Anyways, all of the photos date from the late 1950′s, or the 1960′s. We’ve got plenty of trains, and a few Harlem Division places you might be familiar with – Chatham, Millerton, Wassaic, and Brewster. There is also a small collection of photos from the Woodlawn and Wakefield area… some of which have trains just passing through (is that a TurboTrain?) There is also a photo of a the Morrisania 138th Street station that no longer exists. All of the photos are a little bit before my time, which is part of the reason why I love them… and I hope you do too.

Edit: Metro-North has resumed most service. For the most current information, check the MTA website.

Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference addressing the damage after Irene has just completed. Of course, Chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Jay Walder was present to address the state of New York City’s transit system. The unfortunate news for Metro-North riders is that it was our railroad that suffered the most damage out of all of the MTA. Walder said there was severe damage to all three lines, including significant flooding and track erosion. Damage assessments are still going on, and there will be no decision on when service will be restored until these assessments have been completed.

What I must say, however, is that MTA has been keeping us in the loop via their Flickr account, which is much appreciated. From the photos we can see that there is severe flooding at Tuckahoe and Valhalla, on the Harlem Line. Valhalla also has power lines down, in the vicinity of Kensico Cemetery. There was a mudslide at Spuyten Duyvil and Scarborough on the Hudson Line. Beacon, also on the Hudson line, has massive flooding and is probably the worst station I’ve seen so far, with the parking lot and pedestrian underpass completely filled with water. Harriman, on the Port Jervis Branch also has a flooded parking lot. Thus far there has been no photos posted of the New Haven Line, but Governor Dannel Malloy has said that there was extensive damage to the catenary system, and on the New Canaan branch. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves… (all photos credited to the MTA)

Also interesting are a few photos from yesterday in Grand Central. Seeing the station this empty is a bit creepy. Although people say that this happens quite frequently at night, it is obvious that it is not night in these photos. You can see Grand Central Terminal empty – with the sunlight still streaming through the windows. That light makes these images even more amazing to me. I’m a bit jealous I wasn’t there myself to take photos of the empty station!

Do you love old train photos as much as I do? It has been a while since I last posted some Monday Morning old photos… but I do plan on posting a few for the next couple of weeks. In my endless endeavor to acquire old photos of the Harlem Line, I’ve borrowed and digitized more old photos from Lou Grogan. These are slightly newer than previous photos I’ve posted: at least I was alive when they were captured, albeit a young child. But they are old enough to capture the old platform at Pawling, and construction at White Plains. Though the dates probably vary, my guess is that they are either very late 80′s, or early 90′s – a time when Metro-North Commuter Railroad was a fledgling organization.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I love this one: self portrait of the photographer, at White Plains.

If you missed any of our series of Monday Morning old photos, you can find them here:

Monday Morning Old photos, Part 2
Monday Morning Old photos, Part 2
Monday Morning Old photos, Part 3
More Monday Morning Harlem Division Photos
You can also find more of Lou Grogan’s gorgeous photography here: Trains & The Beautiful Harlem Valley – Never-before-seen Photos from the 80′s.

To say my train journeys this past weekend were a bit interesting seems like an understatement. I got to take some cool pictures of Grand Central’s exterior because the road was closed to cars for Summer Streets. I photographed the New Haven Line station Mount Vernon East, which is the 70th Metro-North station I’ve taken pictures of (if anybody is keeping track, lol). Oh, and I also got to ride on an M8. But see, those weren’t really quite as interesting as the nutjobs I found I was sharing the train with. On Friday an absolute genius of a woman decided that it would be a good idea to chase the departing train after forgetting a bag on board. She either jumped off the platform, or weaseled through the fence at Southeast, and ran after the train as it entered the yard. How monumentally stupid. I thought to myself, had she gotten flattened by a train or fried herself by tripping on the third rail, her family most likely would have sued Metro-North. Despite the fact that it would totally have been her fault, her family probably would have been awarded some amount of monetary compensation… and when our fares would go up again, we’d all know why.

On Saturday I again found myself on a northbound train heading to Southeast. It was dark, and near impossible to see anything but blackness out the window. I was in the very rear of the train, the portion that doesn’t platform at Brewster (yes, I totally think it is acceptable to use platform as a verb, thank you). Because it was so dark, I couldn’t really tell whether we were stopped at the station, or at some point before it… but I was certainly wondering what the heck was going on. Turns out a man in the front of the train decided to, how should I say this, basically he thought it would be a good idea to whip it out and begin pleasuring himself – the rest of the passengers present be damned. Girls were screaming, conductors were running, and it didn’t take too long for the train to be stopped until the police arrived. The public masturbator had apparently hidden himself in the train bathroom, but was thankfully apprehended by the police and removed from the train. I’ll call that the Metro-North Harlem Line Pervert Express – I have no desire to ride that train again.

Unfortunately the story of the M8 was slightly overshadowed by the stories of the crazy people. I took a short ride – from Grand Central to Mount Vernon East – though I took quite a few photos of the train before it went into motion. It may not have been the most memorable event of the day, but it was certainly the most positive highlight of the day. The aesthetic of the train is pretty similar to the M7′s found on the Hudson and Harlem Lines, but obviously in red. There is a lot of red. The outside is red, the floor is red, the seats are red. Clearly the decision was based on the New Haven Line’s signature color, but for those who believe that color can effect mood there might be a little bit too much red. A lot of sites have commented on the features of the M8, so I will try to keep this as short as possible, and let the photos speak for themselves. I will say that the lighting, large overhead storage racks, and numerous power outlets are really great additions. Now if we could get more of them in service, and iron out all the remaining glitches we’d be all set…

An older, and a bit more attractive Bridgeport station

Throughout my tour of the New Haven Line I have discovered quite a few beautiful train stations. Unfortunately, I would not include today’s featured station, Bridgeport, among them. The current station is a somewhat imposing concrete structure, amassed with people heading in all directions via Metro-North, Shore Line East, and Amtrak trains. And all of those people are a quite diverse lot, ranging from girls in rainbow fishnet stockings, to a guy with a soulpatch wearing a miniskirt and high heels. I’m totally not judging.

A literal train wreck at Bridgeport.

The current Bridgeport station was completed in 1975, though it not nearly as beautiful as the station it replaced. The previous station was built in the early 1900′s for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, but burned down in the 1970′s. The station is located alongside the water, and not far from the ferries to Long Island, as well as Harbor Yard. The station is a transfer point for folks riding the Waterbury branch, and it is approximately 55 miles from Grand Central.

Here are some photos of my visit to Bridgeport… I will state, for the record, there would be more, including a panorama of the M8 that passed by, had I not been visited by a police officer that told me picture taking was forbidden. I suppose the popo don’t realize that there are a lot of ways to secretly record things… I mean if I were a terrorist, it would be quite easy to secretly record the happenings at the train station without, you know, that big “terrorist device” known as a camera. Just sayin’.

Old postcard image of Green’s Farms station.

Today is Tuesday, which of course means another visit to a train station… this time we’ve stopped at Green’s Farms, a station on the main New Haven Line, located in Westport, Connecticut. The station was in the news recently, due to that hot weather debacle that stopped trains and delayed countless others on the line. One particular train got stuck not far from Green’s Farms, and needless to say, the passengers were far from thrilled.

Sure, the heat sucks, but at least the passengers weren’t involved in this crash that happened at Green’s Farms in 1912.

Besides that little incident, the station of Green’s Farms is not exceptionally noteworthy. There is an adorable little station house, which is probably the cutest part of the whole place. Someone with far too much time on their hands wrote “fook yeah” on pretty much every surface they could find, which supplies some mild amusement… at least until the train comes and you head the 47 miles to Grand Central. Anyways, here are a couple photos of Green’s Farms… next week we’ll see yet another New Haven Line station, and I think it will take me until November to post every station on the line. And by next year I’ll be the crazy nutjob that has toured, photographed, and posted about every single Metro-North station.

I’ve been trying to come up with some adequate words to describe my #NASATweetup experience, and the final launch of the space shuttle program. I’ve also been finding out how exceedingly difficult that is. To say that there is no cynicism in my thoughts would be complete denial. For some reason throughout this whole time, I remember back to when I was looking at the old notes of Lettie Carson at the NYPL. Lettie fought the Penn Central valiantly in an attempt to save the Upper Harlem. Eventually, she and the HVTA lost, as we all know the fate of the Upper Harlem. But throughout the fight Carson’s thoughts were apparent on paper – if the rail line is lost, some day we’re probably going to regret it. Despite the disappointment of many people, the United States no longer has a working human spaceflight program. Perhaps one day we will look back on that decision as a mistake. Apparently the desire to explore, and the pursuit of knowledge are no longer as important to the United States as they once were.

For the record, I’m not incredibly depressed about the ending of the space shuttle program – the shuttle had a decent lifespan in terms of technology. The fact that we have no program to replace the shuttle with, that is the depressing part. The fact that the final STS-135 mission had a smaller crew because we would have no means of rescuing them if there was ever a problem is also depressing. But what is most depressing is that we, the country that put men on the moon, now have to pay the Russians to take our astronauts to space – as we have no method to do so ourselves.

Despite all that, however, there are many people at NASA that still have an optimistic outlook on the future. Not only did I get the chance to meet many other space fans, but many interesting people who work for NASA – including a few astronauts. I was amazed at how happy everyone seemed, and how much they all seemed to love their jobs – not just the astronauts, even the regular everyday NASA folks found in the cafeteria (I wonder how many of them, now that the shuttle has landed, are no longer employed). But, as one would expect, the highlight of the tweetup was definitely getting to see the final launch of the space shuttle program from the press area. I will not even attempt to put that into words.

Knowing my tendency to be verbose, and the simple fact that if I keep trying to find the perfect translation of emotions into words this might never get posted, I’m not going to write any more than I already have. Below you’ll find a few of the photos I took on my trip. I don’t think any of them are particularly spectacular, but they are mine, and I was a part (albeit a very small part) of that moment in history.

Things I think we should not forget – for one, the words of one of our great presidents:

Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward. So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait… This country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward – and so will space…

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept…

And to all those kids out there that dream about being being an astronaut – don’t let your hopes be dashed. You might want to make it a point to learn a little Russian, though.

Wilton is our final stop to check out on the Danbury Branch. The station is located not far from Route 7, and is 48.5 miles from Grand Central Terminal. Surrounded by trees and small stream, the area around the station is relatively peaceful. Like many of the other Danbury Branch stations, there is little that is particularly noteworthy here, besides the small station building which was closed at the time of my visit. In fact, on the day of my visit a busing schedule was in effect, making the platform exceptionally quiet. I could have made a sound recording for you, and titled it “The Sounds of Wilton.” On that day it would only contain the sound of the stream, unpunctuated by the normal wail of a train horn and the rumble of a diesel engine.

Without any further rambling from me, here are a few photos from Wilton…