I haven’t walked the entire portion of it, but there are a few parts near Millerton where they had to blast through rock for the original ROW, so I’m not sure how possible getting a track in there would be. And if they even attempted it, I’d love to see what our friend Dutch has to say about that.

In terms of Metro-North, they don’t exactly know what to call it. Technically it isn’t a branch, but for ease of discussion it is often referred to as one. Just as they can’t seem to decide whether the “Upper Harlem” is everything north of White Plains, or everything north of Southeast.

It may have done some minor improvement… as I know Wassaic is trying to get a trail from the station down to the center of the village. I’m not sure how far that actually is, but it would probably be a nice addition, and connected to the rail trail that heads north to Millerton.

Jeff, I think it was your site actually, where people were discussing an angry farmer in Wassaic that has Metro-North on speed-dial to complain about noisy trains.

As for Millerton, when I was there last, the few shop owners I chatted with seem to be convinced that one day Metro-North would extend again and up to their village. Perhaps just wishful thinking on their parts, however. For some reason I thought that too many people complained last time around, when the extension was debated.

I doubt the 2000 extension has done much for Wassaic since both new stations are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Nobody can “walk to train” at either station. The real benefit is that people don’t have to go quite as far on 22, and don’t have to go into the middle of Dover Plains (or down to Wingdale) to catch the train anymore, and of course it added a couple of additional parking lots.

Oh yes, definitely. I wouldn’t dream of doing it, nor would I dream of walking up to someone’s car and demanding they do it. I’m still kind of in awe of it even happening to begin with!

Yeah, I think you were better off not giving anybody a ride. You’d be taking your life in your hands I think!!!

Oh man, that is a pretty brilliant typo there! Thanks :D

Housatonic Railroad, and later the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. By 1825 the track was electrified, but due to a poor economic situation, it was de-electrified in 1961.

I was railfanning in Waterbury a couple of weeks ago and I was sitting in my car waiting for the arrival time of the train to get closer (it was like 30 degrees and quite breezy & I had no gloves) and some girl beat on the window of my car and asked me when the next train to Bridgeport was. I told her, because I actually knew – and apparently that wasn’t a good enough answer because she then demanded I drive her to Bridgeport, and then got extremely indignant when I told her “No, go away.” I suppose if I were fearless and enterprising, I could have charged her $10, which is about quadruple the Waterbury to Bridgeport fare :P

Either way it skeeved me out, and sadly, when I got up on the platform to take pics/video of the train coming in, she was off in the bus shelter-esque thing tweaking out. A typical ghetto Waterbury experience – ranking up there with the woman who nearly plowed into my car at the mall and then started screamng at me and trying to pick a fight afterwards when she saw me walking in the parking lot. It’s sad that that sort of thing is what Waterbury has been known for as of late.