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About this site
My name is Emily, though I am known by many who ride the train simply as Cat Girl, for the hats I customarily wear during the winter time. I am a graphic designer, a former Metro North commuter and lifelong Harlem Line rider. This site is a collection of my usually train-related thoughts, observations, photographs, and travels, as well as my never-ending hunt for intriguing historical artifacts.
Popular Posts
A Wedding in Grand Central
24 Feb , 2015
Remembering the Upper Harlem Division – Part 1
20 Mar , 2013
The Budd Rail Diesel Car, and more art from Leslie Ragan
23 Apr , 2013
My Final Metro-North Commute
08 Aug , 2015
The Mystery of Grand Central’s Suburban Concourse
07 Jan , 2013
The life of a subway cat…
16 Mar , 2012
I have lived along the Harlem Line most of my life (since 1946) when my father commuted to GC from White Plains. In the mid 1950s, while in high school, I dated a girl in NYC. On Saturdays, I caught an express from WP that originated in Chatham, I think, which had a dining car. All dressed up, I would proceed there and have a delicious breakfast as the speedy trip to GC went by. I thought that this is how it would be when I someday became a daily commuter.
I commuted for many years from Chappaqua beginning in 1969 but have never seen that dining car again.
Have you ever eaten in a real old fashioned dining car with tables covered with white tablecloths, heavy flatware and china and waiters to take your order and serve you? It is a special experience!
I am such a Harlem line guy that when I infrequently take a Hudson Line or New Haven train I feel like I am in a foreign country!
they use to have bar cars too, sort of entertaining…
FYI…Upcoming exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York
The following may be of interest:
1) The interlocking tile vaults built by Spanish immigrants Rafael Guastavino, Sr. (1842-1908), and his son, Rafael Jr. (1872-1950). Includes photos of the GCT Oyster Bar.
http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/palaces-for-the-people-guastavino
2) Fifty years of New York City Landmarks–impact of the Landmark Law. Includes photo of GCT.
http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/saving-place
General museum information:
http://www.mcny.org
This is about the posts about John M Wisker. After the railroad tried to hang him out to dry but was aquited he was devistaded and became an alcholic. In the Wisker family its pretty much accepted that he was drunk while operating an engine for NY dock RR and he either fell into the water or it was a suicide. John M Wisker my great Graddfather