I Ride The Harlem Line

Tagged: hudson river railroad

Tuesday Tour of the Hudson Line: Irvington

Photos / Train Stories / Tuesday Tours

Tuesday Tour of the Hudson Line: Irvington

The namesake of Irvington – author Washington Irving. Also named Irvington – the first coal burner on the Hudson River Railroad. Over the past three years, I’ve visited almost every Metro-North station in order to bring you these Tuesday Tours. While seeing stations is nice, sometimes the interesting part is exploring the towns in which these stations lie. Whenever possible, I try to take the train for my explorations, which often times leaves me extra time to explore while waiting for the next train. I try to scout out stations on Google Maps before heading out, just to see what...

A 1918 Guide to New York City, and Hudson River Steamboats

History / Train Stories

A 1918 Guide to New York City, and Hudson River Steamboats

By now, you readers are all well aware of my problem. I love old printed (and usually railroad-related) materials. Timetables, brochures, posters… you name it. Although I love having the real thing in-hand, most times I’m quite content to have just digital copies – which is part of the reason SmartCat came about. Somehow, I came across a website this weekend that I had never been to before – it is called the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. The site pretty much operates in the same vein as SmartCat – historical artifacts, digitized and available to everyone for free over...

Tuesday Tour of the Hudson Line: New Hamburg

Photos / Train Stories / Tuesday Tours

Tuesday Tour of the Hudson Line: New Hamburg

Postcard view of the original station at New Hamburg. [image credit] Today our Tuesday Tour takes us to the northern portion of Metro-North’s Hudson Line, as we visit New Hamburg. The station is about 65 miles from Grand Central in the un-electrified territory north of Croton-Harmon, and sandwiched in between Beacon station and Metro-North’s terminus at Poughkeepsie. The railroad bisects the hamlet of New Hamburg, notable mostly for its marina on the Hudson. Along the railroad, however, New Hamburg was likely notable for its tunnel. As I mentioned in my introduction to the Hudson Line, eight tunnels needed to be...

Welcome to the Hudson Line

History / Train Stories

Welcome to the Hudson Line

As riders of Metro-North, we are quite familiar with the Hudson River. It serves as an important dividing line of the system – west-of-Hudson service, operated by New Jersey Transit, and the more familiar east-of-Hudson service which is comprised of the Harlem, New Haven and Hudson Lines. For those that still use Metro-North’s website for scheduling, acknowledging on which side of the river you fall is still a necessity. Besides providing a dividing line for Metro-North, the river has always been an important part of the landscape of New York. Boats on the river have been commonplace for hundreds of...

SmartCat, your guide to the Harlem Line

History

SmartCat, your guide to the Harlem Line

Several years ago when I really started getting interested in the history of the Harlem Line, and began collecting old timetables and artifacts, I had the grand idea that I would create a “digital museum” for the line. Although I attempted it with the “Harlem Line Historical Archives,” the archives were poorly organized, extremely clunky to find anything, and extremely time consuming to update. In an effort to create something better, I began work on SmartCat last summer. I had been hoping to launch it in the fall, but it never happened. Six months later, and long overdue, I am...

Melrose Station, in the late 1800’s

History / Train Stories

Melrose Station, in the late 1800’s

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to talk to some really interesting railroad people recently, one of whom is Joe Schiavone, better known in the area as the “Old Put Guy.” He’s just completed his third book on the New York Central’s Putnam Division, but has been a railfan ever since he was very young. When I met him for the first time several weeks ago, he told me that as a young boy taking photographs, getting an invite into the engine happened somewhat frequently. I told him that Metro-North does the same thing for me – except the invite is...