middletown

June 10, 2013

Musings on Station Names

You would think that the naming of a train station would be a rather simple and straightforward process… alas this seems to be far from true. If history has shown us anything, station namings (and even renamings) can turn out to be a political or even touchy subject – just ask all the Connecticut commuters that voted for their new Metro-North station to be called Black Rock instead of Fairfield Metro, and were denied (and less than thrilled). But the more interesting thing, to me at least, is how history plays a significant part in many of these names –...

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May 8, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the Port Jervis Line: Middletown Town of Wallkill

“So, boss, where do we fit the Metro-North logo?” “I don’t know, just slap it wherever there’s some room!” I’m sure this is the post you’ve absolutely been dying for… the moment we officially crown Metro-North’s station with the longest name. Middletown Town of Wallkill is certainly a mouthful… And it certainly fills up those station signs. Though most folks probably call the station just Middletown, the station is considered part of Wallkill. The real Middletown station, which is now a library that I featured a few weeks ago, was on the portion of the Erie main line that was...

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March 23, 2012

From train station to library, Part 2: Middletown

Middletown station, circa 1900. From the collection of the Historical Society of Middletown Last December I posted some photos from Briarcliff Manor, a station that was along the now-defunct Putnam Division, and how it has since been converted into a library. I’ve always thought it seems appropriate for an old train station to live a second life as a home to history and literature in the form of a library. There are several such places in New York state alone, but one of my favorites is in Middletown, NY. Since we’ve now turned our attention to Metro-North’s west-of-Hudson service and...

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March 20, 2012

And on, to Port Jervis

For the past two years, just about every Tuesday we’ve explored a new Metro-North station. For the most part, these have been stations that you may have heard of before, but perhaps never visited. Most regular commuters are familiar with the three main Metro-North lines that terminate in Grand Central: the Harlem Line, the New Haven Line, and the Hudson Line. However, Metro-North owns the stations and funds the operation for two other lines, on the west of the Hudson River. It is there that we will now point our attention, starting with the Port Jervis Line. Map of the...

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June 16, 2011

Old & Abandoned: Middletown’s O&W Station

Despite only having returned from Africa a few weeks ago, I’m all ready for another vacation. Thankfully, I’m taking tomorrow off and will be spending the long weekend relaxing in the Poconos. I’m not even going to bring my laptop – though having my newly-acquired Blackberry somewhat defeats the purpose. The one thing I couldn’t resist though, was to check and see if there were any interesting old rail stations nearby the place I’m staying. I found a beautiful one on the internet – only to find out that it was gutted by fire several years ago. What is it...