signs

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line – Waterbury

Ah, Waterbury… also known as the Brass City, or most affectionately the “Dirty Water.” Yes, Waterbury and I have a history, we go way back. Many years ago I attended UConn’s Waterbury Branch, and it was there I acquired my first job as a slave to the computer. From there I just went downhill, into the realm of phone line computer technical support (“my ethernet cord has a virus!”), and fixing college students’ virus-riddled computers after they downloaded copious amounts of pornography. But back then at Waterbury I was just a lowly computer monitor, though I would occasionally get called...

Photos / Train Stories / Tuesday Tours

Tuesday Tour of the Harlem Line: North White Plains

This Tuesday the Tour of the Harlem Line makes a quick stop at North White Plains station. Located slightly less than twenty-four miles from Grand Central, it serves as a terminus for local trains servicing the southern stops on the Harlem Line. Up until the early 80’s, it also served as the end point for electrification on the line, but today the line is now electrified up until Southeast. North White Plains is also one of the few Harlem Line stations to have an Arts for Transit piece. Installed in 1991, Rolando Briseño’s piece is titled At The Table. Although...

Photos / Train Stories / Tuesday Tours

Tuesday Tour of the Harlem Line: Patterson

When I first began riding Metro-North to the city I was fairly young… and at the time I had always assumed that Brewster North was the end of the Harlem Line. It was my train’s last stop, after all. It is around this time of year that there is an influx of young riders, off to see the city’s Christmas decorations, the tree that will soon be in Rockefeller Center, and perhaps a visit to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City (for which I was riding the train). You can always tell who these children are – they come...

Humor / Train Stories

Watch the Gap: Stupid Warning Signs You Wish Metro-North Had

Admit it. You’ve probably seen a stupid person on the train. I see them frequently. People get on the wrong train all the time. Sometimes by accident, which I’ve done a few times. But if you end up getting on the wrong train because you were too busy talking on your cell phone to hear the ten messages spoken by the conductor telling you that this train was most certainly NOT going to the city, you don’t get any sympathy from me. I had made these a long time ago, and forgot about them. My goal was to create a...

Humor / Photos / Train Stories / Videos

Pigeon Trapping in White Plains & Video of Pigeon Riding the Train

Apparently Metro-North has gotten fed up with the pigeon problem in White Plains. Maybe they were embarrassed by the fact that people were videotaping, and blogging about it. Or maybe they were getting a little pissed off that birds that have pea-sized brains were outsmarting them. Either way, last week I noticed something new at the station. Pigeon traps. With all the snow I didn’t really get a chance to post anything about the traps. But I did happen to get into a conversation in the waiting room with a woman about them. Really, the pigeons aren’t harming anything. In...

Observations / Train Stories

Rabbit Girl’s Morning Ride…

Today the “Cat Girl” morphed into “Rabbit Girl”. It has been so cold lately, that I figured I’d use the rabbit hat, since the long ears can be wrapped around and serve as a scarf. You really know it is cold though, when you get to the station and there isn’t a single soul standing on the platform. They are all hiding in the heated vestibules until the train arrives. When I got into work I took this photo of my rabbit attire… A bunch of trains were delayed this morning, my friend ended up getting in late. She said...