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Remembering the Upper Harlem Division, Part 3 History Photos

As we complete our journey along the abandoned Upper Harlem Division, it is worth taking a moment to look at the timetables printed for the line. The Upper Harlem’s timetables were New York Central’s Form 112 – and its size changed drastically over the years, reflecting the railroad’s slow death. The ever changing timetable design for the Upper Harlem ((All timetables from the author’s collection)) A 1909 timetable, which was actually a foldout booklet that contained descriptions of the stations and schedules for connecting railroads, was actually 32 pages. The tall size seen in a later 1939 timetable was standard...

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Remembering the Upper Harlem Division – Part 1 History Photos

Twenty-four years ago I boarded my very first train – a Harlem Line local from Brewster to Grand Central Terminal. I was four years old, and quite intrigued by the journey. While I’m sure many hold their first train experience in a special place in their hearts, I really didn’t fall in love with the Harlem Line until I became a regular commuter after graduating college in 2008. The second most frequent question I receive from railfans (after the inevitable “oh my god… are you really a girl?!”) is why the Harlem. For many the Harlem isn’t overwhelmingly interesting –...

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day from I Ride the Harlem Line! Events

A special St. Patrick’s Day parade timetable printed by Metro-North in 1996. When it comes to the worst day to ride Metro-North Railroad, it is usually a tossup between New Year’s and St. Patrick’s Day. Both involve large crowds of people that have imbibed a bit too much. Most years I think St. Patrick’s is the clear winner (or loser, perhaps?), because when it falls on a work day you have a combination between the regular commmuters and the drunks, and it usually isn’t very fun. After all, I’d rather not step over passed out revelers, or in pools of...

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All Aboard the Panda Special! Trains Events History

While the Grand Central Centennial celebration on February 1st was primarily dedicated to our beloved Terminal, we also took a few moments to remember the life of Edward Koch, who passed away earlier that morning. There are many ways that one can remember the late Ed Koch – as a congressman, as a mayor, as a consummate New Yorker, and even as a preserver of Grand Central (and if you’re as young as me, perhaps only as that judge on the People’s Court). But the thing that probably won’t come up in most people’s memories, however, are pandas. It certainly...

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Metro North is 30 – A Collection of Tickets, Timetables & more History

With Grand Central Terminal celebrating its centennial this year, most people have been so utterly focused on that event that they’ve forgotten another birthday (myself included). Metro-North Railroad is now 30, and has come quite a long way since its inception in 1983. Grand Central was restored to greatness, as opposed to being a dirty homeless shelter. For the most part, especially with the new M8’s, the railroad operates with decent equipment – not whatever the desperate railroad could scrounge up to have enough cars to operate. Several other commuter rail services that were also run by ConRail in the...

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Happy Holidays from iRideTheHarlemLine.com! Events

The front of our 2012 holiday card Happy holidays to all our readers, and a very Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it! For those that are into history, be sure to check out this post of holiday Harlem Line timetables, and this groovy Penn Central holiday suburban schedule. Penn Central may be despised by many, but they certainly put out some interesting timetables. Despite the holiday, today is of course Tuesday, and our final Hudson Line Tuesday tour will be posted, though likely later on this afternoon.

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