tuesday tour of the new haven line

February 14, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: New Rochelle

Welcome to New Rochelle, our next stop on our tour of the New Haven Line. Located about 17 miles from Grand Central, a train ride to the city takes about 35 minutes – leaving plenty of time to get to Broadway in 45. The station services both Metro-North passengers, as well as Amtrak passengers on the Northeast Regional. The station is part of New Rochelle’s “transportation center” with connections available to taxis and Bee-Line buses, and a large parking garage available for commuters. Postcard views of New Rochelle The very first scheduled train from New Rochelle to the city...

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February 7, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Noroton Heights

Noroton Heights, circa 1920. Image is from a postcard that was for sale on eBay, labeled as Norton Heights. Today’s station visit on our tour of the New Haven Line may deserve the title of “Most frequently misspelled Metro-North station,” which certainly made researching it for today fun. Noroton Heights – or as some would believe, Norton Heights – has even been spelled wrong on a map published by Metro-North. However you spell it, we’re talking today about the place in Connecticut, the one that has the railroad station (a Norton Heights does actually exist in CT, it is in...

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January 31, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Riverside

Riverside station in 1954 In-between the stations of Cos Cob and Old Greenwich on the New Haven main line, lies the station of Riverside. A journey to Grand Central, approximately 30 miles, takes around an hour. Four tracks run through Riverside, and two platforms run alongside the two outer tracks. On those platforms you can find a few ticket vending machines, a soda machine, a couple newspaper boxes, and a bench or two. One side has a small shelter from the elements, though it looks pretty beat-up and is tagged with graffiti and strewn with trash. Riverside station itself...

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January 24, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Old Greenwich

Located slightly more than 31 miles from Grand Central is today’s current stop on our tour of the New Haven Line, Old Greenwich. While touring Metro-North’s stations, we’ve encountered a couple places that have changed names over the many years the railroad has been around. Unionville, for example, was what Hawthorne was once called. Katonah was once called Whitlockville. Up until 1931, Old Greenwich was known as Sound Beach. I personally think that Sound Beach sounds a lot nicer, but perhaps the word “Greenwich” in there bestows a certain level of elevated status for its residents. Old Greenwich station in...

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January 17, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Port Chester

Today’s visit on the New Haven Line is to Port Chester, which I must admit, is one of my favorites along the line. If one was to compile a list of the more noteworthy New Haven Line stations, Port Chester probably wouldn’t be on it… yet it would rank high on my list. Not only did I love the historical station building, but I also loved the new art on the platform, courtesy of Arts for Transit. On the blog, I’ve already mentioned my love of the “leaf people” at Port Chester, what I suppose you would call a grotesque,...

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January 10, 2012

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Greenwich

Postcard of Greenwich station Growing up as a kid in Connecticut, probably the only thing I knew about Greenwich was that was where rich people lived. As completely illogical as it sounds, I almost expected that the train station there would have a platform paved with gold… or at least the station would be extravagantly nice. In reality, however, Greenwich is just another regular station along the New Haven main line. Located 28 miles from Grand Central, the train ride to the city ranges from a 41-minute express train, to a 57-minute off-peak local. The station building has a little...