white plains

May 22, 2013

Warren & Wetmore: Grand Central’s Architects on the Harlem Line

Before Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore became known for their work on Grand Central Terminal, they were already known by many of the New York Central’s commuters. A handful of the lovely stations still found on Metro-North’s lines are creations of Warren and Wetmore. Yonkers, on the Hudson Line, as well as Hartsdale and White Plains on the Harlem, were all designed by the duo. Poughkeepsie and Mount Vernon (West) were also designed by them, but after the completion of Grand Central (Scarsdale and Chappaqua were designed by the other Grand Central architecture firm – Reed and Stem). The American...

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July 28, 2012

Have you checked out “The New York Commuter’s Glossary” yet?

Have you checked out “The New York Commuter’s Glossary” yet? If you haven’t yet heard of the book, it is a humorous little collection of words and illustrations related to the art of commuting. It was written by Mike Malone – who is the man behind Train Jotting, illustrated by the awesome Joe Walden, and of course, designed by me. You can buy copies online, or if you happen to be in the White Plains area, Gary Waxman is selling copies at his newsstand in the train station. You can also find it at the Village Bookstore in Pleasantville. Gary...

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February 18, 2012

Friday in White Plains…

The past two weeks I’ve had my camera with me, and decided to brave the horrible parking garage elevator in search of good shots in White Plains. As you may recall, this is the place that I once said was one of my favorites – that is, until I got stuck in the elevator for half an hour, and the White Plains fire department had to break me out. The pasted flyers on the inside of the elevator – giving various “emergency” numbers in case the elevator’s emergency phone did not work – didn’t give me a whole lot of...

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February 17, 2012

Sending Postcards from the Harlem Line (Part 7)

Admit it, readers – somewhere in the back of your head you were wondering when I’d get around to showing you more railroad-themed postcards. My postcard collecting addiction has been well documented, and roughly every other month I do a new post full of my newly acquired cards. Today’s lineup includes Amenia, one of the abandoned Upper Harlem stations, and Towners, another abandoned station. There are also a few cards of station buildings still around today, like Katonah, Bedford Hills, and Scarsdale. Again, I must sincerely thank Steve Swirsky for his wonderful contributions to our extensive collection of postcards. The...

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August 29, 2011

Even More Monday Morning Old Photos, Part 2

As we hang out in the aftermath of Irene, stuck with no Metro-North service on this “lovely” Monday, we can at least remember a little bit of history. And even remember a time when our tracks were not covered in mud and trees, there was no flooding, and trains were actually running! As I mentioned last week, here is a “new” set of photos taken in the eighties and nineties, when Metro-North was just a few years old. There are a few more photos of Pawling, more construction in White Plains, and a photo or two of Hartsdale.

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August 22, 2011

Even More Monday Morning Old Photos, Part 1

Do you love old train photos as much as I do? It has been a while since I last posted some Monday Morning old photos… but I do plan on posting a few for the next couple of weeks. In my endless endeavor to acquire old photos of the Harlem Line, I’ve borrowed and digitized more old photos from Lou Grogan. These are slightly newer than previous photos I’ve posted: at least I was alive when they were captured, albeit a young child. But they are old enough to capture the old platform at Pawling, and construction at White Plains....