Harmon Open House - October 11, 2008

The open house is October 11, much earlier than I anticipated.

New Date: Saturday, October 11
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
METRO-NORTH THROWS OPEN THE DOORS TO HARMON SHOP
Free.

Further information is available online at http://www.mta.info. Metro-North's largest maintenance and repair facility, Harmon Shop, will be open to the public for one day only – free! Souvenirs, handy experts, and the fall foliage make this an event not to be missed. Purchase your tickets on Metro-North’s Hudson Line to Croton-Harmon Station, where free shuttle buses take you to and from the shop throughout the day.

From http://mta.info/mta/museum/programs.htm

Here is another link- http://mta.info/mnr/html/open%20house%2 ... 202008.pdf

Gee, that's really nice! They were WRONG when they said that last year would be the final Open House in the old (present) shop. It will be nice to see it once more.

D/

I am going to try to make it. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

Never been to an open house before, and may just make the trip down there... though its a 3 1/2 hour drive down to Albany and I may take Amtrak from there right to Croton.

I know what answer I'm gonna get, but... is this open house worth it? Any suggestions, comments?

Thanks in advance!

shadyjay wrote:Never been to an open house before, and may just make the trip down there... though its a 3 1/2 hour drive down to Albany and I may take Amtrak from there right to Croton.

I know what answer I'm gonna get, but... is this open house worth it? Any suggestions, comments?

Thanks in advance!

I'm in the same boat as you can someone shed some light on if this would be it worth it to make the trip?

Kaback9 wrote:

shadyjay wrote:Never been to an open house before, and may just make the trip down there... though its a 3 1/2 hour drive down to Albany and I may take Amtrak from there right to Croton.

I know what answer I'm gonna get, but... is this open house worth it? Any suggestions, comments?

Thanks in advance!

I'm in the same boat as you can someone shed some light on if this would be it worth it to make the trip?

Just my opinion, but any time a train buff wants to see railroading and shops related equipment, the trip is always worth it. Its probably the only time you can take pictures and tour the facilites without being hassled. Ive never been to it but Im planning to attend this year.I Hope

I will be there that weekend I am free.

It's the one time you can walk through certain equipment and snap as many pictures as you want of others without being hassled. They usually have a few demonstrations and even a fall foliage train up the Hudson Line. Also don't forget that most of the F-units will most likely be there and it may be one of your last REALLY good opportunities to take pictures of them all. It will also probably be the last open house in the old NYC shops, as construction is going pretty quick on the new shop foundations and such. There's usually a ton of different equipment there, and now with the new locomotives coming online, plus the rebuilt P32AC's, it's quite a nice variety.

FL9AC wrote:It's the one time you can walk through certain equipment and snap as many pictures as you want of others without being hassled. They usually have a few demonstrations and even a fall foliage train up the Hudson Line. Also don't forget that most of the F-units will most likely be there and it may be one of your last REALLY good opportunities to take pictures of them all. It will also probably be the last open house in the old NYC shops, as construction is going pretty quick on the new shop foundations and such. There's usually a ton of different equipment there, and now with the new locomotives coming online, plus the rebuilt P32AC's, it's quite a nice variety.

I think you just sold me on going.

Yep I'm going to be going I made sure not to place anything for that weekend.

I missed it last year I just hope we wont get the complainers after the open house posting here as bad as it was last year.

I actually rethinking about going to the Open House, especially to take pix of the F units.

I'm going to try my damndest to go.
Last year was a blast.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... Id=1206896
For those of you who have myspace enabled and can go see the pictures, they are from the '07 Open House.

might check it out too. im off weekends this coming month and its just before my wedding.

So its now confirmed, instead of driving down to ALB solo and then Empire Service from there, I'll be heading down with my stationmaster at WAB, driving all the way. Should be a good day, albeit a LONG day. Thanks for the recommendations - that sealed the deal!

shadyjay wrote:I know what answer I'm gonna get, but... is this open house worth it? Any suggestions, comments?

I know you already sealed the deal... if I had found this thread sooner, I would have told you it's almost as far for me to get to Croton-Harmon. I made the trip in 2005 and it was great. So I can say, from first-hand experience, it's worth the 3.5-hour drive.

I wish I lived close enough to go every year -- I work until 11:45pm weeknights, so getting up early enough Saturday morning to make that drive is usually impossible (well, maybe not, but I don't want to find out). However, this year I have an extra vacation day to burn... so I figured I might as well use it that Friday. I'm hoping to do some railfanning in areas I haven't been to in awhile, crash with some relatives in the area, and on Saturday morning, I'll only be a quick train ride away from Croton-Harmon. Of course, even if I did have to drive the entire round trip in one day... I probably would still do it, as long as I could get to sleep much earlier the night before than my usual work schedule permits.