Croton-Harmon Station

Somebody on WONDIR (search engine) asked when the old Croton-Harmon station was demolished. I remember the old one and, of course, the new one; but couldn't place when the new one was built.

You can go to the "Railroad" section of WONDIR with this link: http://www.rosshorwood.com/wondir.html

Anyone have any pictures of the old one? I've never seen it.

The old station was north of the bridge, next to the shop
it had wooden platforms and canopy at low level.
since the M1's are from 1971 I think the new station was from around that time.

I was under the impression the old station burned, which gave another excuse to relocate and build a new station.

-otto-

The new station was sited to take advantage of the huge field where a roundhouse had been in the steam era, and where a crossover bridge for locomotives had been.

The original station had limited access (via the roadway bridge) and not much parking

Actually, the NEW station is located near the existing bridge to Croton Point Park (the one that passes over all the shop tracks). The bridge for the loop track is located north of the site of the old station, and is currently used for vehicular traffic.

-otto-

The station didn't burn: it was the inspection shed. After that, inspections were done in the open.

I was there in May, 1969 to see the "Golden Spike Limited". At that time the original Eastbound (North of the bridge) and the Westbound (South of the bridge} platforms were still existing.

No work was in progress to replace them at that time.

Kinlock, you are absolutlely right, thanks for correcting me... it was the inspection sheds that burned.

Since the relocation of Croton-Harmon station occurred before MN's inception, you may want to post this question on the NYC forum.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Kinlock, you are absolutlely right, thanks for correcting me... it was the inspection sheds that burned.

Since the relocation of Croton-Harmon station occurred before MN's inception, you may want to post this question on the NYC forum.

-otto-

Anything newer at Croton-Harmon occurred well after the New York
Central days, probably during the Penn Central era when the M-1's first
came on line. Croton North Station was done away with around 1972 and
Harmon was named Croton-Harmon at that time.
The old station was elevated over the tracks and was kind of small and a
real "dump". In those days, Harmon was more of a railroad location and
less of a major commuter stop. The through trains, every single one of
them, stopped there to change engines and all of them picked up going
west and discharged coming east.
Most of the commuter trains were MU and yarded in Croton East Yard and
originated at Croton.
In the 1970's as the railroad was trying to cut use at Croton North, the
majority of the MU trains tied up down in Harmon and only a few of the
MU trains operated out of north station and they started stopping a few of
the Poughkeepsie and Peekskill trains there. Eventually everything ended
at north station.
I think some of the commuters got inconvienced by that move as they
could walk to the station rather than have to drive or be driven.
I can remember working the Hudson Line some in early Metro-North days
when the "dog catchers" were working Croton-Harmon, I got sent up to
the old Croton East Yard to turn with the same equipment. I hated that
move as I was not overly familiar with that yard and the tracks were in
rather bad condition. There were also major problems with vandals in the
area and one could expect to find anything with or on the tracks switches
and third rail. My return train to NYC at that time was an express out of
Croton-Harmon with a Budd Car connection from Poughkeepsie and we
would have to wait at Croton East Yard for that connection to go by and
follow it down to Harmon. Horrible move but it avoided the "G" people.
Noel Weaver

Noel, I hate to correct you, but Croton North Station remained on the MN timetable through 1984.

-otto-

Your mention of Croton North Station brought back some very old memories from the early 70's.

I recall a hobby shop opened on US 6 in Mahopac, moved west to Peekskill on US 6 and then took over the Croton North Station. Great place to visit and buy my RR supplies.

Later he moved to W 45th St. in Manhattan and also had a store in White Plains. As I recall, he always knocked off 10% (?) off the listed price.

Does anyone else remember this store?

Otto Vondrak wrote:Noel, I hate to correct you, but Croton North Station remained on the MN timetable through 1984.

-otto-

Otto, Croton North Station still shows in the current Metro-North timetable
on the station page but trains have not stopped there since long before
1984.
A station is a place designated by name, not necessarily a station that is
in use or where trains might stop.
When I get time, I will try to find the timetable and general order if there
is one where the station was out of service as a passenger stop. It has
been a while.
Noel Weaver

(I meant listed as a station in the public passenger timetable. I will find an example from my collection and post it- I was surprised Croton North was listed so late into the 1980s.)

Otto Vondrak wrote:(I meant listed as a station in the public passenger timetable. I will find an example from my collection and post it- I was surprised Croton North was listed so late into the 1980s.)

Otto, the best I can tell you is that it was taken out of use as a station stop
sometime between 1979 and 1983. I think it was closer to 1979 than
1983. I qualified as engineer to Croton in the summer of 1983 with
Metro-North and it was not in use then.
Noel Weaver