On the Hudson Line

It must be nice to have four tracks... If something like this happened on the LIRR's Mainline the whole railroad would be going up in flames!

I rode a southbound MU local from Yonkers this evening during the PM rush. The train arrived on Track 1 and we were on 1 all the way to MO. Here's a crummy cell fone grab shot. A northbound arriving at Yonkers on Track 4 as New York bound riders wait on what is normally the northbound platform.



Coming home the same, on Track 1 from MO to Yonkers. (We passed CSX Q430 near Riverdale and he caught up to us at Yonkers.) They had bridgeplates lined up for four cars (all doors) so the station stops went very quickly. I wonder if they are crossing everything back over at Greystone during the PM rush? Does anyone know?

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I took the Hudson Line to GCT this evening and Track 3 is still OOS between Riverdale and Greystone. Riverdale, Ludlow, Glenwood and Greystone are served by northbound trains on Track 1 using bridge plates. Southbound trains are no longer operating on Track 1 during the PM rush. This evening the southbound local I was on, and the Amtrak train ahead of us, both operated on Track 4, while northbound peak trains were operating on Tracks 1 and 2. Below is a cell phone photo I took on a local heading south tonight on Track 4 showing the plates serving Track 1 on the northbound platform at Riverdale.




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Service between Croton-Harmon and Poughkeepsie was disrupted late Saturday afternoon and into the evening after a rock slide near Garrison. Railroad crews were making repairs to a retaining wall when there was a rock slide onto both tracks. Buses were used to get riders from Garrison to Peekskill. As of now train service is reported to be normal.

News link with photos

Tommy Meehan wrote:Service between Croton-Harmon and Poughkeepsie was disrupted late Saturday afternoon and into the evening after a rock slide near Garrison. Railroad crews were making repairs to a retaining wall when there was a rock slide onto both tracks. Buses were used to get riders from Garrison to Peekskill. As of now train service is reported to be normal.

News link with photos

It seems the adverse impact of this problem may have been greater for Amtrak, as least for Amtrak train 49, The Lake Shore Limited. It sat in Penn Station for six hours until getting permission to depart on Saturday night, and lost more time heading north on Metro North. It had to be re-crewed twice before it got to Albany-Rensselaer. I know two people who were expecting to board that train at Albany at 6:45 PM Saturday night, but they did not get to board until 4:20 AM Sunday morning. Train 49 is now over 10 hours late east of Toledo, where it will be terminated, and turned to operate as train 48/448 back to New York/Boston. Passengers will be bussed west from Toledo to Chicago and intermediate stations. The private car on the rear of 49 will layover in the station at Toledo until it is picked up by the westbound Capitol LImited around dawn on Monday morning, for the remainder of it's trip to Chicago.

I need to update this slightly as I got some of the details mixed up.

I know of someone who was on Amtrak 256 and was delayed several hours. Apparently riders on his train were allowed to get off at Beacon and take Metro-North to Garrison. At Garrison there was a long long line for the buses to Peekskill so rather than stand in line he had dinner there. Afterwards he got a bus to Peekskill and then completed his trip on a Metro-North train.

Yes #256 did indeed sit in Beacon for an extended period. While sitting on the head end listening for info I heard about the shuttle bus being set up and suggested to my conductor we get the folks off and explain their options. Most took the train others opted for a cab ride. Most everyone was civil and understood the situation. There were exceptions as always.

#49 wasn't the only train with a huge delay on avg most Amtrak trains took a six to eight hour hit with the lake shore possibly being the worst. Thank goodness there wasn't a train in the block when the slide hit.

A sudden thought: is there a slide-protection fence at that location?

Railjunkie wrote:Yes #256 did indeed sit in Beacon for an extended period. While sitting on the head end listening for info I heard about the shuttle bus being set up and suggested to my conductor we get the folks off and explain their options. Most took the train others opted for a cab ride. Most everyone was civil and understood the situation...

That was good work. I'm going to pass this along and I'm sure the gentleman I know who got caught in the delay will be appreciative. He's a retired railroader so rather than moan and curse fate (or the nearest member of 256's crew), he did the smart thing. Sometimes things will go wrong and the best response is to figure out what options you have and pick which ever one seems best.

There's some good restaurants in Garrison!

I still like the old station in Cold Spring good burger cold beer and an excellent place to watch trains and nice antique stores for the wife. Which can be both good and bad

MNRR has been working in that area getting ready to place heavy wire mesh over the cut stone. They have done similar projects in the past. One good thing about the slide was there was a stop sign at that location so at least they had some men and equipment in the area.

I took the photo below on my way south on a Hudson Line local this evening. Track 3 is still OOS between Riverdale and Greystone, four months after the landslide north of Glenwood station. The bridge plate shown is at the north end of Ludlow station.



Metro-North did say it would be a while! I also noticed some track equipment on Track 3 near Riverdale and fresh ballast at several places along OOS 3.

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Tommy Meehan wrote:Track 3 is still OOS between Riverdale and Greystone, four months after the landslide north of Glenwood station.

Metro-North did say it would be a while!

While track 3 was originally out due to necessity due to the washout, the carrier has used it to their advantage to take care of some much needed drainage issues along that stretch of track.

If I recall correctly from reading the Mileposts newsletter on one of my rides back home in the morning some time back, the plan is to finish up Track 3 and then take Track 4 out of service for a similar amount of time.

Yes that appears to be true. This is from the September Milepost which is also available on-line.

On the Hudson Line, as of this writing [Sept. 2], we are wrapping up track and drainage improvements on Track 3—the outbound track—between Riverdale and Greystone. And once they are completed, work will immediately move to the outside (riverside) Track 4.

Tommy Meehan wrote:Yes that appears to be true. This is from the September Milepost which is also available on-line.

On the Hudson Line, as of this writing [Sept. 2], we are wrapping up track and drainage improvements on Track 3—the outbound track—between Riverdale and Greystone. And once they are completed, work will immediately move to the outside (riverside) Track 4.

So the work will be ongoing at least until this winter at Riverdale, I take it.

Today I was in a Shoreliner and wanted to get off at Riverdale; the train didn't quite line up to the door that I wanted to leave from, and so the door didn't open, and the train quickly departed, so I got off at Yonkers.

Separately, out of curiosity: how can we tell in advance if a GCT-to-Croton-Harmon train that does not continue past Croton-Harmon will be an M-7 or a locomotive-hauled train? For example, the 12:51pm from GCT-to-Croton-Harmon on Sundays is sometimes an M-7 train but sometimes a locomotive-hauled one. I'd prefer a locomotive-hauled one (as long as I can actually get off at Riverdale). Thanks.