Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge's History - Connecting New England to the Nation's Freight Network

It's very interesting to learn that they are STUDYING a renewal of the Maybrook line. I lived in the Mid-Hudson valley in 1983-84 and sadly watched as the rails were pulled between Hopewell Junction and the bridge. Any restoration would obviously be a LOT easier if things had been left in place, not to mention the removal of other bridges and the encroachment that has taken place along the former ROW. I'm eternally optomistic when it comes to preserving and restoring rail service but this sounds like the ultimate long shot.

glennk419 wrote:It's very interesting to learn that they are STUDYING a renewal of the Maybrook line. I lived in the Mid-Hudson valley in 1983-84 and sadly watched as the rails were pulled between Hopewell Junction and the bridge. Any restoration would obviously be a LOT easier if things had been left in place, not to mention the removal of other bridges and the encroachment that has taken place along the former ROW. I'm eternally optomistic when it comes to preserving and restoring rail service but this sounds like the ultimate long shot.

I remember the period, too. Weren't they looking at creating some type of bypass / road in place of the ROW?

I've recommended elsewhere on here some type of branch service, running up to Hopewell Jct from Beacon on the Beacon secondary to access the Hudson division (Tarrytown and Yonkers); and to Southeast on what remains of the main line to access (White Plains and Mt. Vernon). Depending upon running times, one could be a shuttle, one could be a through train to GCT.

I'm not sure if service from PKeepsie along the Maybrook to Southeast makes much sense - yet. Also, how would you access the ROW from the Hudson division? Would that be the Hospital branch I've seen discussed in another thread? That would face a lot of opposition.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: 1634 EST 20070129

I took a look at a track map posted over on the MNRR forum, I think (it's awesome, check it out). The Beacon line is included. A couple of observations: Hopewell appears to be about centered between the Hudson and Harlem, but the way the track meanders, it's actually a good 19 miles away from the Harlem, but only 12 from the Hudson. However, the connection at the Hudson runs from Beacon west to Hudson North. Not the preferred direction, unless you consider reverse commuters into PKeepsie. Otherwise, you'd need a new wye track or some type of reversing movement. I'm not familiar

The connection to the Harlem is in the correct direction, and I think commuting into White Plains from up there is more attractive.

Sarge wrote: I remember the period, too. Weren't they looking at creating some type of bypass / road in place of the ROW?

Yes, I have a map of Dutchess County from that era that actually shows the proposed parkway which was to run from I-84 in East Fishkill to just north of Poughkeepsie. The map shows it running roughly parallel to the rail ROW through Wappinger and LaGrange but I do remember some discussion of actually using the ROW after they starting pulling the tracks.

Catching up;

First, IBM always was and IS BIG BLUE, just as "The River Line" will always be "THE WEST SHORE", no matter what a drooling foamer tells you.

Next, DITTO; STAY OFF THOSE BRIDGES. An employee friend took me out and up on a Lackawanna drawbridge over the Hackensack River in a tropical storm and like our buddy in Binghamton, I don't know how I wasn't blown off. Bridges are without a doubt the most dangerous places you can be stupid enough to allow yourselves to end up on.

That bridge. Nice place for a light rail shuttle between a parking lot somewhere east, a park and ride lot on the west side and a terminus at the soon to be expanded STEWART AIRPORT. That could be a pretty busy line what with people wanting to take the train and get between the airport and east Hudson destinations.

This guy must have had mental problems that he crawled across that bridge. Was he trying to impress a girl, or did he run out of Ritalin two days before?

D/

Why didn't PC or Conrail sell the bridge to another railroad & still retain trackage rights ?
I heard the Lehigh & Hudson River wanted to fix it & the EL wanted to help keep it open.
That way the PC & CR could still have used their new modern yard at Selkirk
& if something happened they could still have used the Poukeepsie Bridge.

gawlikfj wrote:Why didn't PC or Conrail sell the bridge to another railroad & still retain trackage rights?

It's all about route miles and freight charges. Immediately after the fire, traffic from those railroads was diverted to Selkirk in order to get to New England. More miles on PC = more revenue for PC. They would have been foolish to sell to another, competing railroad and short themselves on freight charges.

Hudson Terminus wrote:I was actually just up and around the bridge yesterday taking some pictures. It's obvious even now just how deteriorated they let the bridge get. When I get a chance, I'd like to explore the old main east, but it's also obvious those areas in the city are frequented by un-friendlies....

The more time I spend around that bridge, the more I can't understand that there are some that think that it could ever carry a train again.

too bad the rails arent still intact through the entire line, id suggest a howitzer on rails.

None of the railroads that connected with the NHRR at Maybrook were in a
financial situation where they could afford to buy the property of the NHRR
Maybrook line including the PO bridge.
The industrial base that provided much of the freight traffic of the former
New Haven Railroad was rapidly drying up by the time of the unfortunate
fire on this structure in 1974 and today that industrial base is essentially
history in southern New England.
Noel Weaver

The day after PC (pretty corrupt) day, they sent the brass up to maybrook to clean house and make sure the bridge route and connection was destroyed forever and thats one thing that they managed to succeed at.. Another part of the bridge arson conspiracy that I heard was the RR's involved didn't want New England to have any trade advantages from the bridge traffic. Sounds bizzarre as the reason the bridge was built was to get the anthracite from Penna to the commerce of New England. Bizarre enough to make sense. Guess by 1974 they had the west shore bubble gummed enough to get the frieght to selkirk; I often wondered why they didn't torch it sooner...Anyway u look at it the bridge was doomed long before they torched it....

work safe
Derail

I just found out about the huge Poughkeepsie bridge that closed in '74 after a fire. Can anyone tell me what line this was? Also all the network of trackage after the bridge and the Smith St yard look abandoned. Even is the big industrial parks. When did this all become defunct? Looks like there could be some customers there.

This was the former New Haven RR Maybrook Line. The bridge is now owned by a local group which is working to make it into a hiking and bicycling trail. Tracks on the west side of the river have been removed and the roadbed built over into housing and/or rail trail. The roadbed on the east side from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Junction is owned by Dutchess County and is being converted into a utility corridor and rail trail. Tracks were removed from the Hospital Branch a year or so ago and that section is currently owned by CSX. The County is negotiating with CSX to buy the Hospital Branch to extend the local rail trail.

If the plans work out, the bridge and hospital branch could be open to the public for the 2009 celebration of the anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing up the river.

Chsck out some of the pictures on the following web site.

http://www.lakemirabel.com/Railroad/Pou ... l#2007Walk


Bernie Rudberg

Bernie- doesn't your recent book on the Newburgh, Dutchess & Columbia discuss the bridge?

-otto-

Ahhhhh, but does Bernie's book name the perpetrator who burned the bridge? Was it an accidental fire from an earlier train passage? Was it some miscreant? Or a Conrail stooge, who did his dirty work after Conrail shut down the fire suppression system and reduced staffing to the point where a fire wouldn't be noticed?

The cause of the fire was never determined. The bridge burned in 1974, while Penn Central operated the former New Haven route. There was no "fire-supression system" to disable. Conrail took over April 1, 1976, they had nothing to do with the bridge or the route, except officially abandoning and removing the approaches in 1981.

The Hospital Branch continued to see service through the 1990s. Here is a page that describes Conrail operation as late as 1994.

http://www.trainweb.org/locollection/WAPO10.html

We discussed possible conspiracy theories before. Use the "search" function to find them.

-otto-

The Bridge fire happened during the Penn Central ownership ,not Conrail.
So that would be Penn Central stooge.
Penn Central shut down the suppression system,not Conrail.
Just to set the record straight.