Many thanks to Matt Van Hattem for the work he did in preparing the map on pages 62-63 of the July, 2005, issue of Trains magazine. It is fascinating in its details. I have the pleasure of living close to the LIRR Montauk branch, and, even though much of the equipment is the same, it is good to note the trains and whatever is unusual. For example, this Saturday morning (Saturday of Memorial Day weekend) the railroad sent out an 8-car train of double-deckers to Montauk, 417 in front 418 in the rear. Yes, the Hamptons draw crowds.
I wi***hat someone will write on Commuter trains and the history of Commuter trains on the Northeast Corridor. Trains from PRR, NJt, SEPTA, MARC and others
I agree that Matt and the Trains staff did an excellent job on the map and the comments about the action. I note in fine print a credit to a Robert Wegner who also is credited with some of the other maps in the issue. I was looking for his name on the masthead but at this point he seems to be an unsung contributor.
A little aside from the main point of the article, I noted that of the 457 miles of the NEC only 39 miles in the Washington-New York segment and 62 miles of the New York-Boston segment is without commuter service operations. Just one more reason I believe that the Bush Administration is playing with fire on the matter of funding for
Amtrak. If the goal is to get the respective commuter authorities or the states to kick in more funding for NEC repair and operation, that is fine, but bringing Amtrak to a shut down to “force” the issue is not likly to go well.
Jay
I have always been facinated by the commuter trains in the North East. Having grown up in Yonkders, NY (east side) and at night in Spring-Summer-Fall with the windows open I would hear the trains (especially at night when the air was clear and wind calm) coming through Bronxsville station (located on the old NYC Harlem line), which was about two miles away. Most of the trains were and still are M.U. third rail electrics but some used to be (and likely still are) FL9 powered trains with heavy wight cars. It was on the platrom of the Tuckahoe, NY station while commuting to GCT for about a year in 1974 before moving to the Midwest that I became a confirmed railfan for the rest of my life. I have not been back to Bronxville or Tuckahow for about 25 years but suspect all is pretty much the same today (anybody who can update me, I would appreciate it). Jim
The Harlem line through Tuckahoe had an electrification extension some 16 years ago approximately from North White Plains to North Brewster, now renamed, and for a while all trains were electric through Tuckahoe. But I understand since I left my former firm’s White Plains office (near the NWP Station on Holland Avenue), that some through trains from Wassaic run south during the morning rush hour and return in the evening. You may remember that when intercity trains to Chatham finally quit, passenger service was provided only as far north as Dover Plains, with all trains between DP and Brewster North shuttles, for while single-car RDC trains. But Contrail provided freight service farther north to Wasaic, and eventually Metro North restored passenger service that far, and business had increased greatly, so now there are again at least two diesel trains south in the morning and north in the evening through Tuckahoe (not stopping of course) and these use the dual-power locomotives that can pick-ip from third rail in the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Terminal. Service to Tuckahoe is now every half hour all day on weekdays with extra trains during rush hour, of course, some, running non-stop between Tuckahoe and 125th Street. Express trains bypassing Tuckahoe may also be on a half hour schedule, so you would see four trains an hour through Tuckahoe, a busy place. I think they are about finished with the project for three tracks between Crestwood and Mount Vernon West, so there are some changes from the days you mention.
To Bob, Jay and the rest,
Thanks so much for your comments about the commuter train map. This is something I had wanted to run in the magazine for a long time. The challenge was finding the time to acquire the timetables, then count, count, and recount!!
Jay, you are correct – we could not have done any of the Maps of the Month without the incredible talent of Bob Wegner. He is the illustrator who has the amazing ability to turn the chicken scratches on paper that we give him into works of art for the magazine. I don’t know how he does it, but we’re grateful to him for every issue.
And yes, part of my reasoning to run the commuter train map at this time was to show just how ridiculous it would be to try to run the Northeast Corridor with only $360 million in funding, as the President’s reform plan would do in the event of an Amtrak shutdown.
I grew up in North Jersey – riding the Main/Bergen County Line of Conrail, then NJ Transit. NJT is running more trains through my hometown of Ho-Ho-Kus than there ever were when I lived there. And I’ve been lucky to ride to ride a lot of the LIRR, Metro-North, MARC, and SEPTA routes as well. It was how I was introduced to railroads. The fact that all the agencies have plans to expand – adding miles or buying new equipment – is amazing.
–Matt Van Hattem
Thanks very much daveklepper, I appreciate the update.
SilverChampion expressed a wi***hat someone would write a book about commuter trains. I found this book in the public library. Although it is dated 1979, it is most interesting about New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.
Title: On the 8:02, An Informal History of Commuting by Rail in America.
Author: Lawrence Grow.
Publisher: Mayflower Books, New York
ISBN 8317-6607-7
In our library system, it earned the Dewey number 385.0973.
Because of the cross-reference of some of the subjects on various library catalogs, it might be possible to scare up another book on the same topic, but I have been unsuccessful.
BellmoreBob
The Los Angeles-San Diego route is in a similar situation. Metrolink runs from Los Angeles and the Coaster operates out of San Diego with the two operations meeting at Oceanside.
I understand MARC was thinking about extending its Penn Line commuter service from Perryville, MD to Newark, DE, but I don’t know if that is still on the table.
MARC runs two off-peak local trains between Washington or Baltimore and Perryville which pick up or discharge passengers east of Baltimore in both directions. Moost of MARC’s Penn Line Trains to Perryville deadhead from Baltimore to Perryville in the morning to pick up passengers for Baltimore or Washington, and they deadhead back from Perryville to Baltimore in the evening rush hour.