by NH2060
Last Christmas I finally procured a copy of the late Lou Grogan’s book “The Coming Of The New York & Harlem Railroad” and zeroed in as fast I could on the sections of the book pertaining to the section of the line north of Dover Plains. Of particular note was the “Train Orders and Court Orders” chapter. The amount of information provided is unparalleled and is a must read for anyone who is a fan of just Metro-North.
However after reading that particular chapter thoroughly a few times I’ve started to wonder (and I know this will not go over well with many) if the HVTA made a miscalculation in 1971/1972 in trying to keep the trains running to Chatham vs. keeping service going to Millerton. One detail in particular that got my attention was the HVTA claiming that on the Friday night train out of GCT around 100 passengers detrained at Millerton. A whole 1-1.5 coaches worth of people for just one stop is impressive.
But what about the stops north of there? Was there honestly enough ridership to justify keeping it running the remaining 35 miles? From Brewster you had downtown Patterson, Pawling, the State Hospital/psychiatric hospital at Wingdale, Dover Plains, the State School/psychiatric center near Wassaic and then Millerton. Plenty of ridership catchment in that segment. Once you get beyond there and get to Copake Falls, Hillsdale, Craryville, etc. it’s pure countryside with no population centers at all en route until Chatham with the exception of perhaps Ghent. And the weekend schedule was clearly tailored to cater to people from points south who wanted to go north in the morning and then back in the late afternoon to either see the countryside or visit patients at the 2 psychiatric institutions (which the book notes were a massive ridership draw in the NYC era).
Add in the fact that Millerton was in Dutchess County and the MTA had eventually agreed to fund the Poughkeepsie and Dover Plains commuter rail operations, how much more difficult would it have been to throw in an extra 16 miles of ROW within the same county that serviced the nearest sizeable population center for miles around? It would have surely met the definition of “commuter” vs. “intercity” in the eyes of the ICC being at 93 miles long from GCT (comparable to Hoboken to Port Jervis).
And considering that there was a ridership study and survey conducted in 1978 by the HVTA, Tri-State Planning Commission and the MTA about re-extending rail service to Millerton - in addition to the fact that there was a prior successful ballot initiative that included money to upgrade the tracks (at a time when the town wouldn’t have objected to train service returning like it did 15-20 years later) - an argument could be made that in hindsight the HVTA should have instead fought for a compromise instead of trying the save the entire service route. If that had happened no doubt the trains would still be running there today and probably all the way to the Columbia County border at Mount Riga.
Obviously there was no way of knowing in 1971 exactly what would happen down the line in the years to come. But considering the gradual degradation of passenger and freight service on the Harlem Division since the late 1940s/early 1950s the signs were all pointing to a general idea of what could realistically happen if that downward trend continued.
(If you can find a copy of the book, do it while there are still copies available. You will NOT be disappointed!)
However after reading that particular chapter thoroughly a few times I’ve started to wonder (and I know this will not go over well with many) if the HVTA made a miscalculation in 1971/1972 in trying to keep the trains running to Chatham vs. keeping service going to Millerton. One detail in particular that got my attention was the HVTA claiming that on the Friday night train out of GCT around 100 passengers detrained at Millerton. A whole 1-1.5 coaches worth of people for just one stop is impressive.
But what about the stops north of there? Was there honestly enough ridership to justify keeping it running the remaining 35 miles? From Brewster you had downtown Patterson, Pawling, the State Hospital/psychiatric hospital at Wingdale, Dover Plains, the State School/psychiatric center near Wassaic and then Millerton. Plenty of ridership catchment in that segment. Once you get beyond there and get to Copake Falls, Hillsdale, Craryville, etc. it’s pure countryside with no population centers at all en route until Chatham with the exception of perhaps Ghent. And the weekend schedule was clearly tailored to cater to people from points south who wanted to go north in the morning and then back in the late afternoon to either see the countryside or visit patients at the 2 psychiatric institutions (which the book notes were a massive ridership draw in the NYC era).
Add in the fact that Millerton was in Dutchess County and the MTA had eventually agreed to fund the Poughkeepsie and Dover Plains commuter rail operations, how much more difficult would it have been to throw in an extra 16 miles of ROW within the same county that serviced the nearest sizeable population center for miles around? It would have surely met the definition of “commuter” vs. “intercity” in the eyes of the ICC being at 93 miles long from GCT (comparable to Hoboken to Port Jervis).
And considering that there was a ridership study and survey conducted in 1978 by the HVTA, Tri-State Planning Commission and the MTA about re-extending rail service to Millerton - in addition to the fact that there was a prior successful ballot initiative that included money to upgrade the tracks (at a time when the town wouldn’t have objected to train service returning like it did 15-20 years later) - an argument could be made that in hindsight the HVTA should have instead fought for a compromise instead of trying the save the entire service route. If that had happened no doubt the trains would still be running there today and probably all the way to the Columbia County border at Mount Riga.
Obviously there was no way of knowing in 1971 exactly what would happen down the line in the years to come. But considering the gradual degradation of passenger and freight service on the Harlem Division since the late 1940s/early 1950s the signs were all pointing to a general idea of what could realistically happen if that downward trend continued.
(If you can find a copy of the book, do it while there are still copies available. You will NOT be disappointed!)