Putnam Division passenger service

[Tommy Meehan]

Check eBay too. There was a 1924 Putnam Division employee timetable sold a few weeks ago. I think the winning bid was about twenty bucks. There's none at the moment, at least none old enough that would show passenger service. Keep checking and you'll find something.

Train shows is another good idea, timetables seem to be very common. And no matter where you're located you find timetables for big roads like NYC.

I wanted to add a "you're welcome" to Charlie's thank you for the ETT scan. My pleasure. In fact since I've been daydreaming about how I could've taken the Put to work -- if I'd been born fifty years earlier (except I'd no longer be around) -- I'm more aware than ever that I have another Put connection. I stop at a Dunkin Donuts on Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers in a small shopping center called Mile Square Plaza. I usually park in the upper parking lot and when I do I'm on the grounds of the old Nepperhan station. About where the freighthouse was I think.

[Noel Weaver]

Since the topic of employee timetables was raised, would anyone have suggestions regarding dealers or other sources for Putnam Division ETTS or combined Putnam/Harlem Division ETTS? I have but a precious few at this point and would like to acquire more if possible.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or input.

Bob

I have a couple of extras from the early to mid 50's, I might be interested in selling one or two, price would be in accordance with NAOTC guidelines. If you are interested, please send me a private message.
Noel Weaver

[Otto Vondrak]

Since the topic of employee timetables was raised, would anyone have suggestions regarding dealers or other sources for Putnam Division ETTS or combined Putnam/Harlem Division ETTS? I have but a precious few at this point and would like to acquire more if possible.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or input.

Bob

Train shows, ebay, the usual suspects. Just don't bid against me

I don't have anything older than 1932, and I'm really looking for examples pre-1930 that would show the old route through Tarrytown Heights and Pocantico Hills. Also would love to have an example pre-1916 that would show service via the swingbridge to 155th Street terminal. I only came across on ETT from 1916 but it was $75 and a bit too rich for my blood at the time.

-otto-

[Noel Weaver]

Otto, I think you should have sprung for the $75.00 for a timetable that old of a long abandoned stretch of track. It seems like a lot but I doubt if there are very many timetables still around this old. I have one from 1912 and another from 1924, I do not plan to sell them as they are one of a kind in my collection but if I were to the price would be around the same price that you turned down or maybe even a bit more.
A bit of advice to all who are interested in timetables and especially old timetables, buy or trade or whatever for them but take good care of them if you can, store them in decent conditions, paper and staples can deteriorate, if the staples are rusty then remove them and replace them if possible, line a small piece of paper for the new staples on the inside center fold to keep the stpales from the original paper and protect it too. Most important if you intend to read it often, make a copy of it and include each page then you can read until your heart's content without wear on your collector's item. Plastic sleeves are a good protection but I have several thousand timetables here and it is just too much to enclose all of them in plastic. Collecting timetables has been a fun hobby for me for a long time and today i spend many hours browsing through them especially when somebody asks a question and I have to dig in my cabinets.
Noel Weaver

[Jack Shufelt]

Noel,

So what has been your major focus Northeastern Railroads or all RR's? You seem to have many NYC RR and NYNH&H RR ETT's.

Jack

[Earle Baldwin]

Thanks to all for the advice regarding timetable acquisition. Mr. Weaver, I've sent you a PM.

Through a for sale ad on another forum, I recently purchased a stack of twenty or so NYC ETTs. Included were two Putnam Division timetables: Number 17 dated 4/29/23 and combined Harlem/Putnam Number 77 dated 4/25/54. I'd be happy to scan in the contents of the older one for the thread as soon as time allows.

Thank you again all,

Bob

[Otto Vondrak]

Noel,

So what has been your major focus Northeastern Railroads or all RR's? You seem to have many NYC RR and NYNH&H RR ETT's.

Jack

Probably best addressed in a private message to Noel. This thread is about Putnam Division passenger service. Thanks

-otto-

[Noel Weaver]

I realize this is about the Putnam Division but I am going to answer the question here anyway because I don't want to type my answer more than once.
With regard to employee timetables I have concentrated on the New Haven over the years and have nearly all of them from about 1920 on. On the New York Central I got a later start but have concentrated on Grand Central Terminal and the Electric Division, the River Division, the Hudson/Mohawk and finally the Harlem and Putnam. I have a representative collection but nowhere near complete collection of New York Central timetables. You could say my concentration is in the Northeast but I have others from all over the US and some from Canada too. They are good history lessons.
Noel Weaver

[Otto Vondrak]

So I just discovered Putnam Division employee timetables from 1913 and 1922 in my collection. Did we have specific questions that a scan of a page might answer?

-otto-

[Tommy Meehan]

I'd like to see a scan of the Yonkers Branch schedule in 1913. In 1913 the Put trains still went to 155th Street in Manhattan didn't they, via the Putnam Bridge? Yet the Yonkers Branch (Getty Square) trains remained steam-powered until about 1927. [The same year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs at nearby Yankee Stadium. ]

[Otto Vondrak]

Yeah and there was a train from 155th Street to Getty Square just about every 20 minutes, too. Let me see what I can do. It's many pages!

-otto-

[Tommy Meehan]

Below is a scan of a Putnam Div ETT page from June 1905 showing the line between 155th Street and Elmsford. The line is still steam-powered, the southern terminus is still the El station at 8th Avenue and W. 155th St. The Yonkers Branch is a twenty-four hour operation.



There seems to be one mystery, Train No. 81, shown as the "Yonkers and Elmsford Local." This is obviously two trains but there is only one train number listed and the point where they separate is not shown. That strikes me as odd, being that this is an employee timetable. The Yonkers trains also ran with different (smaller) locomotives and coaches than did the trains running on the Put mainline to Elmsford and Brewster. There is also no 'gap' in the train numbering on the Yonkers Branch. The train before 81 is No. 111 and the train afterwards is No. 113. I didn't see anything in the ETT that would explain it.

Here's a link to the Canada Southern site with the June 1905 Putnam Division ETT. Scroll down and click on the ETT's image. It opens in pdf. Link

[Union Tpke]

Where is the location of the old Ardsley station. I know someone who lives in Ardsley, but they don't know where it was.
This is what I get on Wikipedia " Off NY 9A between Saw Mill River Parkway and New York State Thruway."

[R Paul Carey]

The Ardsley photo was taken from the Ashford Avenue Bridge, looking north. The station, as you see it in this photo, is in its "final" location, having once been moved when the Ashford Ave. overpass was first built (replacing the grade crossing at that location).

[scoostraw]

Anyone have a "now" shot of what this location looks like today?