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Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

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 #38305  by NJTKid01
 
As a teenage NJT fan, I rarely get a chance to ride Metro North railroad, but through my 5 times riding it from GCT to White Plains, Bridgeport, South Norwalk, and New Haven. As I went on these trips, I saw many train stations that were really unecessary in the places that they were. In my opinion, Melrose (E. 162 St) and Tremont (E. 177 St) ought to be close, because both of these stations don't even look like train stations, they look like abandoned tunnels, especially Melrose. I mean, I had too hug close to the window, to even get a "quick preview" of the station. There were no lights (every lightly dim or barely seen) and a rusty sign that stated that the stop was "MELROSE". But, Tremont wasn't as bad as Melrose, but the Tremont (GCT BOUND) platform was almost cracking from several spot, that I was able to check out. It seems like Metro North are going to "call-it-quits" for these stops, since the condition of these stops are kept like they are now. I mean, Metro North could shell-out some money, I mean, they aren't dirt pour.

 #38345  by DutchRailnut
 
First you say they are un nessecary, then you want them to spend ?? Melrose and Tremont for years did get very limited service, the schedules now include a lot more stops at these two stations , and work is progressing on new staircases etc. the lights are fine in both stations.
 #38372  by Noel Weaver
 
Melrose and Tremont are not heavily used but they are used and some of
the use is reverse commuting. They are there and it would not make any
sense to close them.
An attempt to close them was made back in the 1980's while I was still
working for Metro-North and it was nixed then, if it comes up again, it
probably will be nixed again.
Very little time or energy is used in making these two stops.
Noel Weaver

 #38452  by Otto Vondrak
 
There are working people in those neighborhoods that use those stations to get to work. The stations may not be the prettiest, and may look unused, but people need them. Will MN spend any more money on them to pretty them up? No. Will they spend money to keep the lights on and the stairs clear? Yes.

-otto-

 #38589  by Robert Paniagua
 
I know, and in fact, there IS an abandoned station along the ROW described, that is under an apartment building as the Harlem and New Haven Lines pass under, but the lights are pretty much out, and the only evidence that I see are the stairs which are gated off and the platfourm. I've seen this from the New Haven Line train (which I come from even from the Boston Area).

 #38621  by DutchRailnut
 
I know and infact as engineer for mncr there are no abandoned stations, only station under apartment buildings are morris heights on hudson and melrose on harlem, both are used and not boarded up. there are 3 emergency exits in park aveneu tunnel but those were not regular stops, and have no street acces other than emergency steps commimg up tru sidwalk panels.

 #38645  by 7 Train
 
I remember until 1999, there was limited weekday service and no weekend service at Melrose and Tremont. Nowadays, there is regular weekend service to those two stops.

 #38649  by Otto Vondrak
 
There are other abandoned stations on the segment from Fordham-138th Street... but those were abandoned back in 1972 (or before)...

You want to talk about useless stations? How about Thornwood. Oh wait, we took care of that in 1984. Hrmm. How about Purdy's?

-otto-

 #38658  by DutchRailnut
 
All old stations in Bronx that were not used were low platform and were broken up years ago during the concrete tie project. Thornwood is gone and Purdy's is one of busier stations these days and even has an 8 car platform.
 #38678  by Noel Weaver
 
I will tell you a situation that happened to me years ago on the Harlem.
It was the time when the third rail had just been put officially into service
between North White Plains and Brewster and I asked and got paid to
qualify on that territory as there were going to be some afternoon jobs on
the new crew sheet that spring out of New York that were going to include
Brewster as part of or all of the run.
I took the written examination as required on a Thursday or Friday or
whatever and on the Saturday before the time change, I went to North
White where there were going to do a simulation of a weekday of full
service to fully test the third rail, substations and all of the other stuff that
goes into a 600 volt third rail electrification. Spent the day running trains
between Brewster North and North White Plains and at the end of that
day, was fully qualified to run to Brewster by the Road Foreman.
The next day, Sunday, I had picked a job that consisted of one round trip
from GCT to Brewster in the afternoon rush hour. Saturday and Sunday
were my days off.
That Sunday morning, I got a call from the crew dispatcher to work a job
on the Harlem which included a round trip to Brewster followed by a round
trip to North White Plains. The particular train that I had to run to Brewster was scheduled to stop at Mount Pleasant and in my qualifying
trips, I had never made the stop in either direction, very few trains made
that stop and none in the rush hour.
I left Valhalla with two FL-9's and about five old rattle box coaches with
what was less than ideal brakes at the time. I almost forgot about the
stop even though I had the schedule written down in front of me on a card
for easy reference. I came barralleling up and had to wind the brake on
kind of hard and just stop, then let the crew spot the one door on a high
level platform that held one door.
We stopped at that station with the door they were using on that platform
and the crew must have thought these New Haven guys are something
else. Just an accident, believe me.
Never could do it again, and never ever had to with standard equipment,
next time I covered that Sunday job up there, everything on weekends
was MU and almost everything on weekdays was too.
I did have 979 and 990 as a regular job for several months and 979 was
standard equipment for quite a while as there was still not enough M-3's
to cover everything.
Don't think the commuters were sorry to see the diesel equipment
replaced by M-1's and M-3's though, the diesel trains toward the end were
quite bad, the AC rarely worked, the cars stunk, the toilets did not work,
there was no water in them, the batteries were weak and sometimes the
lights would not work when the train stopped moving and often they had
to endure smoke in the tunnel too as most of the FL-9's did not work on
electric. Sometimes we did not even get FL-9's, they were using Amtrak
E-8's and the GE B-23-7's on those trains sometimes too.
This was the summer of 1984, the last year that I ran FL-9's on a regular
basis although I still ran them some after that.
Noel Weaver

 #38795  by NJTKid01
 
Melrose and Tremont for years did get very limited service, the schedules now include a lot more stops at these two stations , and work is progressing on new staircases etc. the lights are fine in both stations.- DutchRailNut
Going back to what, DutchRailNut was saying about how Melrose and Tremont stations have "fine" lights in both stations. You can make a case concerning Tremont, since its a stop that is open-cut, but c'mon Melrose. Melrose, is "BURIED" and there about like 2 or 3 light bulbs on each side of the station and the lighting is fine. I don't think so.
 #38926  by thedarkliberator
 
What are you talking about NJT. These stations are used maybe a dozen or so times a day. My 8:03 to north white (7:53 in GCT) stops at both stations. 10 people get on maybe 1 or 2 disembark. It puts you 2-5 minutes back at most to make these stops as compared to travelling to fordham directly. It costs the MTA 12 or so hours of electricity to light flourescent light bulbs, and just enough upkeep to prevent a law suit, that is all. The speed decrease for express trains is minimal from my observations, with a couple of blows from the horn and that train is going to white plains in about 15 minutes.
However I do think that some work should be done around the area, to show that there is a metro north station around in the community. Make it more visible and increase ridership. In doing this it might make relax traffic on the roads. Signposts cost little money and the purchasing of these is close to a one time cost. A little more advertising in the community, not just the immediate area could do some good!
Last edited by thedarkliberator on Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 #38975  by Terminal Proceed
 
There are plenty of signposts above the ground around the Melrose station to indicate that railroad station is below. Trust me - I have spent a lot of time in that area.

 #40105  by Lackawanna484
 
Mount Pleasant is a tiny platform, maybe 15 feet in all. Anybody who can center the door on that platform is an artist. genius. casey, etc.

Mount Pleasant is only served by 2 or 3 trains in each direction daily. It's in the middle of two huge cemeteries, and there's only one tiny platform, accessible by the LAST door on the last car, IIRC. Count your markers very carefully...

 #40381  by NJTKid01
 
Lackawanna484, I haven't had the chance to see the Mount Pleasant station, despite several years of trying to go their, since one of my family members are buried there. How many Metro North can literally fit on that platform? Also, How much ridership, Does the stations log in annually?
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