Harlem Division Abandoned Crossing of Taconic State Parkway

Using the “Open Railway Map”, the NYC Harlem Division is shown to have formerly crossed the Taconic State Parkway in the immediate vicinity of County Route 11 and NY State Route 23 in Craryville, NY. Evidence of the rail ROW at the immediate TSP location is barely visible on Google Maps, presumably because of regrading following rail removal. Did the Harlem ROW originally cross the TSP via a bridge or an underpass, and about what year were the structures removed? Thanks!

Looking at the area on Google street-view it appears Rte. 23 was elevated so I would assume it crossed over the Harlem Division on an overpass. I can't speak as to when the area was filled in so I'll leave that to others who would know better.

Charlie

I have the book "From Gotham to The Berkshires" at home which has tons of photos, I'll paw through tonight after I get home and see if there's anything in it.

One of my customers is also an ex-Conrail/PC MoW supervisor who worked the territory, I'll pick his brain next time I see him.

I did look through historical aerials online, and it looks like the railroad traveled under the Taconic via an underpass from what I can see with the fuzzy pictures from the mid-80's. That would make sense, the Parkway is banked up pretty good through there and crests a hill traveling north past the exit for 23.

Thank you Naugy for the book refence. I just ordered a copy as I was not aware of its publication. I travel Route 22 and the Taconic Parkway often. And as a consequence I have developed a special interest in the abandoned northern ROW of the Harlem Division, the maze of former ROW's in the Boston Corner, NY area, the former Chatham, NY railyard, and of course the abandoned Rutland Corkscrew Division ROW.

Not a problem jfloehr. I think you'll be happy with the book, I grabbed a copy from the train show at the State Plaza in Albany last year and have zero regrets. I did paw through it last night and didn't see any photos with the line intersecting the Parkway, but am almost 100% certain it was a bridge that crossed over the line. Here's the screenshot from Historic Aerials...

That aerial shot is from '86. The next available one is from '94 and it shows the ROW filled in, so somewhere in that 8 year gap they filled it.

I have a similar fascination with the upper Harlem. I've lived in the area my entire life and was a kid when Wassaic Station was built, so seeing the ROW go from overgrown to used has sort of sparked curiosity into what the rest of the route looked like.

Agree - the 1986 aerial shows a structural bridge taking the TSP over the ROW and it has been removed as of the 1994 aerial. So the crossing was removed sometime in the interim years. I traveled the TSP occasionally during that timeframe, but missed the construction activity.

Probably for the better. They finally finished paving the upper section between Chatham and 90, and that has been less than stellar travel while they had the lanes uneven/singled. I'm sure having that bridge out while the ROW was filled was not a fun detour.

I was up through that section of the Parkway on Sunday and you'd have no idea it was fill.

"....and you'd have no idea it was fill."

Right on Naugy - that is why I originally posted my question - anyone interested in the abandoned upper Harlem Division driving the TSP must wonder, because the history is invisible today. Thanks again.

Out of curiosity I took a look at the website listed and it was fascinating to comb through those old aerial images of various places. One thing I noticed was that Black Grocery Bridge also was not removed until sometime between 1986 and 1994 even though the tracks were torn up in 1979. And actually if you look up current imagery on Google Maps you can see that apparently some of the actual trackage between Martindale and Chatham was never torn up, just abandoned. You’ll have to retrace it with a diligent eye to spot them, but they do exist. Perhaps some older imagery will yield clearer results; trees have clearly taken over in those spots.

NaugyRR wrote:I have the book "From Gotham to The Berkshires" at home which has tons of photos, I'll paw through tonight after I get home and see if there's anything in it.

I was thinking of gifting myself this book last Christmas (along with Lou Grogan’s NY & Harlem book which is a true masterpiece), but haven’t gotten around to it yet. How much of the book is spent on the section of the line north of Dover Plains? I just might go for it if said content is substantial enough!

NaugyRR wrote:I was up through that section of the Parkway on Sunday and you'd have no idea it was fill.

I remember almost 20 years ago being in the car on a ski trip to MA and despite it being so early in the morning I was hoping to spot where the ROW crossed the road. I honestly can’t remember how I figured out beforehand where the ROW passed through (maybe I looked at aerial images online first), but I recall finding it in real life in the vicinity of those power lines and thinking “well that was underwhelming”

NaugyRR wrote:I have a similar fascination with the upper Harlem. I've lived in the area my entire life and was a kid when Wassaic Station was built, so seeing the ROW go from overgrown to used has sort of sparked curiosity into what the rest of the route looked like.

Great minds! Same age group too haha. Even though I grew up along the New Haven Line school field trips and family car rides took me near/alongside the Harlem Line starting when I was 4 or 5 years old so at some point my interest in the “upper” Upper Harlem grew.

There’s also a Christmas cartoon from the early ‘90s about a talking mouse who visits her cousin in NYC and I’m convinced her home town was loosely based on Wassaic and she rides the 1900 era NYC Harlem Division (even though in real life there was/is no massive red bridge along the line). The fact that her train arrives in the pre-electrification Grand Central Station train shed convinces me even more..

NH2060 wrote:And actually if you look up current imagery on Google Maps you can see that apparently some of the actual trackage between Martindale and Chatham was never torn up, just abandoned. You’ll have to retrace it with a diligent eye to spot them, but they do exist. Perhaps some older imagery will yield clearer results; trees have clearly taken over in those spots.

I never noticed this before, but you're right. I knew there was a fair amount still left in Chatham proper, but yeah, there's still a good chunk south if you follow close on Google Maps.

NH2060 wrote:I was thinking of gifting myself this book last Christmas (along with Lou Grogan’s NY & Harlem book which is a true masterpiece), but haven’t gotten around to it yet. How much of the book is spent on the section of the line north of Dover Plains? I just might go for it if said content is substantial enough!

The book goes over the route station by station, location by location, with at least a couple of pages dedicated to each as well as segments on special locations and events. I'd say about a quarter to a third of the book covers the locales of the northern leg, with excellent photos that would be a bear to find online. You would be absolutely thrilled with it. Check Ron's Books or some of the sellers on eBay for better prices. I think I paid $50 for my copy at the Albany train show a couple of years ago.

NH2060 wrote:I honestly can’t remember how I figured out beforehand where the ROW passed through (maybe I looked at aerial images online first), but I recall finding it in real life in the vicinity of those power lines and thinking “well that was underwhelming”

LOL yeah, it's really nothing special at all. I go up and down through there at least two to three weekends a month to see my father-in-law and the only reason I even glance at the ROW through there is because I know it's there.

NH2060 wrote:Great minds! Same age group too haha. Even though I grew up along the New Haven Line school field trips and family car rides took me near/alongside the Harlem Line starting when I was 4 or 5 years old so at some point my interest in the “upper” Upper Harlem grew.

I grew up in Sharon and graduated from Housatonic in Falls Village, with frequent visits to my grandparents in Dover Plains and my aunt in Waterbury... so my youth was a big mish-mash of the Harlem, Berkshire, and Naugatuck lines. This made me a New Haven buff from a young age, but ironically I never rode the Main Line until I was an adult LOL.

NH2060 wrote:There’s also a Christmas cartoon from the early ‘90s about a talking mouse who visits her cousin in NYC

Is this the movie?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242389/

NaugyRR wrote:I never noticed this before, but you're right. I knew there was a fair amount still left in Chatham proper, but yeah, there's still a good chunk south if you follow close on Google Maps.

Sadly, almost all of the Chatham proper “street” trackage was torn up within the past decade or so One could still see the tracks on StreetView crossing all those driveways. The bumper block near the gas station is still there, but no one would have known there was at one time a main line railroad unless you told them. Even the yard is just basically a dirt pit. When I was on the Lake Shore Limited this past October I tried to get a view of it and there was barely any trace of the Harlem to be found. There are more visible remains of the North Adams branch at Pittsfield which are still used by local freight trains for staging, etc.

NaugyRR wrote:The book goes over the route station by station, location by location, with at least a couple of pages dedicated to each as well as segments on special locations and events. I'd say about a quarter to a third of the book covers the locales of the northern leg, with excellent photos that would be a bear to find online. You would be absolutely thrilled with it. Check Ron's Books or some of the sellers on eBay for better prices. I think I paid $50 for my copy at the Albany train show a couple of years ago.

I’ll have to get a copy of the book then, thanks for the recommendation! I never heard of it until by chance I came across an old post on the author’s FB page and he mentioned that he was putting together a book. And yes you’re absolutely right finding photos of the northern end online is a very tall order.

NaugyRR wrote:Is this the movie?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242389/

Yup, that’s the one!