NYC Putnam Division Mohansic Branch - Yorktown Heights

Dear Forum,

Back in the mid 1980’s, I was living in Rockland County, NY and made numerous trips to Hartford, CT. Since I have always found Interstate and expressway driving stressful to the point of repugnant, U.S. Route 202 soon became my route of choice. It was a slow, pleasant, relaxing and scenic drive.

Somewhere near Yorktown, I think it was, there was a rather nice state park on the south side of the highway. There were several nature trails that went back in there and I stopped a few times and hiked back into the woods.

After about the second or third time I did this, I realized that part of the nature trail was built over a long abandoned railroad right-of-way. This was a real mystery to me because I was not aware that any rail lines ever operated in the area. Since there are several large reservoirs nearby, I wondered about the possibility of some kind of a line used in the construction of one of the dams. Or perhaps there could’ve been a long abandoned quarry in the area, I don’t know.

Here’s a Mapquest map I tried to attach of the area in question



Or:

http://tinypic.com/r/

Does anyone on the forum have any ideas?

The 1902 topo map:

http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... g&state=NY

1941 topo map:

http://historical.mytopo.com/quad.cfm?q ... &series=15

Looks like the New York Central Railroad.

Thanks, Bigham.

IF you click on this link, http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... g&state=NY

then scroll down you can see where U.S. 202 runs through Yorktown and the State Park. Neither this topo nor the 1902 edition indicate a railroad as ever crossing the road at that location and yet I'm sure I saw evidence of one. Like I said before, even back in 1985 it looked very, very old. Could it have perhaps been a logging rairoad?

I was hoping someone on the forum might be familiar with the area and and perhaps seen this.

Fred M. Cain

It's the Putnam Division of the NYC you're thinking of. I do believe it ran along 202 in Yorktown, and 6 north of there. You may also have noted a branch of the Harlem Division in that area that ran from Golden's Bridge to Mahopac. That branch was not technically part of the Put, although for a brief period after main-line passenger operation stopped it was connected at Mahopac for an around the horn passenger service from GB to Mahopac and back to the Harlem line at Brewster.

Search Putnam Division in either this forum or the New York Central forum; you'll find lots of posts.

Jeff Smith wrote:It's the Putnam Division of the NYC you're thinking of. I do believe it ran along 202 in Yorktown, and 6 north of there. You may also have noted a branch of the Harlem Division in that area that ran from Golden's Bridge to Mahopac. That branch was not technically part of the Put, although for a brief period after main-line passenger operation stopped it was connected at Mahopac for an around the horn passenger service from GB to Mahopac and back to the Harlem line at Brewster.

Jeff,

I thought of that but I don't think what I saw was the "Put" - it was way too old. Back in 1985 it was still plainly evident where the Put ran and might even be today. The abandoned roadbed in the state park was just too old - it might've even dated to the 1800's. Besides, none of the topo maps we looked at indicated either the Put or its branches inside the state park.

-Fred M. Cain

Wasn't sure you aware of the Put.

ou know, there were some branches of the Put; one I think was built to a state mental hospital that might have been around there. It was not in use very long, if at all, and abandoned promptly. The Mohansic branch, I believe.

Otto would know this for sure. He has a book out on forgotten railroads; try www.nywbry.com

Jeff,

This is the way I remember it. I could park my car along the south side of U.S. 202 and there was a “hiking trail” that went back into the woods in a generally southerly direction.

It was a very, very easy walk at first on a trail that was almost perfectly level. Then, after several hundred or a thousand feet or so, the trail took a sharp jog and went down a steep hill. From that point on, it was a real, genuine hiking trail. After I made this jog a couple of times, I realized that the first part of the trail was built on an abandoned right-of-way of some sort. Looking closer at the point where the trail jogged, I could see the right-of-way continuing completely covered over with brush and small trees.

Here’s a map:

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/attac ... pofFDR.jpg

It’s one of those dotted lines on there. I will follow up with your suggestion and check out Otto’s book. Unfortunately, that might be hit or miss since I have probably discovered something that’s so obscure that it flew under the radar.

In the last 150 years there have been thousands upon thousands of different kinds of rail operations like logging, quarry and other industrial operations and then there were the trolley lines. There were also planned rail lines – some of which got graded but never actually received rails – before their construction was aborted.

I might contact the people at the park to see if anyone there knows. That will probably be hit or miss too. I also can’t quite dismiss the possibility that what I saw was never a rail line at all but something else.

Fred M. Cain

Jeff Smith wrote: you know, there were some branches of the Put; one I think was built to a state mental hospital that might have been around there. It was not in use very long, if at all, and abandoned promptly. The Mohansic branch, I believe.

Otto would know this for sure. He has a book out on forgotten railroads; try http://www.nywbry.com

You know Jeff, the more I think about this, I wonder if you might be right after all. I was reading about “The Put” on Wikipedia and it stated on there that the Mohansic Branch *DID* leave the Put’s mainline at Yorktown Heights. That would most certainly have placed it in the right neighborhood.

Unfortunately, Wiki doesn’t mention what direction that the branch headed in. Did it head east or west from the Put’s mainline? Does anybody know?

If it headed toward the north-northwest, that would’ve run it right through the area that I saw. Also, if it was as short lived as you said, that would explain why we couldn’t find it on the topo map. The short branch hadn’t been built yet in 1902 to appear on that edition and most of the right-of-was was largely obliterated by 1941.

Generally speaking, the USGS only indicates “old railroad grades” when they are still obvious at the time of the survey. This tenuous branch might have well receded enough into the woods that they didn’t bother to show it on the 1941 edition.

Do you know if the Mohansic branch is mentioned in the book? Even if it is not, this book sound interesting and I will probably order it.

Thanks for the tip.

Fred M. Cain

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohansic_State_Hospital:

"In 1911, a spur from the New York and Putnam Railroad was built from Yorktown Heights and across Crom Pond to the site. Construction of the hospital was underway, starting with three "cottages" which housed 165 inmates. Strang Cottage was the site of the murder of 19 year-old hospital attendant Charles Wiley, Jr. on July 4, 1913." In 1918 signed a bill which abandoned the hospital project."

So it was there from 1911 to circa 1918.

1911 map shows at least part of it: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... +Somers+2/

The ROW from Mohansic Ave East on into almost Yorktown Heights still very much in place at about N 41.27323 W 73.79976 and eastward acrosse Baldwin Rd towards Saw Mill Rd at Downing Dr.

Supposedly "it crossed Crom pond on a wooden trestle" If so the 1911 map is wrong and it may have crossed the pond at about N 41.27611 W 73.80102 ?? Anyone know where the Mohansic spur left the Boys camp spur to head North?

I checked a few sources; the branch was short-lived, circa 1918 or so. The hospital was never built (the state cancelled it), so it's possible a train never even ran on it, it's possible tracks were never laid, and only grading was done.

The book is well worth it.

Wish I saw this thread earlier. Mohansic Branch is most likely the ROW you found. I wanted to map the branch, but ran out of room in the book.

I'll post some maps to my flickr account tonight that should shed some light on the situ.

-otto-

Okay, here you go. See if this jives with your discovery...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomatic77/5350717386

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomatic77/5350104489

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomatic77/5350104391

I really wanted to include some more detail about this in the book, but we just ran out of room...

-otto-

Take a look at Topo mode in mapper.acme.com. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.27510,-73.78598&z=15&t=T
The ROW is clear as a road (purple lines) just southeast of Crom Pond, although if you toggle into modern street mode (click on "map" on the top right), nothing remains as a street except for a the short stretch of Downing Dr. near "downtown" Yorktown Heights.
JS

Dear Jeff, Otto, Carter and "bigham",

Thanks so much for your help and responses on this intriguing curiosity. I do believe you have solved the mystery for me. The only remaining small mystery to me is that I remember the old roadbed going clear out very nearly to the edge of U.S. 202. Not sure why it went that far but unless someone turns up a track diagram for the area we may never know for sure.

When you stop and think about this, the whole thing is really amazing. A long abandoned right-of-way out in the middle of nowhere in a rather out of the way state park. Then, once you helped me figure that out, theres the notion that there was this huge state hospital out there that in fact never really was. Who would have thought of that?

I can tell you this right now, without the Internet and this forum, I would've probably *NEVER* found the answers to this mystery.

Thanks again - oh, and Otto - I will most definitely get your book!

Fred M. Cain

CarterB wrote: So it was there from 1911 to circa 1918.

1911 map shows at least part of it: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... +Somers+2/

The ROW from Mohansic Ave East on into almost Yorktown Heights still very much in place at about N 41.27323 W 73.79976 and eastward acrosse Baldwin Rd towards Saw Mill Rd at Downing Dr.

Supposedly "it crossed Crom pond on a wooden trestle" If so the 1911 map is wrong and it may have crossed the pond at about N 41.27611 W 73.80102 ?? Anyone know where the Mohansic spur left the Boys camp spur to head North?

One final thing I’d like to say about this. I printed this map out (labeled “35” – whatever that means) along with the 1941 USGS topo map. The map labeled “35” shows the Mohansic branch terminating right near the southwestern end of Mohansic Lake. However, a puzzling feature of this map is the fact that it also indicates two curious spurs on either side of the “Little Pond of Mohansic Lake” (later Crom Pond). One of the two appears to be dashed out near the end which was perhaps intended to indicate either “planned” or “under construction”. As you pointed out, however, they may have later decided to built a trestle.

I believe, based on my recollections, that one of these two “spurs” at one time extended northward all the way to U.S. 202 since that’s where I first spotted it. It might have even crossed what eventually became known as U.S. 202 although I never found any evidence of that. As discussed elsewhere on this thread, it may or may not have actually received rails and ties – who knows?

To me, this whole thing seems like a rather bizarre and intriguing piece of historical railroad trivia. If only we could’ve somehow talked about this a couple of decades or so ago, perhaps there might’ve been a few retired and elderly NYC employees left alive who might’ve remembered some of this. But they are most certainly all gone now.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain