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  • Patterson, New York

  • Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.
Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1089323  by AMK0123
 
Was in Patterson today and I was curious of the following. It looks like there is the remains of a siding just north of the Patterson station. It looks to have connected to the main line just south of Route 311. Also, down the main line there looked to be a siding coming off the main just south of Route 164 and north of the Maybrook line bridge. Was curious as to when these sidings were last active and the names of any customers that they may have served...
 #1089432  by Backshophoss
 
Patterson(SA) had a passing siding in the past,Lloyd Lumber had a spur track there as well.
If you can find a copy of Lou Grogan's Book;The Coming of The New York and Harlem RR,
take a look at pages 168-170 for sme of thr history of the station
 #1089469  by RussNelson
 
AMK0123 wrote:Was in Patterson today and I was curious of the following. It looks like there is the remains of a siding just north of the Patterson station. It looks to have connected to the main line just south of Route 311. Also, down the main line there looked to be a siding coming off the main just south of Route 164 and north of the Maybrook line bridge. Was curious as to when these sidings were last active and the names of any customers that they may have served...
There used to be a siding between the Maybrook line and the Harlem line, branching off from Harlem and paralleling the Maybrook line.

According to the USGS Topo map, there used to be a passing siding at the Patterson station and to the south of it.

And ... looking at the map and aerial photo, it would be *wicked* awesome to build a house on the summit of Pine Island in the middle of The Great Swamp. The difficulty, of course, would be getting to it. I think a hovercraft would be needed.
 #1089480  by Backshophoss
 
THe orignal interchange with the New Haven was at Towners where the Maybrook crossed the Harlem Main,it morphed over the years
into CP DYKE(Dykeman's)when Conrail existed.
The entire history of Dykeman's and Towners and the interchange in Lou Grogan's book,pages160-167,
If you can locate a copy to view
 #1089593  by Otto Vondrak
 
Backshophoss wrote:THe orignal interchange with the New Haven was at Towners where the Maybrook crossed the Harlem...
I thought the NH-NYC interchange was at traditionally at Brewster and was moved to Dykemans in 1979 with a new connection built by Conrail?
 #1089607  by AMK0123
 
Thank you all for your responses: I was with Otto, I thought the old connection was in Brewster behind Kobackers market, in the area of N. Main st and Crosby road. The siding near Maybrook did look to have come off the Harlem and parallel to the Maybrook. There looks to have been some buildings there in the past (old concrete foundations there now). As for Patterson, you can see that the ROW is quiet wide near the station so I can definetly see a passing siding going through there and as for the siding it looks to have gone up to a concrete platform. The platform and the siding are still somewhat intacted under the brush. I will look into obtaining a copy of the book you suggested.
 #1089617  by RedbirdR33
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:
Backshophoss wrote:THe orignal interchange with the New Haven was at Towners where the Maybrook crossed the Harlem...
I thought the NH-NYC interchange was at traditionally at Brewster and was moved to Dykemans in 1979 with a new connection built by Conrail?

Otto: It was. At the point where the Putnam Division joined the Harlem Division it split into a wye with one track going north into the passenger yard and another going south into Brewster Station. A third track in the middle continued due east crossing the Harlem Main on a trestle. It then turned south and merged into the New York and New England (going east). There was also a direct connection between from the Harlem Line going north (railroad west) out of Brewster Station that turned east and connected into the Putnam track mentioned above and then into the NY & NE. The trestle was placed in service in 1881. It burned down in 1907 . I do not know when the track connection between the Harlem and the NY & NE was broken but in 1976 Conrail installed a connection further north which became known as CP DYKE. Today this is CP 155. Perhaps some of those more familiar with this area can fill in the details.

Larry, RedbirdR33
 #1089625  by TomNelligan
 
I do not know when the track connection between the Harlem and the NY & NE was broken but in 1976 Conrail installed a connection further north which became known as CP DYKE.
I don't have a date either, but it wasn't there in the mid-1960s when I first explored the area. The Dykeman's connection became necessary when the local freight that covered the upper Harlem Division began to originate at Danbury.
 #1089733  by Backshophoss
 
Spent some time in the Brewster area,never did see any abd roadbed for the old interchange to the Maybrook,
but it does explain part of the "Blacked out" section on trk 1 on Brewster's model board.
Lou Grogan's book doesn't state a date for when the interchange moved to Dykeman's/Towners area(AKA TOWER X)
back in the NYCentral era, or a date for when the track was removed.
At the end of the Penn Central era,there were 2 local freights out of Put Jct., JN-2 and JN-Z
JN-2 would run at night between Put Jct and North White Plains yard,swap cars with a local out of Oak Point,
JN-Z ran between Put Jct and End of track (Wassaic).
Not long after Conrail was created,they consoldated the "middle/upper" Harlem local out of Danbury,
Symboled "WNDA-1" (aka "wanda 1" on the radio),a night runner,would barely make Grand Union at
Mt Kisco before the am rush.
 #1092435  by TCurtin
 
The connection between the Harlem and the NH Maybrook Line ("behind Kobacker's" as somebody mentioned) was removed around 1960, long before CP Dyke was constructed north of there. Dyke was put in in 1975-76, in the last gasp of Penn Central.

I can't comment on whatever might have been at Towners in the old days. I do own Lou Grogan's book and will look for this
 #1092689  by Noel Weaver
 
TCurtin wrote:The connection between the Harlem and the NH Maybrook Line ("behind Kobacker's" as somebody mentioned) was removed around 1960, long before CP Dyke was constructed north of there. Dyke was put in in 1975-76, in the last gasp of Penn Central.

I can't comment on whatever might have been at Towners in the old days. I do own Lou Grogan's book and will look for this
The connection at Dyke was put in to accomodate freight that would have otherwise operated from Chatham. The last train to Chatham ran immediately before the start up of Conrail in late March, 1976. The connection at Dyke allowed for freight to come out of Selkirk via Beacon and either move to Danbury to be moved to the Harlem via a local freight or to be switched from a through freight train at Dyke to a local. For the most part the stuff went to Danbury and then backtracked via a local although the through job might have made a run down to Put Junction at times to deliver the cars there.
Noel Weaver
 #1093007  by Tommy Meehan
 
If the old connection at Brewster was pulled out in 1960 and the new connection at CP Dyke wasn't built until the early 1970s where did NYC-NH interchange there in the interim? Or did they?

Fwiw, you can (or you could, I haven't stopped by there in many years) see some traces of the old connection if you knew where to look. Not much as I recall, but there were some traces. Mostly east of North Main Street. The athletic field west of Main really obliterated any signs of the interchange track

FWIW, I used to ride the midday Budd car between Brewster and Wingdale in the early Conrail era. I saw the local out of Danbury at CP Dyke many times
 #1093146  by Noel Weaver
 
Whatever interchange that took place in the 50's between the New Haven and the New York Central did not amount to much if any. Interchange up until the late 50's took place at State Line, then moved to Pittsfield and Springfield. The other big interchange between the two railroads took place in New York City at Port Morris/Oak Point.
Noel Weaver
 #1093579  by Tommy Meehan
 
I asked a retired New York Central employee about this several years ago, when did they take the NH interchange track out-of-service at Brewster? Lew Catone said he could not recall that they did take it out of service.

When he worked at Brewster he did not see much interchange on the Brewster track. The one move he remembered involved boxcars loaded with explosives that were headed to the Putnam Division. This would've been late 1950s I think, when NYS was building I-287, the Cross-Westchester Expressway and doing some blasting work.

.
 #1093606  by RedbirdR33
 
[quote="Tommy Meehan"]I asked a retired New York Central employee about this several years ago, when did they take the NH interchange track out-of-service at Brewster? Lew Catone said he could not recall that they did take it out of service.



When I started working for Conrail in 1978 there was a Lou Catone who was in charge of train operations. I wonder if its the same person? I walked the Harlem Line from Brewster up to the yard back then and did not see any connection going into what was then called the Maybrook Branch. I seem to recall that there was an abutment on the east side of the tracks which I believe was one of the supports for the flyover from the Put to the Maybrook. Any evidence of that abutment is long gone. In those days there was no station at Brewster North (nee Southeast). Brewster itself was a Block Station and Train Order Office as well as a ticket office.

Larry, RedbirdR33