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Advertisements and
newspaper clippings from the era!
Detailed maps and
diagrams drawn from official sources!
Steam!
Diesel! Electrics!
Passenger! Freight!
Informative history
about your favorite railroad lines!
A must-have for any
fan of New York suburban railroading!
Profusely illustrated,
attractively hardbound!
...
Chapter
One
New York Central’s Putnam Division
BY OTTO M. VONDRAK
Through the 1860s, railroads experienced unprecedented
growth and raced to connect existing markets and predict
new ones, often at the expense of hapless investors.
By the 1870s, railroad service was fairly well established
in rural Westchester County. The Hudson River Railroad
provided service along its namesake shoreline, and the
New York & Harlem provided a parallel inland route
extending towards Albany and points beyond. Even the
nascent New York, New Haven & Hartford was establishing
itself along the Sound Shore towards Boston. It was
in this already competitive environment that the seeds
for the Putnam Division would be planted...
Photo
by Frank Schlegel, Collection Glenn L. Rowe
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Photo
by Frank Schlegel, Collection Glenn L. Rowe
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Chapter
Two
New York Central’s Getty Square Branch
BY GEORGE W. KOWANSKI
The three-mile-long Getty Square Branch of the New
York Central’s Putnam Division ran from a junction
at Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx to Getty Square in
Yonkers. Running from bucolic VanCortland Park through
the developing suburban neighborhods of Yonkers, the branch
served a growing population that demanded access to New
York City. Shuttling passengers to the west side of Manhattan
at 155th Street, travellers had easy access to the elevated
rapid transit lines to get them to work and shopping.
The history of the Getty Square Branch, early rapid transit
lines and the New York & Northern (which would later
become NYC’s Putnam Division) are intertwined...
Collection
George W. Kowanski
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Collection
George W. Kowanski
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July 2007 marked the 100th Anniversary of the
New Haven's pioneering electrification project!
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Chapter
Three
The
New Haven Electrification Project
BY JOHN E. FRANK
The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad was established
in 1872, and continued to expand its reach throughout
lower New England. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
the New Haven’s mainlines stretched from New York
to Boston. Predecessor New York & New Haven reached
New York City by obtaining trackage rights from a connection
at Woodlawn over the New York & Harlem Railroad in
1848. The lines feeding into New York saw increased traffic
when the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad
established a connection with the New York & Harlem
in 1871. As the result of a horrific wreck in the Park
Avenue Tunnels that was attributed to smoke conditions
obscuring a red signal, the City of New York passed a
law that forbade the use of steam engines within the city
limits by 1908. This greatly affected the New York Central’s
and the New Haven’s ability to run trains into and
out of Manhattan. By 1908, trains would have to be powered
by something other than steam. Electricity was the answer....
Photo by Harry F. Brown, Courtesy
Bob's Photos
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Photo Courtesy Bob's Photos
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December 2007 marked the 70th Anniversary of the last
regularly scheduled NYW&B passenger trains!
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Chapter
Four
The New York, Westchester & Boston Railway
BY ROBERT A. BANG
You don’t have to look very far to see the effects
of an increased metropolitan population on Westchester
County’s overstressed highway system. Additional
mass transit could help, but where would you build a new
transit line in an area with the highest concentration
of development? Take a walk in some of the settled neighborhoods
in White Plains, Scarsdale, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle,
and you might see homeowners raking leaves and cleaning
up their yards. Many of them may drag those leaves and
clippings behind their house to a swampy gully that has
filled with the accumulations of the last seventy years.
Most homeowners have no idea that this gully was once
the manicured high-speed right of way of the New York,
Westchester & Boston Railway. With beautiful concrete
stations that resembled mansions and modern electric trains
offering service on twenty-minute headways, the “Westchester”
was an engineering marvel of its time. Unfortunately for
the citizens of lower Westchester County, the railroad
that was built for success was destined for failure...
Photo Courtesy Petersen-Krambles
Archive
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Photo Courtesy J.J. Sedelmaier
Productions
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Chapter
Five
False Starts, Forgotten and Finished
BY OTTO M. VONDRAK
Westchester’s railroad network was well established
by the end of the Civil War. What of the many railroad
schemes that never made it past the daydreaming stage?
And what about those alternate routes that actually
began construction, yet disappeared without a trace
when funds ran dry? Westchester County was home to many
ambitious and redundant schemes to connect one city
with another. There were no less than three separate
plans to connect White Plains with Danbury and The Bronx.
More than one railroad sought to reach Ridgefield first,
so as to cut off competition reaching for New England.
A high-speed electric trolley was planned to connect
Danbury with Golden’s Bridge. Even the modern New
York, Westchester & Boston had plans for extensions
and branches that were on the books at the start of
construction, but never made it to fruition. To round
out this chapter, we’ll also take a look at some
of the allied trolley and bus companies acquired and
controlled by the railroads over the years...
INCLUDING: New York, Housatonic &
Northern; New York & Portchester, Westchester Northern,
Danbury & Harlem Traction Co.; New York & Stamford
Railway; Westchester Street Railway; Hudson Suspension
Bridge & New England Railroad, and many others.
Illustration
by Otto M. Vondrak
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Photo
Courtesy Robert A. Bang
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•
By Robert A. Bang •
WITH
JOHN E. FRANK • GEORGE W. KOWANSKI • OTTO
M. VONDRAK
Specs:
8.5x11 • hardcover • 177 pages •
color and black and white images
ISBN: 978-0-9762797-3-0
NOW
AVAILABLE!
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