New York, Westchester & Boston Station Demolition

The right-of-way from the Mount Vernon station to the last stop onthe #5 line, which was part of the system has long since been overbuilt with housing. 

Very sad.

Peter

I went on Saturday and Sunday to see what was left and I probably got there just in time to take pictures. The front wall was the only one that was somewhat intact. The postcard is from circa 1920's. Amazingly, the NYW&B logo is still above the doorway, but the lettering is long gone. I'm guessing one more work day and the front wall will be down, too.

Tom

Two more from Sunday...

Tom

Ouch!

Peter

A colleague and I checked the building out several years ago when I was working in Mt. Vernon and were able to actually look inside through some ripped off plywood. Looked like some of the homeless were using it at night. 

Get that ceramic emblem!

I guess we are luckier than most abandoned RRs......we still have the preserved section of the NYW&B as the Dyre Ave subway......we can still get the "feel" of the NYW&B riding from 180th St to Dyre Ave.

Peter

I actually saw that RR running. Peter, How come I didn't see you at York?

Putnam Division posted:

I guess we are luckier than most abandoned RRs......we still have the preserved section of the NYW&B as the Dyre Ave subway......we can still get the "feel" of the NYW&B riding from 180th St to Dyre Ave.

Peter

The railroad was so well built, with solidly built stations that there are some that are on at least their second or third (or more) lives. I will mention what "extra" lives I am aware of...there may easily be others in between that I am missing. To name a few, Wykagyl is retail space, Quaker Ridge is a residence, Larchmont Gardens is a Girl Scout cabin. One of my favorites is Heathcote. For many years, I used to drive by that ex-station almost every day when my wife worked near there. After Heathcote was a station, it was a real estate office before the platforms were removed, later it became the home for the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps for many years only to go back to a real estate office (currently). Port Chester after it was a station was a car dealership for many years...now it has gone to the opposite extreme, as a church! Unfortunately, the E. 3rd Street Station was not in the best location for either a residence or retail space. 

Tom 

Heathcote Station circa 1930's. Upon abandonment, the rails would be removed and later everything behind the station (actual station is to the right) the walkways to the platforms would be lopped off, the platforms removed and eventually a bypass roadway would occupy the roadbed.

Too bad that the Mt. Vernon station building is now gone however the NYWB Bridge over Highbrook Av. in Pelham has been preserved and is a National Historic Landmark and has been suggested that the right-of-way become a walking trail from either side of the bridge.

Ed G. Next to the right-of-way of the New Haven Line Of Metro-North and Amtrak in Westchester County, NY.

ed new haven line posted:

Too bad that the Mt. Vernon station building is now gone however the NYWB Bridge over Highbrook Av. in Pelham has been preserved and is a National Historic Landmark and has been suggested that the right-of-way become a walking trail from either side of the bridge.

Ed G. Next to the right-of-way of the New Haven Line Of Metro-North and Amtrak in Westchester County, NY.

Ed, Yes, I saw there was an article in the local paper about Pelham and a Boy Scout trying to save it.

http://www.lohud.com/story/new...e-makeover/91744216/

It sounds similar to the Jack Harrington Greenway Trail in White Plains which covers the Ridgeway and Gedney Way former stations.

Tom

eddie g posted:

I actually saw that RR running. Peter, How come I didn't see you at York?

I only made it up on Friday.....sorry to have missed you too!

Peter

I was looking at a website, the MV Inquirer, a local news blog, which had an interesting quote about the demolition of the E. 3rd Street Station...

The City Council performed an inspection of the property’s historical aspects and notified the owners of the property that certain historical features of the train station must be maintained and preserved." Unfortunately, the request did not materialize and the entire structure is being razed according to the foreman at the site.

The website also had some more images of the E. 3rd Street Station as did the Westchester Historical Society...here is a nice mix of photos and postcards, some that I never saw before. Note that the middle section of the front of the station seemed to be an open sort of atrium-like space, somewhat reminiscent, but on a much, much smaller scale of a grand station like Penn Station. Just as Heathcote Station, the image of the rear of the station, when the tracks were still in place, shows that the rear was much more massive than the front.

Tom