This is a contact page with some basic contact information and hopefully some other great information.

For everyday questions, contact Penney_Vanderbilt@yahoo.com

or kenkinlock@gmail.com

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A New Hudson Bridge, Revived Beacon Line, HYPERLOOP and More

The Maybrook Line was a line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad which connected with its Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut, and its Maybrook Yard in Maybrook, New York, where it interchanged with other carriers.

If one looks at the most popular Pages on our WebSite, over half directly reference the Maybrook Line. Lot’s of folks have an interest in it. The “Maybrook Line” was important to New England before the advent of Penn Central and before the Poughkeepsie Bridge burned. This piece of the railroad carried freight from Maybrook Yard, across the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Hopewell Junction where it joined a line from Beacon. The railroad then went to Brewster, then Danbury, and finally to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven.

WHY and How To Fix The “MAYBROOK LINE”?

Container port/intermodal facility/rail bridge

The construction of a railroad bridge between New Hamburg and Marlboro is likely the least expensive place to build a Hudson River crossing between Manhattan and Albany. The stone for ramps, sand and gravel for concrete and a steel beam assembly and storage area would be right on sight. All materials and equipment could be transported by barge or boat. The bridge itself would have only four or five piers (the most costly part to build) since the Hudson River is about the same width as it is in Poughkeepsie.

The Hudson River component connects Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties to the world economy (finished goods, spare parts, components parts, raw materials, food stuffs) and the railroad and interstate road components connect these NY counties to the rest of North America (US, Mexico, Canada).

With the container port/intermodal facility/rail bridge, the flow in and out of raw materials, spare parts, partially finished goods, foodstuffs and components will allow for new industries and businesses to locate near this facility and add to the tax base of these three NY counties: Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties.

Although the Dutchess County Airport is a tiny regional airport with a 5,000 foot runway, it has some big potential. The airport land extends a mile Northeast of the present runway end at New Hackensack Road and borders on the former New Haven Maybrook Line/Dutchess Rail Trail. As the NY Air National Guard gets crowded out by international air traffic at Stewart International Airport their operation could be moved over to Dutchess Airport without disrupting the lives of the guard members and their families through forced relocation.

Beacon itself is exploding with “developer” activity, and it needs a trolley or light rail for the city only to transform back into a pedestrian oriented city.

Other activities include: Solidization of rail links in Connecticut to handle increased traffic; a possible HYPERLINK for improved service along the Beacon Line and in/out of New York City

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Below are some of our most popular blogs

MICHAEL HORODNICEANU, WHO HEADED MTA CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION, CITED UNDERINVESTMENT IN MAINTENANCE FOR THE PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM

The transit system’s “summer of hell” was years in the making, and experts say the underlying problems will take at least as long to fix. But while a risk-averse bureaucracy got some of the blame for the crisis at a transit conference today, sentiment seemed unanimous that New York’s transportation infrastructure needs more funding.

Congestion pricing is now being kicked around as one possible source. And at the Crain’s event Fixing Mass Transit, a former top Metropolitan Transportation Authority official put forward another: creating a “transit-maintenance district,” similar to a business improvement district, that would pay fees dedicated to keeping the system in good repair.

HOW DO YOU BUILD A SUBWAY TUNNEL UNDER WATER?

In early 2019, the L train in New York City will shut down for 15 months to repair damage caused during Hurricane Sandy. Leading up to the closure, VICE will be providing relevant updates and policy proposals, as well as profiles of community members and businesses along the affected route in a series we’re calling Tunnel Vision. Read more about the project here .

On Monday morning, New York City’s subway system had another meltdown. This time, it was a signal problem at Rockefeller Center and an investigation in Downtown Manhattan, which caused a butterfly effect that left a number of lines stalled underground. “Happy Monday morning @NYCTSubway!” one rider wrote on Twitter, with a photo of a crammed subway platform attached. “Fix this shit.”

Often times when we think about subways, these are the most visible pressure points—the signal failures, the overcrowding, the slugging trains, etc. But so many of those problems are linked to the infrastructure itself. As the world’s largest subway system, New York has more than 800 miles of track running through it, meaning that the possibilities for failure are far greater than your average city.

And nowhere is that area more vulnerable than under water.

THE VILLAINS (AND HEROES) BEHIND THE SUBWAY MESS

You’re likely aware subway trains are breaking down partly because parts of the signal system date back to the 1930s. The succession of bad decisions that got you stuck in that tunnel goes back nearly as long — to the 1950s, at least. The list includes politicians and other leaders long dead or, at least, long off the public stage.

In 1952, Robert Wagner Jr., then borough president, protested any attempt to raise the transit fare from 10 cents, despite acknowledging that “the transit operating deficit” — about $500 million in today’s dollars — “is just about as large as the additional money we need this year for pensions for [city] employees.”

Wagner became mayor in 1954. Even as budget gaps grew, Wagner gave most city employees the right to collectively bargain (transit workers were already unionized, as the subways had started out in the private sector). He also massively increased social spending.

Mayor John Lindsay, Wagner’s successor, continued this strategy. That left less money for subways, which the state gradually took over from the city. The MTA spent much of the 1980s and 1990s making repairs and replacements that should’ve been done two decades previously.

In the early 2000s, Gov. George Pataki started piling on debt. He wanted projects like the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access. The MTA also had to keep repairing and replacing tracks, train cars and the like. Pataki didn’t want to pay for it. In 1999, the MTA owed $12 billion. By 2006, it owed $23.9 billion. Pataki also restructured the MTA’s debt so that the bills would come due later — today.

The MTA’s biggest problem isn’t money. It’s that it can’t do construction fast enough. But debt costs now suck up $2.6 billion in annual spending. At some point soon, the crisis won’t just be on the tracks, but in the CFO’s office.

During the 2008 financial crisis, the MTA said the same thing about its workers as Mayor Michael Bloomberg said about city workers: They couldn’t get raises unless they paid for them through productivity increases or benefits givebacks.

A year later, under Gov. David Paterson’s tenure, a supposedly neutral team of arbitrators gave the workers two years’ worth of 4 percent annual raises and health care goodies, costing the MTA $300 million a year. (The MTA now has $3.2 billion in annual benefits costs.)

In spring 2009, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith cobbled together a middle-of-the-night bailout package that awarded the MTA what today amounts to $2 billion in additional annual revenue. Again, lawmakers missed an opportunity to reform labor and construction costs.

Contrary to popular belief, Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t run the MTA. An independent board does. Yes, Cuomo names six of those board members, more than any other politician. Yet they have a legal duty to act independently. Truly independent directors would’ve questioned MTA managers’ labor-cost strategy and operational failures long ago.

RAILROADS IN OGDENSBURG, NEW YORK

I read on a railroad forum that the steel for the Ogdensburg-Prescott bridge across the St. Lawrence River was shipped on the New York Central Railroad. Instead of continuing on the Central’s branch from DeKalk Junction to Ogdensburg, it instead went to Norwood and did the last few miles to Ogdensburg on the Rutland Railroad. Another member surmised that the bridge was being built on the east side of the river in Ogdensburg while the NY Central line terminated on the west side.

Now a more knowledgeable person on the forum responded.

Partly.

At the time, there were only two bridges across the Oswegatchie River, Lafayette St and Lake St. Lafayette at the time could not support heavy loads. Lake Street could support traffic as State Route 37 used this bridge. But… people in Ogdensburg weren’t very pro-New York Central.

Ogdensburg is where the Northern Railroad, which became the Ogdensburg Railroad, then Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain, was founded. It was financed mostly by businesses from the Ogdensburg area. Even in the

1950’s, many were pro-Rutland and the town administration would not allow the bridge pieces to cross the Lake Street Bridge. So they had to be routed through Norwood and over to the port.

Now the “wanne be expert” and the “real expert” got into a great discussion:

WANNABE: Thanks for correcting me on why the movement was over the Rutland. I was never clear on how Rutland and NY Central connected/interchanged. Have a picture of NY Central station and I think that was on the West side of the river. Did it serve both the line from Watertown and the line from DeKalk?

EXPERT: The NYC Station in Ogdensburg was located south of the ferry dock on the west side of the Oswegatchie River where it joins the St. Lawrence. The NYC Line from Dekalb Jct to Ogdensburg then continued west along the St. Lawrence River to Morristown, across from Brockville Ontario. The station was torn down in the early 1990’s I believe, while the freight house is still there, it is now a restaurant. Good food there too. All of this a block or two north of Claxton-Hepburn Hospital.

WANNABE: Where was the Rutland station?

EXPERT: The Rutland station was at the end of the yard, Patterson Street. This is now the main entrance of the OBPA Port Facilities.

WANNABE: I was relying on a memory from 50 years ago. Besides, in those days, my trips to Ogdensburg (from Canton) were primarily seeing student nurses from the State Hospital.

EXPERT: The State Hospital still exists.

WANNABE: So who owned what in “The Berg”? Who owned the bridges? How much interchange was there?

EXPERT: The road bridges? The bridge across the Oswegatchie called Lake Street was owned by the City. That was until it was demolished and replaced this summer. As for interchange, there was coal interchange between CP and the NYC via the ferry. I believe that the old Silk trains used to ferry cars across the St. Lawrence too. The Rutland had many shippers that dealt with at the port, however there was no direct interchange between the

NYC and the Rutland. There may have been passenger interchange when passenger service was still there as I believe the street car that was in Ogdensburg did serve both stations.

WANNABE: I got hung up looking for a Rutland Route 67 grade crossing (road from Canton), but realize the crossing was on route 37.

EXPERT: Route 37 crossed the Rutland’s spur to the State Mental Hospital east of Ogdensburg. Before the Route 37 bypass opened, Route 37 (Proctor Ave) crossed over the Rutland. After the bypass opened, the Rutland line has a crossing just west of the 37/812 junction. The NYC line crossed Route 37 near the station before all of the downtown “renewal” that occurred, and went under the Route 37 where the road crossed both the NYC line and the Oswegatchie River a mile south of the station area.

The former NYC line from Lake Street south to Heuvelton is now called the Maple City Trail and is a nice walking trail until you are south of the Route 37 bridge. Concrete mile post markers and whistle posts are still in place. The area is “rough” so I wouldn’t walk it in the evenings.

DeKalb to Ogdensburg branch:

By 1956, there was only one passenger run a day left. It was gone by 1961.The paper mill at Ogdensburg struggled on until about 1985, when it closed for good. The road shut down operations, since there was no other business. After about a year, the track was removed. March 1987 seems about right as the date of abandonment. So what does USA do for paper these days? Import paper from China?

DeKalb to Ogdensburg branch started on the West side of the river in Ogdensburg. It went South through Heuvelton and Rensselaer Falls to DeKalb Junction. At DeKalb Junction, it met the old New York Central (now CSX) rail line from Watertown to Massena. In Ogdensburg, a former New York Central branch ran Southwest along the St Lawrence River to Watertown. This branch crossed the river and met the Rutland rail line that ran to Rouses Point. Now this line goes to Norwood where it meets CSX. It is owned by the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority that also owns the international bridge that replaced the car ferries.

Prescott – Ogdensburg car ferry: It was first started by the Grand Trunk Railway, then the St. Lawrence & Ottawa Railway took it over, then CPR got a hold of it and created a subsidiary company to operate it until it was discontinued. With predecessors it operated to Prescott, Ontario, from the mid 1860s through Sept 1970. In conjunction with the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1930-1970 the joint operation used the tug ‘Prescotont’ and the car barge, ‘Ogdensburg.’ It should be noted that the company also operated the car ferry between Brockville and Morristown.

See some maps of the Ogdensburg area

CUOMO’S ATTEMPT TO PUT SUBWAY RESPONSIBILITY ON CITY A BIT OF AN ABOUT-FACE

Governor Andrew Cuomo has tried to put the responsibility for the ailing subways on the city and the mayor. It is a bit of an about-face for the governor, who was eager to take credit for the Second Avenue Subway last winter.

Governor Andrew Cuomo was riding high. After years of delays, the much-anticipated Second Avenue Subway was finally set to open on New Year’s Day.

The governor was eager to not only take credit for the success, but also to be held accountable.

“You know who runs the MTA? The governor has the majority of members. And what I said is, I’m going to step up and take responsibility,” Cuomo said at the time. “If this does not open January 1? It’s me. It’s me. I would have failed. And I accept that responsibility.”

Fast forward seven months. The subways are in a state of disrepair. Delays have worsened, and subway rider anger about the system is at an all-time high.

At an event last week, Cuomo quite literally tried to run away from his responsibility for the subways by attempting to avoid reporters’ questions. He was forced to stop and talk, and this time, he hit a very different note about who is accountable for the trains.

“By law, New York City owns the transit system. New York City is solely responsible for funding the capital plan for the New York City subway system,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo has been feuding with Mayor Bill de Blasio on this and many other issues. On Sunday, the mayor rode the train and laid the responsibility for poorly functioning trains solely on his rival.

“The state of New York is responsible for making sure our subways run,” de Blasio said.

Experts back the mayor on this over the governor.

“The state exerts the most control and oversight, both through the number of board appointees that the governor has, more than any other person, including the mayor,” said Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. “And also from the financing. The state is the taxing entity.”

The governor’s poll numbers have started to sink, particularly over the issue of subways. Some believe that is precisely why the governor has tried to muddy the waters on this issue.

Mayor releases 5-point subway system improvement plan, Lhota fires back.

The mayor wants:
1) Immediate relief for riders, improving service and reliability.
2) The MTA should have public performance goals and standards.
3) Clear accountability for continual improvement.
4) An efficient and fair MTA budget and a reallocation of resources towards core needs.

5) A meaningful state commitment to the needs of subway riders.

“The political posturing and photo opps are getting silly,” said Joe Lhota, MTA Chairman.

To a stupid outsider like me, it sounds like kickoff of campaign for Governor.

Is Richard Branson’s high-speed train in a pneumatic tube pie in the sky?

First airlines, then spaceships. Now the Virgin boss wants to build Hyperloop One – a high-speed, pneumatic maglev railway. But engineering experts doubt that it will ever leave the station.

Last week, Richard Branson gave a boost to tech tycoon Elon Musk’s vision of a futuristic transport system. Hyperloop One is the frontrunner among several companies working on plans for magnetically propelled ground shuttles capable of keeping pace with commercial airliners. Branson announced an investment of an undisclosed sum in the company, which took its total funding to £186m.

NEWINGTON JUNCTION RAILROAD STATION

We have several collections of railroad stations, the largest is Connecticut. One that was missing was Newington Junction. Our friends at Tyler City Station, The most authoritative source for information on Connecticut railroad stations, donated pictures and information on Newington Junction. We would like to thank them very much.

The name of the area refers to the railroad junction where the railroad line from New Haven meets with the railroad line from Bristol and Waterbury. The depot on the left was built in 1891 by the New York & New England RR. The passenger station on the right and the freight depot behind it were constructed by the NYNH&H in 1890.

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2ND AVENUE SUBWAY IS OPEN FOR REAL NOW

Hard to believe it, but the fabeled 2nd Avenue Subway is NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!

Riders on Tuesday, the first full day of Second Ave. subway service after the New Year’s holiday, said they were relieved to finally ditch the congested Lexington Ave. line, long walks across avenues to the train and painfully slow crosstown buses for the Q line that is now at their doorstep.

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The New Haven Goes Diesel

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MINEVILLE IS GETTING BACK ON THE MAP NOW

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Robert R. Young (1897-1958), principal supporter of Penn Central merger on NYC side, commits suicide in Palm Beach, Florida, at age 60.

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CONNECTICUT’S WALK BRIDGE: SAVE IT, REPLACE IT OR REUSE PARTS?

This bridge carries not only dozens of Metro-North commuter trains, but also vital to AMTRAKs NorthEast Corridor between Boston and Washington, DC.

Dick Carpenter of East Norwalk, author of “A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946,” said the Walk Bridge is the only four-track swing bridge that he knows of on a major rail line in the nation. That and its age are its distinguishing characteristics, he said

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PASSENGER 1958: ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF ON EASTERN RAILROADS.

These notes come from The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society Lots of years in Pennsylvania RR history are available. But what is great is that they cover lots of other railroads.

PASSENGER 1957: ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF ON EASTERN RAILROADS, EVEN THE REVERSAL OF “TRAVEL TAILORED SCHEDULE PLAN”

PASSENGER 1956: ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF ON EASTERN RAILROADS, EVEN “TRAVEL TAILORED SCHEDULE PLAN”

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NORTH AMERICAN RAILROADS: CONSOLIDATION IN 2014 AND BEYOND?

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HOW DID ONE GET TO THE PENTAGON IN 1944?

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THE TOBIN PACKING COMPANY OF ALBANY (MAKERS OF FIRST PRIZE HOT DOGS)

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Junction of old Harlem Division branch and Hudson Division in Hudson, NY

HERE YOU GO RAILFANS. ALTHOUGH THE HARLEM DIVISION TO HUDSON LINE WAS SEVERED, PART IS STILL IN OPERATION

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HISTORIC ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES IN GLENMONT

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Robert Moses

Robert Moses: Biggest “Bad Guy” In Blocking The Second Avenue Subway

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NY CENTRAL RAILROAD ACCIDENT 1960 AT “BN”

Only 55 years ago, but things on a railroad are so different now! They do not use wreckers (steam cranes) anymore. Now contractors with tractors. No more cabooses! The big electric locomotive (“motor”) is only in museums. How many of those automobiles are still around?

Even the New York Central Railroad is gone!

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TROY UNION RAILROAD

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New Haven Railroad Cedar Hill Yard and

CEDAR HILL YARD IN NEW HAVEN TODAY

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WHEN DID PASSENGER TRAINS BEGIN TO RUN BETWEEN NEW YORK CITY AND MONTREAL?

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GM PLANT IN MASSENA, NY

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GULF CURVE WRECK OF LAKE SHORE LIMITED IN 1940 IN LITTLE FALLS, NY

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SCRAPPY LITTLE UNDERDOG UBER IS GETTING FAT AND UGLY

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ADIRONDACK ORE RUN ON THE NEW YORK CENTRAL CALLED FOR HIGH CLASS RAILROADING

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PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING’S FUNERAL TRAINS

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MY FAVORITE SONG: CITY OF NEW ORLEANS; NEW TWIST: JOHNNY CASH

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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD HARMON SHOPS

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THE LATE, GREAT NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD IN PICTURES

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Castleton Cutoff and Hudson River Connecting Railroad

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The Fabled “Rutland Milk”

Pictured above is a “rider car” going through Troy, New York.

So what was so spectacular about what was called the “Rutland Milk Train”? Well, it started out way up in New York State, ran across the top of the state, ran down the length of Vermont, then back through New York State into New York City! Used to go over Rutland Railroad’s “Corkscrew Division”, but when that track had no more on-line business, they cut through Troy. Besides the truck lobby, what killed the Rutland Milk was inability to sell Vermont milk in New York (Federal “milkshed” regulations). My goodness! Almost 500 miles!

The Rutland milk ran to Chatham as train 88 which held over for 90 minutes for the arrival of the northbound empties from the NYC on the Harlem Division. The trains were swapped over from one railroad to the other as the Rutland crew returned north with the empties. The Rutland milk train dropped one car at Mott Haven for the Bronx Terminal Market, dropped cars at 130th Street yard, and arrived at 60th Street yard at 3:20 a.m.

Picture below is the Fabled Rutland Milk at Mott Haven

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OGDENSBURG, NEW YORK: IMPORTANT IN RAILROAD HISTORY

We wrote about the 19-mile line built from DeKalb Junction to Ogdensburg.

Then we wrote a blog about Railroads In Ogdensburg, New York.

We have blogged a lot on the “Fabled Rutland Milk” which started in Ogdensburg.

Now we have found some great videos that talk about Ogdensburg and railroads.

Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad Revisited

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GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL: SECRETS, RUMORS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS

It is amazing the hype that is starting to surround Grand Central Terminal in New York City. But most of it is very factual (with a little bit of fun and fiction added on).

WHO OWNS GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL IN NY CITY?

The full history on ownership of Grand Central

Short Version From the WIKI

Argent Ventures is a privately held real estate company based in New

York City that owns the land under Grand Central Terminal and the land around 156 miles of Metro-North Railroad railway tracks in the New York City metropolitan area.

WHAT IS MYSTERIOUS TRACK 61 IN GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL?

Mysterious Track 61 Grand Central Terminal Track 61, which FDR used to sneak in and out of Grand Central and hide his disability (he had severe polio) from the public. Was Track 61 used other times by Presidents? Matt Lauer of NBC put on his best play clothes May 8 2008 to examine “The Mystery of Track 61? on the Today show.

INACCESSIBLE NEW YORK: BEHIND THE SCENES AT GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

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Return of Albany’s “Night Boat”

Picture (undated, from the Library of Congress) shows the “Night Boat” from New York City docked in Albany. Everything is different in the picture except the Livingston Avenue Bridge in the background that still carries AMTRAK between New York City and Chicago.

Up until 1941, The “Night Boat” from New York City to Albany could carry 2,000 passengers. It ended an era in American history of grand boats with staterooms, ballrooms, etc running up and down the Hudson River. Passengers could be young couples on a weekend trip, couples evading detection by spouses, “ladies of the evening”, etc. There was even a Broadway farce in the 1920’s called the “Night Boat“.

But by 1941, everybody was in a hurry. You could make the trip by car, train or even airplane. Saratoga horse racing and gambling was slowing down as more options opened up near NY City. So when it went down the tubes, few cared about the “Night Boat”.

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PULLING STEAM LOCOMOTIVES BY HAND

The idea being that Timken Roller Bearings were so good that a locomotive could move with ease.

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This is a contact page with some basic contact information and hopefully some other great information.

For everyday questions, contact Penney_Vanderbilt@yahoo.com

or kenkinlock@gmail.com

WHY and How To Fix The “MAYBROOK LINE”?

Container port/intermodal facility/rail bridge

Below are some of our most popular blogs

New Haven Railroad Cedar Hill Yard and

>>>DL&W Railroad, Erie Lackawanna and Lackawanna Cutoff