to Boston
proposed Westchester Northern extension to Brewster and Danbury
Opened to Chatham White Plains
Constructed 1913
Constructed 1929
Mamaroneck Ave. Gedney Way Ridgeway
E. 180th Street to Mamaroneck Ave. opened July 5, 1912
PORT CHESTER Opened Dec. 7, 1929 Rye
WHITE PLAINS Westchester Avenue
Aug. 10, 1912 NORTH
sions than a train station, but that was the intention. All new stations were de- signed with high-level platforms, an in- novation to help speed passenger load- ing and unloading that would not be adopted in the New York region until the early 1970s. As grand and commodious as the sta-
Opened July 1, 1928 WESTCHESTER Harrison Heathcote Scarsdale Quaker Ridge West Avenue Mamaroneck Larchmont Gardens Larchmont Wykagl Bronxville Pine Brook
Chester Heights E. Lincoln Avenue
MT. VERNON
Hutchinson Viaduct Columbus Avenue
MT. VERNON Pelham Columbus Ave. Viaduct
E. 6th Street E. 3rd Street
Woodlawn
Dyre Avenue Kingsbridge Road
Baychester Ave. Gun Hill Rd. to Albany Fordham
E. 180th Street Pelham Parkway
Morris Park Tunnel
Harlem River Branch
NYC - New York Central NYCR- New York Connecting Railroad NYWB- New York, Westchester & Boston NH- New Haven
BRONX West Farms Westchester Ave.
Hunts Point Casanova
Opened Aug. 3, 1912 138th Street
HARLEM RIVER
Oak Point Yard Port Morris
Westchester & Boston
New York,
Illustration by Otto M. Vondrak ©2012 Carstens Publications Not all routes and stations shown. Not an official map.
0 MILES 5
Hell Gate Bridge
to Grand Central Terminal
to Long Island and Penn Station
QUEENS
NYC Subway operation
Current
E. 180th Street to North Ave.
opened May 29, 1912 NEW ROCHELLE Opened March 1921 Opened March 21, 1926 Opened July 3, 1927
tions were, they were often built in the middle of empty fields or straddling dirt roads. Miller had tapped the firm of Reed & Stem, already known for their work on designing Grand Central Terminal, to design the new railway’s facilities. Architect Alfred Fellheimer was assigned to the project, then a ju- nior partner at Reed & Stem, and one of the planners who had worked on the GCT project. Fellheimer argued that railroads “don’t just spring up fully grown” and made his case for less ex- pensive construction that could be im- proved over time. Miller heard his ar- gument, but countered that he had been instructed to build the “finest sub- urban railway possible” and that any objections could be taken up with “J.P.” A fleet of all-steel electric multiple-
unit cars was designed for the West- chester by consulting engineer Lewis B. Stillwell. Known then for his pio- neering work in alternating current, he came to New York where he was in- volved in power distribution projects on the Interboro Rapid Transit subway and the Manhattan Elevated Railway, as well as the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad. Stillwell’s pioneering design used a steel truss to protect against crashes, based on a similar design he created for the H&M. The 70-foot cars had a seating capacity of 78, and also incorporated a center door to help quickly load and unload passengers, a design feature that would not be seen on the region’s commuter coaches until the early 1990s. To accommodate the low-level platforms along the Harlem River Branch, the end vestibules were equipped with stairs as well as trap doors. The cars were manufactured by Pressed Steel Car Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. This same basic design was later adopted for coaches purchased by the Erie Railroad, which had considered at one time electrifying their own subur- ban commuter services. On May 29, 1912, the railroad
opened to the public, only running be- tween East 180th Street in The Bronx and New Rochelle. The White Plains branch opened on July 5, but only as far as Mamaroneck Avenue, as the grand Westchester Avenue terminal would not open until August 10. Service to Harlem River Terminal began on Au- gust 3, which ran along the New Haven’s own Harlem River Branch con- necting at West Farms Junction. And what a fine railroad is was! De-
signed from the ground up to carry masses of suburban commuters in the
43
C
H
D N MANHATTAN
R L
I s l a
R L
NYC
M
L o
NH
NYWB
.
C
NH
u o
V
NYWB
H
NH (NYCR)
S
N Y
I
A
Fifth Avenue
Webster Avenue Pelhamwood
North Avenue
NYWB NH
n
d
CONNECTICUT NEW YORK
NY
H C
D U
D I V . S
.
V
A
O
E
n g
NH
E M
D I
Y
d n
N
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60