most efficient way possible, it was laud- ed by journals of the day as the finest specimen of railway construction in the country. Certainly the New Haven got their money’s worth. It was later deter- mined that the cost of construction was $36 million, or $2 million a mile (near- ly $43 million a mile in today’s terms). Due to franchise requirements from
both New York City and Mount Ver- non, service was operated at peak de- mand almost from the start. Most trains ran on 20-minute headways, around the clock. The tower at Colum- bus Avenue was the busiest point on the system, coordinating moves be- tween the White Plains branch and the line to New Rochelle, often within sec- onds of each other. While trains of six cars were operated during rush-hours, the off-peak services were often han- dled easily by one- or two-car trains.
Despite grand facilties and impecca-
ble timekeeping, it was the West- chester’s awkward terminal in The Bronx that was its Achilles’ heel. New zoning laws passed in 1916 all but guaranteed that the massive development expected by 19th century real estate speculators would never come to pass. Commuters destined for points in Manhattan were forced to make connections to the sub- ways at Harlem River and later East 180th Street. While this helped, it was hard to compete with the New Haven’s direct route into Grand Central Termi- nal. Yet the NYW&B’s heavily dis-
counted fares continued to draw riders away from the neighboring lines. Construction on the Westchester was
not finished, however. In 1912, the New Haven board authorized construc- tion of the Westchester Northern Rail- road. This line was to extend north from White Plains, with branches con- necting to the New York Central at Brewster, and with the New Haven at Danbury, Conn. As an afterthought, the New Haven weakly explained that the WN might offer a cutoff for freight traffic coming down the Berkshire Line from New England. There was little ev-
RIGHT: Station facilities on the Port Chester extension were spartan compared to the rest of the system. Two trains await the evening rush on October 31, 1937, the last day of ser- vice on the branch. The New Haven mainline is alongside at right. BELOW: On October 30, 1937, the photographer captured Train 828 to White Plains and two-car Train 634 to Port Chester on the Columbus Avenue viaduct. The tracks and platform on the lower level belong to the New Haven, and it was possible to make connections between the two roads here. The massive viaduct was salvaged for war scrap in 1942. PHOTOS BY GEORGE VOTAVA, COURTESY BOB’S PHOTOS
44 JULY 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
COLLECTION ROBERT A. BANG
COLLECTION ROBERT A. BANG
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