NYC / PC Passenger Train Question

[pajrr]

Hi, Can anyone tell me when service between Grand Central and Chatham, NY ended? Thanks for any help you can give me.

[timz]

Wikipedia says 20 March 1972. If necessary can probably confirm that with the NY Times, but I'm guessing it's correct.

[MidlandMike]

Kalmbach's book New York Central in the Hudson Valley confirms the March 20, 1972 date.  The morning down train Chatham-GCT ran as usual, but as they received permission to drop the train that day, the evening northbound train to Chatham got annulled at Dover Plains.

[BaltACD]

Nothing like leaveing a round trip passenger hung out to dry.

[Deggesty]

I can imagine the cries of anguish. "I took the train to work this morning, leaving my car at (north of Dover Plains), and now I am stranded!"

[henry6]

Well, there were probably few, if any, who rode north of Dover Plains, which is why the train was taken off.  And of course we all know of the PC management style to not give a damn about customers, especially passenger customers, anyway.

[[e-mail]]

Yep it is true. The morning train ran into GCT as usual, but the northbound was annulled at Dover Plains that night. And the annullment was "covered" in the New York Times the next day.

Passenger service may have ended to Chatham that day, but "Local" freight service continued well into the Conrail era. The Local Frt would run north on Friday afternoon, tie up in Chatham, the T & E crew (who had so much "whiskers", they dragged them on the ground!) would spend the night at the "Chatham House". The frt would go south to North White Plains  on Saturday morning.

The reason for this service? Grand Union had a huge wharehouse near White Plains, and they had foodstuffs sent to this wharehouse (mostly Kellogs products from the waybills I remember) by rail, one problem, the cars were 14'10" high and would not pass the high car detector on Hudson Line south of Croton...(only cars 14' 2" or lower around the "wye" at MO Tower) so they were "bunched" at Selkirk and sent east on B&A eastbounds to be "dropped" at Pittsfield, Mass. The "GE 1 & 2" (Pittsfield-Selkirk-Pittsfield)  job would place these cars in Chatham Yard on Fri night for the Harlem frt to take south on Sat morning.

[henry6]

[e-mail]

Yep it is true. The morning train ran into GCT as usual, but the northbound was annulled at Dover Plains that night. And the annullment was "covered" in the New York Times the next day.

Passenger service may have ended to Chatham that day, but "Local" freight service continued well into the Conrail era. The Local Frt would run north on Friday afternoon, tie up in Chatham, the T & E crew (who had so much "whiskers", they dragged them on the ground!) would spend the night at the "Chatham House". The frt would go south to North White Plains  on Saturday morning.

The reason for this service? Grand Union had a huge wharehouse near White Plains, and they had foodstuffs sent to this wharehouse (mostly Kellogs products from the waybills I remember) by rail, one problem, the cars were 14'10" high and would not pass the high car detector on Hudson Line south of Croton...(only cars 14' 2" or lower around the "wye" at MO Tower) so they were "bunched" at Selkirk and sent east on B&A eastbounds to be "dropped" at Pittsfield, Mass. The "GE 1 & 2" (Pittsfield-Selkirk-Pittsfield)  job would place these cars in Chatham Yard on Fri night for the Harlem frt to take south on Sat morning.

By then, that's what railroads considered serving the customer!  One bunch a week...PC days, huh?  I gather there were no perishables in the bunch.  And I guess G.U. got everything else by truck by the end of the first week of this once a week service!   Traffic didn't desert the railroads...the railroads deserted service, customers, and their own business!