Re: PC: Putnam Div. and NYW&B Rwy. tresspassing

[NYC4600@xxxxxxx]

I'm sure it's allowed on the old NYC Putnam Division.  There are no trains as
you know, and the ROW is owned by Westchester County, and in Putnam County
it's probably owned by the State of New York, due to the fact that the East
View-Lake Mahopac portion was sold to them originally in 1965, two years after
the rails on that part of the line were torn up.  The East View to Baldwin
Place portion is also the all paved North County Rail- Trail anyway, so it's
open to anyone walking, jogging, or on bicycles.  As far as I know, the NYW&B
Rwy righ-of-way, is owned by private owners.  Since the line was torn up in
the forties, it is proabale that the state may not own it.  This is an
interesting point to incuire about.  Walking is allowed on the Gedney Way to
Ridgeway portion of them line.  At Gedney Way note the concrete piles for one
of the catenary poles stillontact south of tge road over pass.

BTW, here's an ex-PC Putnam Division update.  Since the East View, NY to
Bronx, NY portion of the Put WAS operated by the Penn Central, this should
qualify for the mailing list.  I was over in Elmsford, NY yesterday, at the
small grade crossing south of the station.  On my last visit 3 months ago, the
right of way had been gug up and on each side of the grade crossing was a drop
of around a foot where the tracks were. The ROW was a muddly trench!  This
time however, the right of way has been brough back to just around the
original level, by being packed with gravel.  This appears to be the beginning
of Westchester County's project to turn the Elmsford, NY to the northern
Yonkers, NY border portion of the old Putnam Division, into the all paved
South County Rail Trail.  It's a great thing because now the ROW will be
cleared completely, and we railfans can legally walk on the old Put.  The
Elmsford, NY to Ardsley, NY portion of the line features some great scenery --
very countyish, once you head south out of Elmsford south to Ardsley, a nice
little village that had formed a commuter assciation to fight the abandonment
of commuter service on the Putnam Division in the 1950s.  Too bad the MTA
Metro-North RR couldn't do with the Putnam Division as Boston did with their
Old Colony service recently.  It shows the difference between the
trasportation politics n the different cities.  Many people who know the Put
was there, want its commuter service back every time they can't find a spot at
a Harlem Line or Hudson Line station, or even a seat on the train.  Highway
conjestion is another cause, but alongside those same crowded highways, lies
an abandoned ROW that holds the answer to it all.  If only it would be
acknowledged, it could ease over crowding for NY commuter crowding problem.

John Weyhausen