I cannot believe that Metro-North managed to keep this a secret… I nearly had a heart attack when I grabbed one of the new timetables that came out today. Harlem Line service to Millerton is returning! Although there is no time frame of when the stations (Millerton and Amenia) will be reopening, the timetables give us a sneak peek. In Grand Central you can even find a local timetable from both Millerton and Amenia, which are in the newly-created Zone 11 on the line. A monthly ticket from Millerton to Grand Central will cost a whopping $506, but it the new “god ticket” – giving you access to the entire Metro-North system. Ticket Vending Machines already have the two new stations programmed in – the ticket I purchased yesterday from current end-of-line Wassaic to new end-of-line Millerton cost $3.50. Since new tickets expire in 2 weeks, and the new stations will likely not be open in that time-frame, I suppose I just have a neat thing for a scrapbook. But the $3.50 I paid was certainly worth it – I absolutely cannot wait to ride to Millerton!
Improving non-stop? I will never again laugh at that MTA tagline!
As it happened, I was at the Poughkeepsie station on Thursday (picking up and dropping off an old friend) and picked up a copy of the brand-new Hudson Line schedule.
The Walkway was blustery on Thursday but, as always, well worth the trip. I can’t wait for your Tuesday Tour of the Hudson Line.
As for your Wassaic-Millerton ticket, I suspect they’d have to refund money spent on a ride that doesn’t (yet) exist but I also suspect it will have much more value to you as a keepsake.
:P
Now the question is will they ever actually DO this?
Yes, I have to admit I was (April) fooled by this one. Good job Emily!
Haha, thanks! We can all dream, right? :D
I wish. Probably not! *If* they ever extended the Harlem further north, I don’t think it would ever be past Millerton, though.
Haha! As soon as I saw this I knew it was April Fools.
Bwahahaha, you can totally blame Otto for this one, technically his idea. He showed me some “fantasy” timetables he made, and I was a copycat :P
Real good,did a double take on that,made me take a good look at the
pdf files I had pulled up y-day when the MN fourm announced Yankee
Stadium schedules were up.
We can only dream!
I know not of what Emily speaks of, I take no credit for any of this. Except the parts that are true. By the way, Emily, have you seen the new combined Port Jervis, Pascack Valley and Walkill Valley Lines timetables? Saw ’em in Grand Central the other day and couldn’t believe my eyes…
I think the part that is true is that you are a terrible enabler, hah! Did you see the NH Line tt too? Danbury branch is going up to New Milford now. At this rate of readding stations, trains will be heading up to Chatham by next April 1st. And there will be therapy cats onboard!
Your prank is not ADA compliant, any new station MUST be ADA compliant, and I see Amenia is not.
I’ve reported this to proper authority’s. The MTA will most likely hire you to write the grant for mass transit funding to have the new station made ADA compliant.
I remember hearing when they expanded to Wassiac the plan was to go to Millerton but the NIMBY’s shot it down. Too bad, it would have only increased home values in Millerton, IMHO. Now if they could just expand one more station, to Copake Falls, I could go home again!
rrChuck/Las Vegas
The last time I was in Millerton, quite a few people who I spoke to wanted the railroad back. I guess it is just the people that object make their voices heard the loudest. Alas, this was an April Fools joke, but we can dream, eh?
As far as I am aware, all the rail on the upper Harlem has been removed, so there is absolutely nothing north of Wassaic. The ten-ish (I think!) miles from Wassaic to Millerton are rail-trailed, as are a portion near Copake Falls (the two sections don’t connect, though the rail trail folks are hoping to do that sometime in the future). You should go and take a visit, Millerton is lovely!
Yeah, they should have :(
One of my more crazy railroad acquisitions was a cast-iron crossbuck that used to stand in Amenia – some guy “liberated” it ahead of the scrappers. Nice to have, but nicer if it were where it should be… hah, like a railroad crossing!
I hope that they do extend the Harlem Line back to Chatham. And while they are at it, how about Metro-North serve Albany. Now THAT would be cool. That or Amtrak come back to GCT. Especially since it’s probably the same amount of time to go from Midtown to Albany by train vs. the plane, and I’ve noticed that Amtrak service on the Empire Corridor is on most days pretty packed. I could talk for hours about extending the Harlem Line.