Today’s Hudson Line tour takes us back to the Bronx for a quick visit to University Heights station. Located just less than 9 miles from Grand Central, the station is situated between Morris Heights and Marble Hill stations. The station is named after the section of the Bronx in which it is located – a name that dates back to 1894 when New York University built its Bronx campus here. Though the university is now called the Bronx Community College, after having been sold in 1973, the name University Heights stuck. The attractive campus is just a short walk away from the station.
Local timetables for the West Bronx, which includes University Heights.
The station at University Heights consists of a small island platform, accessible via a stairwell or an elevator on West Fordham Road. A ticket vending machine is located here at street level. Similar to Morris Heights, University Heights is sandwiched between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan Expressway. Unfortunately, the river view is not quite as great as the one near Morris Heights. From the platform you can see the University Heights bridge, which crosses over the Harlem River, and the waterfront space is taken up by a few industrial looking facilities. Though hardly one of the most interesting stations on the Hudson Line, it is at least worth mentioning that at one point in time University Heights was a joint station shared with the Putnam Division, at least until that line was shut down in 1958.
That is about all I have for University Heights, so without further ado, on to the photos…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Explain the note on the 1966 schedule: “Experimental non-rush hour trains increased to twenty-seven.” I don’t know about you, but I would not be anxious to board an “experimental” train. Is this like something out of Fringe? What kind of experiments were they conducting on that train? Would passengers be exposed to a strange toxin or virus? Could they disappear into another dimension? Enquiring minds want to know!
My interpretation was that the railroad experimenting on doing more trains during the day, to see if people would ride them. If nobody did, they’d be subject to elimination. I figured it was a note to let everyone know that these new additions weren’t necessarily permanent. I know, at least on the Harlem Line, they did experiments with “Night Owl” service, trains all night long. As far as I know, nothing ever became of that.
I have an old book about the Bronx and I believe there use to be an original station house at this location. Now I’ll admit I never went there, because I was a young kid back in the day around the late 70’s early 80’s. I think they tore it down and made that current entrance to it.
Would love to see an old picture of that station house, if I can find the book.
Would love to see it if you find it!
WorldNYCSubway.org has a couple of them, but only from the 1970’s when it looks like they were getting ready to tear the station house down;
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/showpix?nsta=140122
Oh, this is even better; Check out this 1899 map of Upper Manhattan and the Western Bronx showing the original University Heights station being further south and another NYC&HR station called Fordham Heights where the current University Heights station is:
http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NYC-HomeLife-1899
You won’t find Fordham Heights on an official New York Central map from 1921, though:
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/map-1921-ny.pdf