Postcard view of Mamaroneck station

Aerial view of Mamaroneck. The old station is to the left, away from the tracks and platform.

Welcome to one of the final Tuesday Tours of the New Haven Line. Our stop today is the delightful village of Mamaroneck. I had every intention of posting Mamaroneck last – I even had Darien’s tour ready to go – but I happened to get a sneak peek of the newly-restored station over the weekend, and couldn’t resist posting it right away. The station, built in 1888 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style (which, admittedly, is one of my favorites), is certainly one of the nicest (and second oldest) on the New Haven Line. However, like many old stations, the condition of the building had degraded, and it needed a lot of work. Metro-North, who owned the station, was having difficulties finding someone to lease the place in the condition it was in. Without the funds to renovate the station themselves, Metro-North instead listed the station for sale in 2007.

Drawing of Mamaroneck station, front view

Though various parties were interested in the station, it was ultimately sold in 2008 to John and Chris Verni of Verco Properties, for $1.25 million. Renovations began after a formal groundbreaking ceremony on April 22, 2010. During my first visit to Mamaroneck last September, I happened to get a few shots of the station while the restoration was in progress. It didn’t look like too much had been completed yet, but I was feeling very optimistic about this place, and knew I would return at some point.

  
 
Work on the Mamaroneck station, photos taken September 2010

Curious about the station’s progress, I decided that a visit to Mamaroneck was in order last weekend. After attempting to peek through the windows, one of the staff members that was there invited me in. Getting a sneak peek of the renovated station, and its tenant the Club Car restaurant, was certainly the highlight of my weekend. Hopefully the restaurant will be open within the next two or three weeks (I was told they are still waiting on Con-Ed), but I’m happy to share with you all a little preview of this great former rail station. And it sure looks beautiful!

  
 
  
 
  

  
  
  
 
  
 

The real reason we’re here, however, are the trains. Mamaroneck is one of New York state’s stations along the New Haven Line. Located a little more than 20 miles from Grand Central, a journey to the city takes around forty minutes. The station building, which we saw above, was once closer to the tracks, but was moved to its current location in 1927. This placement did make it a little difficult to serve as a ticket office, since it was so far from the tracks. The building was, however, connected via a tunnel to stairways leading to both platforms.

Tickets stamped in Mamaroneck, from the collection of Otto Vondrak

Metro North’s current facility at the station consists of a covered platform, and a small waiting area with benches and soda/snack machines on the westbound side of the track. Up until 2007 the historic station was used as a ticket office, but it was closed ahead of listing the building for sale. There are, however, ticket vending machines on the platform to serve this purpose.

That is about it for our tour today. I’ll end with some photos of the platform at Mamaroneck, and a few sightings of the new M8 railcars there. There are only two stations left on this Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line – Darien and Stamford. Anybody want to have a tour finished/railfan get-together at the Club Car when it opens?