Stereoscopic view of the Erie Railroad near Port Jervis, circa 1870. From the collection of the NYPL.
Finally, we have arrived – the eponymous and final station along Metro-North’s Port Jervis Line. Port Jervis is located at the edge of Orange County, and bordered by the Delaware River. The river’s natural border splits New York and Pennsylvania, and the railroad station is within easy walking distance with border-town Matamoras, PA (New Jersey is also not too far, but the walk would be a little bit longer). While Matamoras tends to be known as “that place across the border where out-of-staters can buy fireworks,” I’d certainly suggest you not do this by train (although people have tried to bring some pretty crazy things on Metro-North trains before!).
Train at the Erie Port Jervis station, 1966. This station still stands, but has been converted to shops and is not used by the railroad.
The original Erie train station at Port Jervis is a beautiful building, constructed in 1892. However, when Metro-North took over commuter operations here, they constructed a new station about a quarter mile beyond the old station. Today, the original station is home to various shops, and is in very good condition after being renovated. It, of course, significantly overshadows the utilitarian Metro-North station that we are here to visit today. I won’t be talking more about the Erie station now, since it is certainly worthy of its own post, which I will hopefully get a chance to put up before the end of the week.
Hanging out at Port Jervis, 1988.
Similar to the other stations along the line, Port Jervis has a low-level platform, shelter, and not much else. Metro-North did a little bit of renovating within the past year (at a cost of about a million dollars), and now the shelter is actually heated. Other modifications were to be made to better accommodate passengers with disabilities. Located beyond the platform is a small yard facility where trains can be stored for service on the line, which is slightly less boring than the station. There is also a historic turntable not far from the station, but I’ll talk more about that in my post about the Erie station. Until then, here are some views of Port Jervis.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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– The last train to serve the Erie Depot was in 1974.
– I would vote Port Jervis as the lamest station on the line, for 1 reason, what is there to it?
– There nearby is Locomotive 833, which was an Erie locomotive commonly used for the Lake Cities, the passenger/mail run that was discontinued on January 5, 1970 .
I will get into more when I can.
Do you have any photos of the “restored” station bldg?
Port Jervis was a”divison point” at some point,had a working turntable, Roundhouse and a small freight yard. Norfolk Southern’s ex erie
“Southern Tier ” starts just past MN’s layup yard
Just before ConRail tore up the old main line and the “forced” reroute
via the Graham Branch there was a “fantrip” on the old route,
if memory serves, the station was boarded up and the roundhouse was
in sorry condition,but safe to walk thru. This was sponsored by one of
local NJ chapters of NRHS,the date,however escapes me.
Yes, both the roundhouse and station depot were not in great shape. The roundhouse met arsonists in 1987, oh what a world we live in. The depot was restored some time before 1994.
Now I need to note this, the Erie’s New York Division on the Main Line didn’t end at Port Jervis technically. (As you’d assume it should) It ended at Sparrowbush, a couple miles north. There, the Delaware Division continued north to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania
Mr Moss,ConRail created “New Jersey Commuter Region”
around 01/01/1983,”CP Sparrow’ was the “Region Post” MP89.9,
that was controled by Northeastern Region Dispatchers.
Basicly Hoboken dispatch stopped at Port Jervis,the 2 miles were
the “buffer” zone.
When Conrail was created,the old E-L division post was kept at
MP213 near BD tower.
As a sometime film crew dog I had a gig where the action was being shot further up the old Erie line in a hotel in Shohola. Well, Shohola is the location of a famous Civil War train wreck (don’t worry, I’ve already got the documentary screen play registered with WGA). So I was much into train stuff that week.
Anyway, a few of the actors had to get back to the city early so I had to go down and scope out the Port Jervis station for them and let them know the times and so on. Was pleased to see that the old turntable (this was at least 6 years ago) had not been torn up.
That area of PA is an alternative livability site for actors/crew who need to work in NYC but prefer to live among farmers and cows. Problem for these folks is that PA has almost become as politically reactionary a place to live as some of the deep south states.
So it goes.
Does anyone know the date and the name of the last passenger to stop at Port Jervis? Also do you have the names of other trains that also stopped at PJ?
Thank you,
Pullman Porter
Aww, was hoping to see a picture of my car here. My dad commuted from here from 2007-2013 for a job in NY on the weekdays. Car he drove back then is the car I own now. Anyhow, neat to see the station circa 2012 again.