History
The first Wassaic train station was about 1/2 mile south of its current location and was situated in the actual town section of Wassaic. The station operated by New York Central Railroad served the surrounding village area, as well as towns even as far as Connecticut. On March 22, 1972 Penn Central Railroad abandoned service north of Dover, and in 1990, rails were removed from Millerton south to milepost 81.33 which became the northernmost point of the freight operation by Penn Central on the Harlem Line.
Freight service was provided for mainly three industries in Wassaic, the Tri-Wall Container Corporation and Maxxon Mills Feeds. Bordens Milk operated a factory in the hamlet of which there was a side track provided for the purpose of transporting milk to points south. A furnace was located nearby and an early hotel, "The Wassaic House" was erected in 1851, following the construction of the railroad.
The physical end of the track is located just north of the current Wassaic yard, at mile post 83.68, there is no track or railroad past that point, but the roadbed, which is still visible, is slowly being reclaimed by nature. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail now operates a paved trail over the existing road bed. Some 45.8 miles (35.9%) of track have been removed in two stages following some bitter court battles.
Before the station reopened on July 9, 2000, Metro-North Railroad rehabbed the tracks and grade crossings that existed north of Dover Plains and moved the physical location of the Wassaic Train station to approximately one half mile north of the old station and constructed a new rail yard facility. The moving of the station to it new location resulted in the re-laying of tracks over the existing rail bed approximately three quarters of a mile where the tracks end.
Read more about this topic: Wassaic (Metro-North Station)
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