Pleasantville station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

stop on the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Sou ...

, located in

Pleasantville, New York Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary camp ...

. Trains leave or arrive approximately every 20 minutes during peak periods, hourly otherwise. It is from

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

and travel time there is approximately 49 minutes. There is also bus service to the station from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

. The station is located in the Zone 5 Metro-North fare zone.

History

The

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

laid tracks through Pleasantville during the 1840s. Evidence of the existence of Pleasantville station can be found as far back as October 1846. The existing station house was built by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1905. The station also had freight sidings for the shipping department of the headquarters of

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

. On December 20, 1956, New York State opened up bids for the elimination of several grade crossings in Pleasantville, though the project was originally planned by New York Central 25 years earlier. The project was expected to cost $3.857 million. The tracks were lowered for , new bridges were built over the railroad for Manville and Bedford Roads (current and former NY 117 respectively), and the station house was moved. The project was finished by 1959. As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

in 1968 transformed the station into a

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

which made it part of Metro-North in 1983. When the Harlem Line was electrified between and in 1984, less reconstruction was required at Pleasantville than with other stations.

Station layout

The station has one six-car-long high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

serving trains in both directions.

Bibliography

References

External links

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Pleasantville Metro-North Station (The SubwayNut)Former Pleasantville New York Central Railroad Depot image (Dynamic Depot Maps)

Bedford Road entrance from Google Maps Street View
Metro-North Railroad stations in New York (state) Railway stations in Westchester County, New York Former New York Central Railroad stations 1846 establishments in New York (state) Transportation in Westchester County, New York {{NewYork-railstation-stub Railway stations in the United States opened in 1846